Silvoarable agroforestry is the integration on a parcel of land of arable crops and trees. This has not been commonly practised in the UK and Ireland in recent years, largely due to the historical separation of agriculture and forestry. There has been a view amongst farmers that trees lower yields of arable crops, and also get in the way of normal farming operations.
This perception is changing, and some silvoarable systems are being adopted. These most commonly involve the growing of fruit trees in cereal crops or growing fruit trees with vegetable crops. One of the first examples of a silvoarable system in the UK is at Wakelyns in Fressingfield, Suffolk. Planted by Professor Martin Wolfe around 1994, and with subsequent plantings in 2001, the system has produced a large amount of research and in recent years has become a model of farm enterprise diversity utilising the additional products derived from the trees.
Details of silvoarable systems in the UK can be found in reports of the EU AGFORWARD project, on the map of UK agroforestry (see 'Agroforestry near you'), and as part of the reports on field visits during the Annual Meetings of the Farm Woodland Forum.