AFINET News

On December 9^th, AFINET held its Parliamentary Session in Brussels. Nearly 60 people attended the conference “Agroforestry knowledge-based innovation: bringing scientists and practitioners together”. The future of the CAP and policy were also discussed by the experts.

The food forest in Asse will accommodate fruit trees, berries, herbs, climbers - such as grapes - and root vegetables.

The event gathered over 30 people to discuss the role of agroforestry in the future of European agriculture.

The Portuguese Innovation broker presented the AFINET project’s results and all the dissemination materials. Attendees were also given printed versions of the translated AFINET factsheets and the Agforward leaflets also translated in the context of the AFINET project.  

AFINET is coming to an end. After three years of hard work promoting agroforestry practices through Europe, we are ready to present our results and what comes next in European agriculture and forestry sectors. We would be really glad if you joined us at these events, which will take place in Brussels next 9^th and 10^th of December.

The regional event, the 5th Portuguese RAIN meeting of the AFINET project and CEF Seminar from research to application, took place on 13 September at the Observatório do sobreiro e da cortiça in Coruche Municipality. After a period of promoting the event, about 50 attendees took part on event which also included a field visit to young cork oak stands close to the age of their first cork harvesting.

The portuguese regional event and 5th meeting of the Portuguese RAIN of the project AFINET will be taking place at Observatório do Sobreiro e da Cortiça, in Coruche, Santarém, Portugal, on the 13th of September.

Debating in the vicinity of serene and idyllic countryside landscape, the participants were happy to share their experiences about the project and agroforestry in general. 

A meeting different from the others organized during the AFINET events, not just a moment of knowledge transfer on agroforestry, but a moment of direct confrontation, ideas implementation and project start-up.

The World Congress on Agroforestry took place in Montpellier on 20th to 22nd of May. More than 1000 delegates and leading keynote speakers from different profiles (researchers, policy makers, farmers, donors, government officials, students, the private sector and civil society members) and coming from all over the world gathered over three days to promote the progress of agroforestry science and practice.

Read these factsheets and learn about a broad range of topics, such as the valorization of residues from the olive oil value chain, crop diversification, mushroom cultivation and other innovative ideas and practices.

They cover topics as implementing different tree species, such as walnut trees or sweet chestnut trees in silvoarable or silvopastoral systems, or the benefits of silvopasture for domestic animals in terms of diet, shade, shelter or body maintenance.

Several issues were address over the meeting, such as cooperations of the nine regional agroforestry networks for creation of new innovations materials, the best ways of dissemination of these innovations, as well as further enrichment and maintenance of the AFINET Knowledge Cloud.

Mértola Municipality has recently started an initiative to implement a Local Food Network based on agroforestry and syntrophic practices.

Beja, in Alentejo, Portugal, welcomed the 36^th “Ovibeja”, a fair aimed at the promotion of agriculture related content, from the 24^th to the 28^th of April.

The event was held on the 17^th of April, in Grândola, Alentejo, Portugal, and it was attended by the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Registration is open until August 2019.

Farmers and farmers' organisations, agroforesters, entrepreneurs, SMEs, start-ups, advisory services, universities, research technology organisations, rural networks, and anyone who may be involved in relevant projects or has experience with engaging in, designing and/or implementing crop rotation and/or crop diversification practices across Europe are invited to apply.

The presentations during the first part of the day showed how additional income can be gained from the cultivation of stinging nettle Urtica dioica, American gingseng Panax quinquefolium, mushrooms and hops Humulus lupulus. In the second part of the workshop, the participants could develop their ideas for creating new EIP-Agri Operational groups testing new innovations.

After several weeks of dissemination, 35 RAIN members attended the meeting, which took place on the 27^th of February, at Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) in Lisbon.