Agroforestry Design Teams
Our Agroforestry Design Teams are meant to make the process of designing and evaluating agroforestry systems easier through the strengths of working together and pooling resources. Through NylAF we will help train farmers how to do this work themselves.
Agroforestry can be overwhelming given how many different kinds of practices there are. Whether you wish to bring trees and shrubs into your fields or keep them on the edges; whether those trees will be helping existing farming practices like row cropping or providing shade for animals- agroforestry is a highly adaptable concept!
We are here to help you determine what kinds of systems make the most sense for your situation.
Keep in mind that agroforestry systems are inherently multifunctional, so you can combine different goals within the same system to a large degree. Agroforestry can be practiced in a small area on your farm or even be used in different settings across as many fields, pastures, and edges as you like.
On the left is an illustrated typology I created during our last project, the Lill-Nägels Agroforestry Pilot Project.
Common broad categories of agroforestry include:
- Silvoarable
- Alley Cropping
- Silvopasture
- Meadow Orchards
- Wood Pastures & Parklands
- Ecosystem Services
- Hedgerows
- Windbreaks
- Riparian Buffers
Other kinds of agroforestry also exist, in forested areas as well as on smaller, domestic settings.
To be clear, we are not asking farmers to design agroforestry systems for their entire farm. What you choose to design is up to you: as long as the agroforestry system is in support of your farming activities, we are happy to help you learn how to plan it.
After all, farmers know their land the best and it will be up to them to decide whether or not to proceed.
We want to emphasize the “team” aspect of this. There are still many unknown factors regarding the successful implementation of agroforestry in Uusimaa. Together, farmers and researchers (ourselves) can identify common opportunities, challenges, and approaches towards agroforestry. We have the opportunity to bring on board experts who will speak to your needs to improve all of our understanding.
Although there are many basic concepts shared between different kinds of agroforestry, the specific needs of the farmers who choose to join will come first. Therefore the Agroforestry Design Team’s program is not one that can be set out in stone from the first day.
Simple Adaptive Model
Our approach is an adaptive model. This model is needs based, iterative (repeating with changes), and goal oriented. This approach will allow us to remain flexible and attentive to the needs of the farmers.
The most simple steps in such a design framework are the following:
- The farmers articulate their goals. Why do they think agroforestry might provide benefits for their farm? What kinds of new opportunities could the deliberate integration of trees bring to their operation? What kinds of challenges could agroforestry help alleviate? Goals and vision guide the rest of the design process
- Farmers observe their fields and consider candidate locations for agroforestry systems
- Farmers produce enough relevant site analyses to choose between candidate locations for their case study
- The candidate location goes through multiple design iterations, which include considerations of costs and benefits
- After about three runs of modifications, a final conclusion is made about the design. Did it suit the goals laid out for it? Could it feasibly be implemented with existing resources? Would additional funding or support be necessary? Is this a project worth starting or not?
To support these steps, in-person workshops, online trainings, and field visits will play their role as milestones towards the completion of the case study. The real journey will be communicating with the whole Team and working, bit by bit, towards the final outcome.