Agroforestry is a land-use system that integrates trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock production. It has been identified by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2008) as a ‘win-win’ approach that balances the production of commodities (food, feed, fuel, fibre, etc.) with non-commodity outputs such as environmental protection and cultural and landscape amenities. This paper will review the potential of agroforestry as part of a multifunctional working landscape in temperate regions, and will consider management and policy implications of widespread adoption of this form of land-use

Döring, Thomas F.

Pearce, Bruce

Smith, Jo

Wolfe, M S

English

Organic Eprints

Agriculture and the Environment IX, Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions (2012)  257 DEVELOPING MODERN MULTIFUNCTIONAL AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION  J Smith1, T Döring1, BD Pearce1 and MS Wolfe2  1Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 0HR, UK,  E-mail:  jo.s@organicresearchcentre.com; 2Organic  Research  Centre,  Wakelyns Agroforestry, Fressingfield, Suffolk, IP21 5SD, UK  SUMMARY  Agroforestry is a land-use system that integrates trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock production. It has been identified by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science  and  Technology  for  Development  (IAASTD,  2008)  as  a  ‘win-win’  approach  that balances  the  production  of  commodities  (food,  feed,  fuel,  fibre,  etc.)  with  non-commodity outputs such as environmental protection and cultural and landscape amenities. This paper will review the potential of agroforestry as part of a multifunctional working landscape in temperate regions, and will consider management and policy implications of widespread adoption of this form of land-use.  INTRODUCTION   Trees have historically been part of the working landscape in Europe, evolving from systems of shifting cultivation towards more settled systems involving agriculture, woodland grazing and silvopasture,  with  fertility  transfer  from  woodlands  to  cultivated  land  via  manure  (Von Maydell, 1995). Trees within the agricultural system were traditionally managed for three main products – fruits and nuts, fodder for livestock, and wood for fuel or timber. These systems declined as a number of factors led to increasing separation of agriculture, forestry and nature conservation into discrete activities. These factors included increased mechanisation with trees removed to facilitate operations; the adoption of monocultures to maximise productivity; a reduction in  the agricultural  labour force;  and the development  of separate policy regimes (Eichhorn et al., 2006). Agroforestry systems are still, however, an important component of the agricultural landscape in the Mediterranean, where traditional systems such as the dehesas in Spain, montados in Portugal, olive tree systems in Greece and fruit tree systems in Sicily are widespread.  In  northern  Europe,  remnants  of  traditional  agroforestry  systems  include parklands, grazed orchards, hedgerows and woodland pasture.    In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in re-establishing trees within the temperate agricultural ecosystem, in recognition of the range of ecosystem services that trees can support and deliver (Jose, 2009; Smith et al., 2012b). The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge,  Science  and  Technology  for  Development  (IAASTD,  2008)  identified agroforestry as a ‘win-win’ approach that balances the production of commodities  with non-commodity outputs such as environmental protection and cultural and landscape amenities. The challenge now is to design and develop novel agroforestry systems that provide the potential benefit  of  increased  productivity  balanced  with  resource  and  environmental  conservation through sustainable intensification (Smith et al., 2012a). Here we review the key management and policy implications of widespread adoption of temperate agroforestry.  Agriculture and the Environment IX, Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions (2012)  258   Figure 1:   Silvoarable system, Wakelyns Agroforestry, Suffolk, UK. Alleys of hardwood trees are grown amongst cereals and other arable crops  THE POTENTIAL OF AGROFORESTRY IN TEMPERATE REGIONS  In Europe, agroforestry has the potential to address the three key themes of the European Commission’s Rural Development Policy (RDP) 2007-2013:  1.  Improving  the  competitiveness  of  the  agricultural  and  forestry  sector.  A  central hypothesis of agroforestry research is that complementarity of resource capture by trees and crops should lead to increased yields in agroforestry systems compared to forestry or agricultural monocultures (Cannell et al., 1996). By combining crops or livestock with a tree component, it is possible to generate income in the short-term from the agricultural element, during the course of the long-term investment in the trees, which should increase competitiveness over a forestry-only enterprise (Benjamin et al., 2000; Rigueiro-Rodríguez  et  al.,  2008).  Agroforestry  can  also  bring  marginal  land  into production,  and by  reducing reliance on synthetic inputs,  could potentially improve production efficiency (Smith et al., 2012a).  2.  Improving the environment and the countryside. Integrating trees on farmland has many environmental benefits including enhancing soil fertility, reducing nutrient leaching, reducing soil and wind erosion, improving water quality and regulating hydrological cycles, enhancing biodiversity and landscape quality, increasing aesthetics, remediating polluted  land,  mitigating  greenhouse  gases  and  sequestering  carbon  (Jose,  2009). Agroforestry can also reduce resource-use pressure on native woodlands and rates of deforestation  (Bhagwat  et  al.,  2008).  As  multi-functional  biodiverse  systems, agroforestry approaches are predicted to have greater resilience against the effects of climate change (Schoeneberger, 2009).   3.  Improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of the rural economy. There are many perceived socio-economic benefits of agroforestry, including improved  rural  employment  opportunities,  diversification  of  local  economies  and Agriculture and the Environment IX, Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions (2012)  259 products,  and  non-market  benefits  associated  with  landscape,  aesthetics,  ecosystem services and recreation (Smith et al., 2012b).  More specifically, the environmental benefits of integrating trees into agricultural systems can contribute  to  meeting  the  aims  of  a  number  of  mandatory  EU  regulations,  including  the European Nitrates Directive, the Water Framework Directive, the Renewable Energy Strategy and the Soil Protection Strategy.  Where and to What Extent is Agroforestry Feasible?  Reisner  et  al.  (2007)  used  a  modelling  approach  to  identify  the  potential  for  silvoarable agroforestry within 32 European countries.  They concluded that one of five commercial tree species (Prunus avium, Juglans sp., Populus sp., Pinus pinea and Quercus ilex) could grow productively  in  an  agroforestry  system  on  56%  of  utilised  arable  land,  while  providing ecosystem services such as reducing soil erosion and N leaching on 6 million and 30 million ha respectively.  MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS OF AGROFORESTRY  In agroforestry systems, there are both ecological and economic interactions between the trees and  crops  and  livestock,  with  an  emphasis  on  managing  rather  than  reducing  complexity (Lundgren, 1982). Due to this increased complexity and diversity, agroforestry systems present certain management challenges which must be taken into consideration from the initial design and establishment stage right through to securing markets for the variety of products.  The productivity  of  each  system  is  determined  by  the  balance  between  positive  and  negative interactions between the tree and agricultural components, and so the design and management of agroforestry systems should aim to maximise positive interactions that lead to facilitation, and minimise negative interactions that result in competition for resources.   Designing Temperate Agroforestry Systems  Design  considerations  include  the  selection  of  appropriate  species,  based  on  a  number  of criteria, and the spatial arrangement of the system (Table 1).  Managing Temperate Agroforestry Systems  Within  agroforestry  systems,  productivity  of  each  component  can  be  manipulated  by management (Mosquera-Losada et al., 2005). Thinning and branch and root pruning determine tree quality and production, but also influence crop and pasture production and thereby animal production (Beaton and Hislop, 2000). Fertilisation, as a further management tool, increases production,  and  alters  tree/crop  competition  dynamics.  Finally,  stocking  density  impacts livestock  production  and  tree  productivity  through  reduced  competition  with  pasture  or negative impacts of soil compaction through trampling (Schroth, 1999).       Agriculture and the Environment IX, Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions (2012)  260 Table 1:   Design considerations for temperate agroforestry systems  Design factor    Considerations Species selection         Site characteristics   Rainfall        Drainage        Soil type        Aspect             Outputs/products   Trees    Crops  Livestock    Top fruit/nuts  Arable  Dairy    Fodder  Horticultural  Meat    Timber    Eggs    Woodfuel    Fibre         Species properties   Trees    Crops  Livestock    Canopy structure, density and timing Shade tolerance  Breed suitability for agroforestry    Root structure  Growth periods  Browsing impact    Growth periods  Harvest timings      Harvest timings        Allelopathic             Spatial arrangement        Tree distribution   Scattered    Rows and alleys    Shelterbelts    Small clumps    Farm woodlands     Orientation   Rows north/south to reduce shading on crops    Shelterbelts orientated against prevailing winds    Contour planting to reduce soil erosion     Tree density   Trade-off between high volume wood production and greater competition with neighbouring crops at high densities  POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF AGROFORESTRY  A lack of policy support is seen as one of the main barriers to wider adoption of agroforestry, with the integration of trees at a low density into agricultural land challenging the conventional specialisation of forestry and agricultural policy mechanisms (Dupraz et al., 2004). Within the UK, where subsidies can represent a significant proportion of farm income, agroforestry has a Agriculture and the Environment IX, Valuing Ecosystems: Policy, Economic and Management Interactions (2012)  261 limited  future  if  it  is  ineligible  for  support  payments.    Changes  to  current  UK  and  EU agricultural  policies  would  be  needed  to  fully  support  widespread  uptake  of  agroforestry (Smith, 2010).   There is  currently no direct  support  available for agroforestry in  the  UK within the RDP, except  within  Northern  Ireland,  where  Article  44  has  been  implemented,  which  provides support for the first establishment of agroforestry.  Under Pillar I, agroforestry needs to be recognised by the EU as a valid land use to be eligible for Single Farm Payments. Under Pillar II, adoption of Article 44 across the whole of the UK would support the first establishment of agroforestry.   It is less clear how agroforestry could fit within existing agri-environment schemes such as Environmental Stewardship, where the options available aim to enhance the environmental, biodiversity or cultural value of farmland through careful management of existing features such as hedgerows or the introduction of semi-natural habitats including grass buffers. As such, productivity is of secondary importance, and the management needed to maintain productivity in agroforestry systems may conflict with management requirements specified by the schemes.   To promote agroforestry as a sustainable approach to production, there is a need to identify clear market and policy reasons for providing support, by collating, managing and, through research,  providing  evidence  on  the  benefits  (and  limitations)  of  agroforestry  to  balance production with delivery of ecosystem services. Raising awareness of the potential benefits of agroforestry  among  policy  makers  is  essential  for  promoting  agroforestry  as  a  mainstream land-use system.  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  We acknowledge the support of the Ashden Trust.  REFERENCES  Beaton A and Hislop AM (2000). Chapter 4: Trees in agroforestry systems. In: Hislop AM and Sinclair FL (Eds.), Agroforestry in the UK. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. Benjamin TJ, Hoover WL, Seifert JR and Gillespie AR (2000). Defining competition vectors in a  temperate  alley  cropping  system  in  the  midwestern  USA  4.  The  economic  return  of ecological knowledge. Agroforestry Systems 48, 79-93. Bhagwat  SA,  Willis  KJ,  Birks  HJB  and  Whittaker  RJ  (2008).  Agroforestry:  A  refuge  for tropical biodiversity? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23, 261-267. Cannell MGR, Van Noordwijk M and Ong CK (1996). The central agroforestry hypothesis: The  trees  must  acquire  resources  that  the  crop  would  not  otherwise  acquire.  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A review of belowground interactions in agroforestry, focussing on mechanisms and management options.

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Agroforestry Policy Review. Organic Research Centre. http://orgprints.org/18248/1/Agroforestry_policy_v1.1.pdf

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Agroforestry: Working trees for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands.

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Chapter 4: Trees in agroforestry systems.

Defining competition vectors in a temperate alley cropping system in the midwestern USA 4. The economic return of ecological knowledge.

Executive summary of the synthesis report. International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge,

Implications of legal and policy regulations on rural development: The challenge of silvoarable agroforestry in Europe.

Introduction [Editorial].

Target regions for silvoarable agroforestry in Europe.

The central agroforestry hypothesis: The trees must acquire resources that the crop would not otherwise acquire.

The herbaceous component in temperate silvopastoral systems.

Developing modern multifunctional agroforestry systems for sustainable intensification

Developing modern multifunctional agroforestry systems for sustainable intensification

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