Introducing AGFORWARD –a Project to advance Agroforestry in Europe

Paul J. Burgess1, Anil R. Graves1 , M. Bestman2, V. Bondesan3, C.Dupraz4,5, D. Freese6, A Guichaoua7 , T. Hartel8, J. Hermansen9, F. Herzog10, F. Liagre11, M. Lindner12, J. McAdam13, G. Moreno14, R. Mosquera Losada15, J. Palma16, A. Pantera17, P. Paris18, T. Plieninger19, L. Rakosy8, A. Rosati20, F. Sinclair21, J. Smith22, A. Vityi23, J. Watte24

Presentation at World Agroforestry Congress: Session 5.5Wednesday 12 February 2014

1 Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK45 2TT, UK2 Louis Bolk Instituut, Hoofdstraat 24, Driebergen Rijsenburg, 3972 LA, Netherlands3 Veneto Agricoltura, 14 Viale dell’Università, Legnaro, 33020, Italy 4 INRA, 147 Rue De L’Universite, Paris Cedex 07, 75338, France5 European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF), 14 Rue Pagès, Montpellier, 34070, France 6 BTU Cottbus, 1 Platz der Deutschen Einheit, Cottbus, 03046, Germany7 ACTA, 149 rue de Bercy, Paris, 75012, France8 Universitatea Babes Bolyai, 1 Mihail Kogalniceanu, Cluj-Napoca 400084, Romania9 Aarhus Universitet, 1 Nordre Ringgade, Aarhus 8000, Denmark10 Eidgenoessisches Volkswirtschaftsdepartment, Bundeshaus Ost, Bern, 3003, Switzerland11 AGROOF, 120 Impasse des 4 Vents, Anduze 30140, France12 European Forest Institute, 34 Torikatu, Joensuu, 80100, Finland13 Agrifood and Biosciences Institute, 18A Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5PX, UK14 Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas, Badajoz, 06006, Spain15 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain16 Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) of Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa, 1349-017, Portugal17 TEI Stereas Elladas, 3 KLM Palaias Ethnilis Odou, Lamia, 35100, Greece18 Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), 7 Piazzale Aldo Moro, Roma, 00185, Italy19 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Nørregade 10, 1165 Copenhagen K, Denmark20 Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, 82 Via Nazionale, Roma, 00184, Italy 21 ICRAF, U.N. Avenue Off Limuru Road, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya 22 Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 0HR, UK23 NymE KKK Nonprofit Kft, 4 Bajcsy-Zs. Sopron, 9400, Hungary24 Wervel, 26 Edinburgstraat, Elsene, 1050, Belgium

A new partnership building on previous research

• Building on previous research, such as the Silvoarable Agroforestry for Europe SAFE (2001-2005) project, led by Christian Dupraz

• Launch of new project at Cranfield University, UK (21-22 January 2014)

Partners covering a range of agroclimatic zones

Participant organisation name

1. Cranfield University2. European Forest Institute3 Association de Coordination Technique Agricole 4 University of Santiago de Compostela5 TEI Stereas Elladas6 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique 7 Organic Research Centre8 BTU Cottbus9 Universidad de Extremadura10 Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon11 University of Copenhagen 12 Research Station FDEA-ART Zurich13 Wervel vzw14. Aarhus University15 Agri Food and Biosciences Institute16 Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in

Agricoltura17 Louis Bolk Institute18 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche19 NYME20 Universitatea Babes-Bolyai21 Veneto Agricoltura22 Agroof23 Assemblée Permanente des Chambres d’Agriculture24 Association Française d’AgroForesterie25 World Agroforestry Centre26 European Agroforestry Federation

Content

• Partnership building on previous research • Problem, aim and objectives• Participation• Preparing tools to allow scaling• Promotion

Agriculture: components of a farm system

Crop products

Solar radiation

Irrigation,FertilisersCultivation

Water and nutrients

Animal feed

Animal products

Wastes

Soil

Marketable benefitsof UK agriculture in 2007

Positive effect

Negative effect

Output of crops

Output of livestock

Other marketable services

Cost of inputs

Value added£10,218 million

£5,867 million

£8,516 million

£5,167 million

£1,002 million

DEFRA (2012)

Agriculture: components of a farm system

Crop products

Soil

Solar radiation

Irrigation,FertilisersCultivation

Water and nutrients

Animal feed

Animal products

Wastes

Methane,CO2

NH3

N2O

Nitrates, phosphates, pesticides

Loss of soil C

Biodiversityvalue Effect on

health

Soil erosion and salinity

Landscape value

Environmental benefits andcosts of UK agriculture 2007

Positive effect Negative effect

Climate change

Air (e.g. ammonia)

Water

Soil

Waste

Landscape & habitats

Biodiversity

Total

Net effect

Spencer et al. (2008)

£1,413 million

£656 million

£364 million

£9 million

£8 million

£2,450 million

£35 million

£854 million

£307 million

£1,196 million

£1,254 million

-10 0 100

10

2007

Value of non-provisioning ecosystem services (£ billion a-1)

Valu

e of

pro

visi

onin

g se

rvic

es (£

bi

llion

a-1

)Value of UK agriculture (2007)

-10 0 100

10

Value of non-provisioning ecosystem services (£ billion a-1)

Valu

e of

pro

visi

onin

g se

rvic

es (£

bi

llion

a-1

)Value of UK agriculture (2007)

-10 0 100

10

Value of non-provisioning ecosystem services (£ billion a-1)

Valu

e of

pro

visi

onin

g se

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es (£

bi

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a-1

)Value of UK agriculture (2007)

-10 0 100

10

Value of non-provisioning ecosystem services (£ billion a-1)

Valu

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bi

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)

Agroforestry as a way of increasing the value of production whilst creating environmental benefits

Extensification

Classicalintensification

The analysis does not include change in asset values

Value of UK agriculture (2007)

Previous EU-funded research has highlighted resource efficiency gains from agroforestry (Graves et al. 2007)

-0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4France Spain

Netherlands

Relative crop yield per hectare

Re

lati

ve

tre

e y

ield

pe

r h

ec

tare

A key hypothesis of AGFORWARD is that agroforestry, the integration of trees and shrubs with agriculture, can lead to a higher value of ecosystem services per hectare

than disaggregated agricultural and woodland systems.

EU targets

Agroforestry landscape - Staffordshire

• Improving competitiveness of EU agriculture whilst improving the environment

• Prevention of further loss to biodiversity• Reduction of EU greenhouse gas emissions• Greater resilience to climate change • Greater resilience to higher fuel prices• Reduce wildfire risk• Improving water quality• More coherent landscape protection

AGFORWARAGroFORestry that Will Advance Rural Development

Aim: to promote agroforestry practices in Europe that will advance rural development

WP4Agroforestry

for arablesystems

4. Promotion of agroforestry

3. Evaluating innovations

1. Context

WP6. Field- and farm-scale evaluation of innovations

WP1. Existing agroforestry systems in Europe

WP10 . Project Management

WP8. Agroforestrypolicy development

WP7. Landscape-scale evaluation of agroforestry

Project management

WP3Agroforestry

for high value tree systems

WP5Agroforestry for livestock systems

WP2Agroforestry systems of high natural and cultural value

2. Participatory Research and Development Networks

WP9. Dissemination

Four main components to project

1. To explain how agroforestry is described in existing EU land use and land use databases

Objective 1: To understand the context and extent of existing agroforestry systems in EuropeLead: Marcus Lindner, European Forest Institute

2. What can we learn from areas bordering Europe? (Fergus Sinclair, ICRAF)

Field-scale agroforestry

Farm-scale agroforestry

Tree component

Animal component

Crop

com

pone

nt

Agroforestryin arable systems

Arable

Crops and livestock with

high value trees

Agroforestry of high nature

and cultural value

Agroforestry in livestock systems

WP4

Livestock WP5 High value trees

WP3

WP2

Objective 2: to identify, develop and field-test agroforestry innovations in the field with participatory networks

The AGFORWARD project will focus on four sectors:WP2: existing agroforestry systems of high nature and cultural value (HNCV)WP3: integrating livestock and crops into high value tree systems WP4: agroforestry for arable systems andWP5 agroforestry for livestock systems.

WP4

High Nature and Cultural Value agroforestry systems (WP2)

lead: Gerardo Moreno

High Value Tree Systems (WP3)lead: Anastasia Pantera

Agroforestry for arable farmers (WP4)lead: Dirk Freese

Agroforestry for livestock systems (WP5)lead: John Hermansen

Woodland eggs and chickens

Flood plain recreational area, Milton Keynes

Woodland egg experiment Oxfordshire (2010)

Sheep production

• Woodland egg production• Welfare benefits for hens• Estimated to be 200 woodland

egg producers in UK

The aim is to have a range of stakeholder groups across the four sectors focused on innovations and improvements in practice

Objective 3: to evaluate innovative agroforestry designs and practices at a field and farm-scale (WP6) and at a landscape-scale (WP7)

WP6 Lead: Joao Palma (Lisbon University)Wp7 Lead: Tobias Pleininger (University of Copenhagen)

Development of existing field and farm- scale bio-economic models

• Yield-SAFE• Farm-SAFE• Hi-SAFE

Objective 4: to promote the wider adoption of appropriate agroforestry systems in Europe through policy development and dissemination (WP8, WP9).

WP8 Lead: Rosa Mosquera-Losada (USC)WP9: Lead: Fabien Liagre (AGROOF)

2nd European Agroforestry Federation Conference4-6 June 2014, Cottbus, Germany

Summary

• A new agroforestry project to help improve the competitiveness of EU agriculture whilst improving the environment

• Partnerships building on previous research• We are developing stakeholder groups with farmers

and advisors focused on specific sectors• Development of tools to allow scaling• Focus on policy work and sharing the results

Acknowledgement: Research sponsored by the European Commission FP7 Research Programme (2014-2017)

References

Defra (2012). Agriculture in the UK http://archive.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/foodfarm/general/auk/latest/excel/

Graves, A.R., Burgess, P.J., Palma, J.H.N., Herzog, F., Moreno, G., Bertomeu, M., Dupraz, C., Liagre, F., Keesman, K., van der Werf, W. Koeffeman de Nooy, A. & van den Briel, J.P. (2007). Development and application of bio-economic modelling to compare silvoarable, arable and forestry systems in three European countries. Ecological Engineering 29: 434-449.

Spencer, I., Bann, C., Moran, D., McVittie, A., Lawrence, K., Caldwell, V. & Morris, J. (2008) Environmental Accounts for Agriculture. Project SFS0601. Final Report for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Welsh Assembly Government; Scottish Government; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland). Available from: http://archive.defra.gov.uk/evidence/economics/foodfarm/reports/envacc/documents/Jacobs-fullreport.pdf (accessed 8 August 2012).

Partners: universities and groups working for farmers