Agroforestry 2025: veranderingstrajecten gericht op systeemoptimalisatie en haalbare verdienmodellen (AGROFORESTRY.2025)

With the new project 'AGROFORESTRY 2025' we aim to increase the applicability of agroforestry as a system within the Flemish agricultural sector. The concrete goal is to optimize various facets within the cultivation system. At the field and farm level, we will investigate how agroforestry can contribute to resilience, which management is most appropriate and how the agroforestry and farm systems can perform at their best. We explore development paths for agroforestry in the economic and institutional landscape, such as feasible financing and business models.

Besides a farm technical and a socio-economic workpackage, the core method chosen is a co-design approach with stakeholders in action labs. A set of concrete, participatory change processes will be set up around widely supported and efficient agroforestry systems as well as around feasible financing and earning models. The project devotes attention and time to knowledge dissemination through communication, dissemination and exploitation. It aims for strong interaction with farmers and other actors, who as project ambassadors take a steering role.

Agroforestry combines the cultivation of woody crops (trees or shrubs) with those of agricultural crops and/or livestock production to create new products and services. With a well thought-out approach, agroforestry offers distinctive opportunities to respond simultaneously to numerous challenges:  increasing the business profitability and resilience, maximizing climate mitigation and adaptation, creating opportunities for other links in the chain, and helping to preserve and protect  biodiversity and natural resources.

The expected end result of Agroforestry 2025 is to unlock the potential of the most efficient and most cost-effective agroforestry systems that have the widest support in their various forms. We also expect clarity on best practices in management, on cultivation systems at farm level and on a successful growth path for agroforestry in the economic and institutional landscape.