Annual Meeting 2024

Theme

Agroforestry for food, net zero and biodiversity

Dates

Wednesday 19th June 2024 to Thursday 20th June 2024

Location 

Cranfield University

Bedfordshire

Programme

Wednesday 19th June

Context and Agroforestry for Food

Agroforestry in the UK: Insights from the EU's LUCAS survey (Arina Machine, University of Leicester)

Tree species selection for sustainable and resilient agroforestry systems (Tom Staton¹, Laurence Smith¹, Kate Beauchamp², Alice Broome², Tom Breeze¹; University of Reading¹, Forest Research²)

Increasing tree cover at a farm level: understanding farmer preferences and using LCA to assess the environmental impacts (Sally Westaway, Royal Agricultural University)

How does silvoarable alley-cropping with fruit and nut trees affect soil health? (Rosie Scholes¹, Simon G Potts¹, Paul J Burgess², Amelia S C Hood¹; University of Reading¹, Cranfield University²)

Agroforestry for Biodiversity

Determining the effects of agroforestry on multi-taxa biodiversity in Europe (Jari Vandendriessche, Maxime Eeraerts, Pieter De Frenne, Kris Verheyen, Ghent Univrersity, Belgium)

Soil biological quality in temperate agroforestry systems: tree rows enhance soil arthropod abundances, diversity, and QBS-ar scores on UK arable land (Beth Evans, Natural History Museum and University of York)

Higher biodiversity in agroforestry than monoculture fields (Alexa Varah¹, Simon Potts², Jo Smith³, Hannah Jones⁴; Natural History Museum¹, University of Reading², MVarc³, Farm Carbon Toolkit⁴)

Agroforestry for Net Zero

Benefits of feeding willow leaves to ruminants may include reduced greenhouse gas emissions (Chris Stoate, Gemma Fox, Jenny Bussell, Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust, Allerton Project, Loddington)

Trade-offs of integrating trees for food production, profitability and net-zero (Michail L Giannitsopoulos¹, Paul J Burgess¹, Anil R Graves¹, Tommie Ponsioen²; Cranfield University¹, Footprinting, EA Wageningen, The Netherlands²)

Greenhouse gas emission reduction using agroforestry solutions in the  UK and Ireland (Rodrigo Olave, Jim McAdam, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and Irish Agroforestry Forum)

Scaling up, Research Priorities and Policies

Agroforestry in practice.  A first hand account of establishing productive nut agroforestry over 200 hectares of farmland in East Anglia, UK. (Archie Ruggles-Brise, Spains Hall Estate)

Co-producing educational and research priorities for UK agroforestry (Amelia (Millie) Hood, University of Reading)

Development of agroforestry at the landscape and county scale in England (Steve Newman¹, Stephen Briggs²; BioDiversity International Ltd.¹, Abacus Agriculture²)

Policies for agroforestry, a narrative review of four 'continental' regions: EU, India, Brazil and the USA (Rosemary Venn¹, Jesse Buratti-Donham², Fernando-Esteban Montero-de-Oliveira³, Jonathan Eden1, Sabine Reinecke^3,4; Coventry University¹, Agroecology Europe², University of Freiburg³, FiBL⁴)

Posters

Life cycle assessment of alternative tree systems  (Elsa Webb, Paul Burgess, Georgios Pexas; Cranfield University)

A data-driven agent-based modelling approach to agricultural transition in England (Ali Parsa, Marco van der Wiel, Ulrich Schmutz, Katherina Dehnen-Schmutz, Rosemary Venn; Coventry University)

Investigating the effects of silvoarable agroforestry systems on pollinator communities (Ellen Knight; University of Reading)

Spatial dynamics of soil functioning in a 20-year-old silvohorticulture system (Josiah B Judson¹, Pippa J Chapman¹, Joseph Holden¹, Marcelo V Galdos²; School of Geography, University of Leeds¹, Rothamsted Research²) 

Above-ground biomass carbon stocks and annual C sequestration rates of four poplar hybrids in a silvoarable system (Jyoti Narsude, University of Leeds)

How do stakeholders perceive agroforestry in Europe?  A systematic map (Elizabeth Rainey, Brunel University)

Aiming high for hedgerows (Christian Gossel, Colin Tosh, Will Simonson; Organic Research Centre)

Silvopastoral systems for climate change mitigation in Northern Ireland: evaluating carbon sequestration potential and policy scenarios (Salim Edris¹, A Gabourel², Rodrigo Olave¹, J F Lavado Contador², S Schnabel²; Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Belfast¹, University of Extramadura, Spain²)

No Loss Gain in Farm Productivity (Fred Farrelly, Farm Innovation Northern Ireland)

Field Visits

Thursday 20th June

Medbury Farm, Elstow, Bedfordshire.  Increasing tree cover on a commercial farm.  The managers of Medbury Farm took part in a greenhouse gas calculation project to determine how close the farm is to 'net zero', and have established a range of systems to increase tree cover.

RSPB Hope Farm, Knapwell, Cambridgeshire. Hope Farm is a commercial arable farm managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  Over recent years, biodiversity has been enhanced and a 11 ha silvoarable system including apples, cobnuts and windbreaks has been established.