“Through agroforestry, the full gamut of benefits trees provide can support a farm’s productive areas, such as improving soil health, providing shade and shelter for livestock, and creating new habitats for birds and insects. Together, these can support the overall resilience of a farming business.” Defra, UK, January 2023
Though it may be a new term for some, ‘agroforestry’ includes traditional practices which in the UK would have included sheep or poultry grazing in orchards, pannage (pigs put into woods to fatten on autumn acorns), or even just trees as shelter belts for crops or livestock.
Modern implementations of agroforestry include more formalised systems of ‘alley cropping’, with north-south lines of trees separating strips of more conventional agriculture. People who enjoy classifications sometimes refer to ‘silvo-pasture’ – trees with animals, ‘silvo-arable’ – trees with field scale crops, or ‘silvo-horticulture’ – trees with smaller scale horticulture between. In each, the trees may be planted for timber, fruit or biomass production with the trees as much part of the farm output as everything else which is happening in the field. ‘Forest farming’ is a tree dominated system where the emphasis is on the trees producing the desired crops themselves.
Often, of course, the reality is more complex, with real-world implementations involving combinations or variants of those system types. In all of them though, the additional benefits in carbon sequestration and biodiversity gain from the trees are obvious; with other potential gains including moisture retention, shade benefits, and a reduction in soil erosion and the spread of wind-borne diseases. No surprise then that agroforestry can be an obvious component of a permaculture farming system.
Since the early 1990s, we have seen a renewed interest in agroforestry and in the more modern versions of it, with a recent upsurge in agroforestry planting and its wider public and government recognition. Here we showcase some of the farms in the UK and Ireland celebrating their agroforestry planting.
Cloontabonnive is an 11 hectare (27 acre) farm, which was in very poor condition when owners Ragna and Baptiste took it on. Since 2012 they have put a tremendous effort into restoring the land and creating different habitats as well as protecting those already in existence. Trees have been planted all over the farm to improve soil structure and increase the fertility of the land, with the first planting in spring of 2013, when five acres were planted under the native woodland scheme with a variety of trees such as alder, oak, hazel, rowan and Scots pine, to name but a few. They continue to plant groves, shelterbelts and hedgerows with specimen trees to create woodland copses and wildlife corridors connecting the different habitats on the farm.
Apart from the native trees planted, they also incorporate flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs. There are currently over 40 different species planted and more to come. In winter 2022/23 the pair planted two orchards as a trial, one located within the native woodland and another one on the outside edge. Diversity is important, and the farm includes a small herd of cattle, a small flock of sheep, a variety of poultry, as well as bees and sometimes pigs. Most of the animal produce is for the home. As different animals have different grazing patterns, the variety of animals plays an important role in managing the land. Trees are also very important as they give shelter and firewood as well as fruit and nuts. Ragna and Baptiste’s aim is to increase the area planted in the coming years and continue to look for innovative ways to incorporate trees into the farming landscape. www.cloontabonnive-agroforest.com
Elston farm is nestled in the rolling hills of Devon near Crediton, and has been in stewardship schemes for over 15 years, which has allowed its hedges to grow up and the margins to become scruffy, softening the field edges and creating perfect nesting habitat for ground and shrub nesting birds, full of seeds and insects for them to eat. Land is left fallow to encourage the rarer annual arable plants to grow, and seed-producing strips are planted for winter bird feed.
The silvopasture on Elston Farm was planted in March and April 2021, with the help of Sustainable Crediton. Trees are in 14 metre (46ft) rows, 3 metres (10ft) apart within the rows.
All the trees are indigenous, with 24 species selected for Elston Farm. The taller standards are oak, alder (which fixes nitrogen), Scots pine, downy birch, lime, sycamore and field maple. Whilst not strictly indigenous, low-density walnut, apple and chestnut have also been planted as cash crops. The low bushes planted are spindle, elder, holly, willow, hazel and witch elm. https://farmwilder.co.uk
A traditional, family-owned, farming estate in North Essex, the estate covers around 830 hectares (200 acres), with a mix of in-hand (controlled directly by the land owner) and tenanted arable land, native woodland, grassland and wetlands.
The in-hand land is gradually being transformed into a mix of wildlife areas, water conservation systems and permanent cropping. The agroforestry system is to become the backbone of the farm, moving away from annual crops.
Since the 1940s, the farm has grown high quality cricket bat willow at low densities on the low-lying meadow land, alongside 19 hectares (62 acres) of hedges and 80 hectares (262 acres) of native woodland.
The owners are now in the process of establishing a nut and timber ‘eco-alley’ agroforestry system, which started in 2022/3 with the planting of 360 walnut trees, 320 hazels and 1,200 oaks grown from seed. The planted area currently covers around 50 hectares (124 acres) but will eventually grow to approximately 300 hectares (741 acres).
The system is set out on a conventional 32 metre (105 feet) alley and instead of cropping between the tree rows they have undersown the trees with grass. The alleys between these wide rows are currently filled with a mix of habitat and crop types to build soil health, enhance biodiversity and slow and clean water.
This system change is the first step in a move away from annual cropping entirely, towards a permanent tree crop system run in balance with generation of higher quality (and profitable) environmental goods, and the farm is also involved in delivering large scale Biodiversity Net Gain schemes in other areas of the farm. www.spainshallestate.co.uk/agroforestry
This mid-Cornwall livestock farm of 28 hectares (70 acres), is located on acid silty clay loam soils sitting over well shattered substrate of Devonian slates, shales and sands. The valley bottom has a cap of kaolin. The farm is not typical in that it has 4 hectares (10 acres) of mixed mature woodland, 4 hectares of mixed 35 year old woodland and 2.5 hectares (6 acres) of nut orchard. There are also 6km (3.7 miles) of unmanaged hedge/Cornish wall. The fields are all in grass, predominantly mixed herbal leys.
Chris Jones, who returned to the family farm had been very interested in agroforestry for many years but was dissuaded by the lack of schemes to fund it. In 2017, the family finally planted some rows of willow in a field (cheap and cheerful) but the drought of 2018 and poor protection killed most of the trees.
In 2020 they planted apple trees, which are now well established, and a further 16 hectares (40 acres) of wood pasture was also planted, in the teeth of the worst drought Chris has ever seen. “To me the droughts just underline the imperative for getting the agroforestry in place as soon as possible.” https://woodlandvalley.co.uk
Wakelyns comprises over 20 hectares (49 acres) of agroforestry in north-south tree lines with an organic rotation cropping system in between.
Ann and Martin Wolfe bought Wakelyns in 1992 after Martin’s earlier scientific career showed how mixing even just three varieties of a cereal crop together could restrict disease and stabilise crop yield. Their idea was to further experiment with forms of agriculture by using diversity and reversing the trend to crop monoculture though organic rotation agroforestry. From 1994 they planted, and then maintained, one of the oldest and most diverse alley-cropping agroforestry implementations. Wakelyns first featured in PM in 1997.
Different areas at Wakelyns have different tree line spacing – 12m, 15m or 18m (39, 49 or 59ft) – and different types of trees in the tree lines, some for timber, some (hazel and willow) on a short rotation coppice for fencing and for biomass, and a wide variety of fruit trees (including 40+ types of apple, as well as pears, many sorts of plums, quinces, cherries and much more).
Since Ann and Martin’s deaths (in 2016 and 2019), David and Toby Wolfe and their families have continued with the organic rotation agroforestry while also evolving Wakelyns into a hub for farming, food and the environment.
Within the organic rotation cropping in the alleys, they now grow YQ population wheat (as developed at Wakelyns in conjunction with the Organic Research Centre and John Innes Centre), hemp and lentils; and host ‘RealVeg CSA’, no dig organic horticulture by Holly, Chloe and Rachel. Spring 2023 will also see vines added as a component within some of the tree lines themselves.
Diversifying and making Wakelyns more sustainable has involved a new focus on ‘short [food] chains’, ‘enterprise stacking’, and people.
Short chains means that, rather than trying to crop and sell the raw produce (wheat, flour, fruit, vegetables, etc.) they are often baked and cooked by Henrietta in the Wakelyns Bakery for sale as food to families within the local area and beyond. In another short chain stacked enterprise, Adam and Emma from ‘Willow Phoenix’, use Wakelyns and others’ willow and hazel in a range of on-site weaving and landscaping projects. Claire and Kitty’s ‘Contemporary Hempery’ has brought hemp to Wakelyns as a valuable organic weed-suppressing crop within the organic rotation which will also produce fine fibres for high-quality clothing (and with the shiv woody cores being used by Summer Islam and her colleagues from ‘Material Designs’ as part of their ‘regenerative architecture’ sustainable construction projects). ‘People’ means welcoming people to visit, learn and stay over at Wakelyns. https://wakelyns.co.uk
Agroforestry Open Weekend
These agroforestry sites, and many more, are available to visit as part of the Agroforestry Open Weekend. More details at: www.agroforestryopenweekend.org
This article originally appeared in Permaculture magazine Summer, issue 116
No related articles to show for this tag
No related articles to show for this tag
