Report by Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez (University of Santiago de Compostela, USC, Spain), Adolfo Rosati (Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis, CREA, Italy) and Rico Hübner (Technical University of Munich, TUM, Germany)
The Association for Temperate Agroforestry (AFTA) held its 16th biennial conference “Agroforestry for Sustainable Production + Resilient Landscapes” on June 24-27, 2019. The conference took place at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, USA and included oral and poster sessions and field trips to farms implementing agroforestry, mainly silvopasture, and other research sites, showing the advancement of agroforestry on the U.S. West Coast.
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Pictures of the conference tours |
During the AFTA conference, EURAF was represented by Adolfo Rosati (Deputy National Delegate for Italy), Rico Hübner (EURAF Deputy Secretary) and Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez (National Delegate for Spain). Adolfo Rosati gave a presentation titled “Updates from the European Agroforestry Federation” reporting the main activities carried out by EURAF in the last two years (participation in projects, agroforestry policy, EURAF conferences, etc.). He also presented work on how current agroforestry models overestimate photosynthesis and radiation use efficiency of understory crops. Rico Hübner, announced the founding of the DeFAF, the German Association for Agroforestry, and explained the current governance situation of agroforestry in Germany and its connection to the EU Common Agricultural Policy. Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez presented the AFINET (Agroforestry Innovations Networks) project. AFINET is funded by the European Commission (H2020 Programme) to provide better access to agroforestry research findings and to identify and share good practices that farmers already implement. AFINET is coordinated by the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), and EURAF is among the partners.
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| Adolfo Rosati (Deputy National Delegate for Italy), |
Rico Hübner (EURAF Deputy Secretary) | and Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez (National Delegate for Spain) in the event. |
The AFTA conference allowed EURAF members to get to know the current agroforestry situation in USA but also in other countries such as Canada, Mexico or Brazil and strengthen the relationships with AFTA to push agroforestry forward around the world. EURAF and AFTA will meet again in the 5th EURAF conference that will be held in Sardinia (Italy) in May 2020.