Agroforestry at Organic Producers’ Conference

Agroforestry was the focus of a session at the 11th Organic Producers’ Conference held at Aston University in Birmingham in the UK on 2 February 2017. The title for the conference was “Rising to the challenge: Practical organic farming solutions for an uncertain future”.

Jo Smith, from AGFORWARD and the Organic Research Centre, chaired a session on “Silvoarable agroforestry”. Stuart Holm of the Woodland Trust explained how you could develop agroforestry systems to suit your farm. This covered issues such as objectives, site selection, ground preparation, species selection, system design, tree protection and funding. Paul Burgess, from the AGFORWARD project and Cranfield University, then gave a presentation entitled “Economics of silvoarable agroforestry”. This started with a review of existing financial studies in the UK and across Europe and concluded with a focus on three current systems in France and the UK. Paul argued that whilst the benefits of producing two crops (i.e. timber and an arable crop) can be attractive, the critical argument for integrating trees on many farms will be that it improves the sustainability of the main enterprise. The session also highlighted the UK Agroforestry Conference on 22 June 2017.

A video of the session at the Organic Producers’ Conference is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EteGapyZso&feature=youtu.be

Burgess, P.J. (2017). The Economics of Silvoarable Agroforestry. Presentation at the UK Organic Producers Conference, 2 February 2017, Aston University.

Holm, S. (2017). Developing Agroforestry Systems to suit your Farm. Presentation at the UK Organic Producers Conference, 2 February 2017, Aston University.