This summer has been a hot one: heat, forest fires, droughts all over Europe. Climate change is here – how can we mitigate the consequences? More and more farmers see a solution in agroforestry: rows of trees in fields, in whose shade crops and animals thrive better, the soil is protected from drying out and erosion, carbon is sequestered and biodiversity is created.
In France, a lot is already known about agroforestry thanks to the work of the agronomist Christian Dupraz. On his experimental field, the farmer is now reaping better harvests than on the comparative fields without trees. In Languedoc, France's largest wine-growing region, a winegrower is now also planting trees between the vines so that the grapes do not ripen as early as August. In Germany, too, more and more farmers are realising the advantages – even though for some it almost feels like a step backwards to plant hedges in the fields again like in the past. After all, they had been cleared in order to be able to work more effectively with the large agricultural machines. A group of Swabian farmers travels to France for a site visit. Together with their landlord, they want to plan the conversion of their fields into resilient agroforestry systems. How can the long-neglected old orchards be included? With the latest findings in hand, they set out to combine the advantages of the trees with the requirements of modern agriculture in order to be better equipped at least against the dramatic consequences of climate change – heat, drought, crop failures. And along the way, agriculture and nature conservation are reconciled.
Watch more about this exciting topic on September 8th, on arteRE!
Foto by: Andrea Koeppler