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NEWSLETTER #1, July 2017

 

 
 

Sharing knowledge | Improving practice | Enhancing livelihoods
Welcome to AFINET project!!!
AFINET (AgroForestry Innovation NETworks) aims to support innovation in agroforestry through enhancing knowledge transfer between farmers, foresters, researchers, advisers and government services. We are a European thematic network led by the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain (download the brochure or look up more information on the website)
This is our first newsletter which aims at promoting the project’s preliminary results and involving the reader in our activities.
We hope you enjoy it!
AFINET partners meet up to discuss the first steps of the project in the consortium meetings hold in Spain and UK. Visits to farms were also included in the program in order to allow knowing innovative practices developed on field. Read more.

 
AFINET aims to create links with other networks, initiatives and policy instruments, specially  with the EIP-Agri implementation. Read more about  the active role of AFINET partners during the first months. Read more.
Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks (RAINs) are working groups where farmers, foresters, researchers, advisers and government services can come together to share experiences and explore opportunities to improve current agroforestry practice. As a backbone of the AFINET project, recently 9 RAIN were created. Read more
Some Innovation Brokers have already worked to launch the RAINs in their regions. Besides, the first RAINs meetings from UK, Belgium or Poland have been hold. AFINET is on track! Read more
AFINET consortium meetings

AFINET partners meet up to discuss the first steps of the project. On 16-17th February they attended the kick-off meeting organized in Lugo (Galicia, NW Spain) by the coordinator, the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). Partners have discussed the guidelines for creation and work of the nine Regional Agroforestry Innovation Network (RAINS). The meeting included a field visit to the Bosques Naturales farm, where the production of high quality timber under a silvopastoral management with sheep grazing was presented and discussed between partners and farm managers.

On 20-21st June they participated in the second consortium meeting held in Newbury (Berkshire, UK) by the Organic Research Center (ORC). First progress on the RAINs creation was presented. Partners also exchanged ideas about how to communicate and disseminate the project and its results. A visit to Tolhurst Organics was included in the program. Partners saw on field different agroforestry practices of this innovative farm specialized in organic food. Some partners joined the Agroforestry Conference: improving productivity for farmers and foresters, where a special session allocated to farmers was organized and where the project was presented by ORC.

Meetings were also attended by members of the Advisory Board: Professor PK Nair (USA), Professor Vimala Nair (USA), Professor Anastasia Pantera (Greece) accompanied by Elpiniki Papageorgiou, Mr. Eloy Villada (President of the Galician Grassland and Forage Society), Paul  Burgess (Cranfield University) and Patrick Worms (Word Agroforestry Centre).

The next AFINET meeting will be hosted in the Instituto Superior de Agronomía (ISA) (Lisbon, Portugal) in December 2017.

More information
 
Creation of Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks

The RAINs mainly consist of practitioners of agroforestry, complemented by experts from various fields and other stakeholders (e.g. technical advisors, associations, extension services, entrepreneurs, NGO’s, administration, policy advisors, …), depending on the focus of the network events. Their main objectives are:

  • To improve knowledge exchange between scientists, practitioners and other AF stakeholders on agricultural and forestry practice, supporting innovation-driven research and ensuring a wide transfer of knowledge towards the end-users
  • To co-create new knowledge
  • To put in practice insufficient exploited research results
The focus of the RAINs varies among the regions depending on climatologic conditions, agricultural systems and specific interest of the participating farmers. Depending on the local conditions on the one hand there is chosen to focus on rather intensive forms of agroforestry where for example in Italy olive orchards are combined with hedgerows, intercropping and understory grazing or where fruit and nut producing trees (in Belgium) are to be combined with poultry, horticulture or arable/mixed farming. On the other hand there are also RAINs focussing on more extensive silvopastoral agroforestry systems where cork and holm oak are combined with animal grazing (eg. Montado en Portugal and Dehesa in Spain).

The first meetings are being organized between the end of June and the end of September. 

More information.

 
RAIN national news

Poland RAIN
On 5th July, the first Regional Innovation Agroforestry Network was held on Poland. The event was located at Popielno in headquarters of research station belonging to Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn. 26 people (half of them were farmers) attended the event. The experts have been acquainted with agroforestry concepts and  discussed about opportunities to implement AF practices in Poland. Legislative obstacles were analyzed and ways of improving AF situation regarding its implementation and trees protection discussed. The work schedule was set within frameworks of RAIN development and Knowledge Cloud building. As agroforestry in a new concept for agriculture development in Poland, all RAIN members were very excited about joint work in AFINET project.

Belgium RAIN
On the 10th of July, the 1st RAIN meeting was organised in Belgium. 21 people, most of which being farmers, attended this meeting, that was organised at ILVO in Merelbeke (Ghent). The meeting started with a visit to an experimental agroforestry field at ILVO, where a variety trial of hazelnut trees was recently established, and where the effects are studied of combining short-rotation coppice (willow) or hazelnut trees with laying hens on free-range use, animal welfare, soil conditions and plant growth.
After the field visit, the AFINET project was presented, and each RAIN-member introduced him/herself and explained his/her interest in agroforestry as well as present agroforestry related activities. Next, an interactive brainstorm exercise was held, to identify the main bottlenecks and challenges (potential) agroforestry practitioners are faced with. The meeting was concluded with a discussion on these challenges, through which needs and priorities to focus on during the AFINET project were identified. Practicalities such as how to organise intermediate communication and exchange of information within the group, were also discussed.

UK RAIN
An online survey has been circulated widely via existing contacts and networks in order to define the interests of local stakeholders and establish a base for the UK RAIN. To date we have had 84 responses of which 79 have indicated that they would like to be part of the agroforestry innovation network. Alongside this survey, ORC and Abacus Agriculture have planned a series of short AFINET workshops to consult as widely as possible. These workshops involve a discussion in groups to identify knowledge gaps and barriers to uptake of agroforestry systems, existing innovations and opportunities. The first of these AFINET workshops was held as part of a relevant events for the sector: Elm Farm on the 10th May 2017, Agroforestry 2017 conference 22nd June and Farm Woodland Forum annual meeting 23rd June, National Organic Combinable Crops 6th July and Wakelyns Farm open day 12th July. These events will also be used as opportunities to promote AFINET and to get more participants for the online survey.
Survey and workshop results will then be combined to inform the future priorities and create subgroups within the UK RAIN.

Hungary RAIN
In Hungary, the concept of RAINS was introduced to the participants in the first national AFINET event held on 3th June in Olaszfalu, Veszprém County. The forum focused on the Hungarian wood pastures and was organised principally for herders and advisors. Over sixty people took part in the program which included a technical workshop, followed by a field trip in the local wood pasture system, a trade show of pastoral and silvopastoral products, all embedded in a series of festivity programs. A short video is available about the event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfwSnAeK2eA.

Italy RAIN
The CNR-IBAF RAIN will focus on olive tree agroforestry systems in the territorial area of the municipality of Orvieto, Umbria Region, central Italy, because of the relevance of the olive cultivation in the region, profoundly affecting its economy. With the RAIN we expect to improve the cultural and environmental aspects of olive groves/orchards, implementing the agroforestry components and to improve the olive process identifying innovative use of the residues.  So far, 17 key stakeholders have been invited within the RAIN and we expect that these stakeholders will represent the core group, planning to invite additional stakeholders, to be identified according to the specific issues of the RAIN. The first RAIN will be held in late August-beginning of September.

More information.
 
AFINET links

Agroforestry 2017. 22 June 2017. Cranfield, UK
AFINET was presented in the special session allocated to farmers organized in this relevant event focused in agroforestry.
 
EIP-AGRI workshop 'Organic is Operational'. 14-15 June 2017. Hamburg, Germany
RAINS were presented as an example of multi-actor approach within the agricultural activity. A poster with the main objectives of the project, as well the general methodology was explained to the attendees.
 
IX FICOR. 25-28 May 2017. Coruche, Portugal
Information on project objectives, RAIN objectives and activities, and practical information on how to get involved was displayed in the event.
 
DG AGRI and JRC Workshop “Best practices addressing environmental and climate needs”. 23-24 March 2017. Brussels, Belgium
The project was presented within parts of a conference about agroforestry innovation needs in the framework of the impact assessment for the communication on modernisation and simplification of CAP
 
EIP-AGRI Agroforestry Focus group. 30 November – 1 December 2016. Melle, France
Main goals of the project, Regional Agroforestry Innovation Network creation and management, as well the Knowledge cloud repository were detailed.
 
International Congress of Ecocitric LIFE project. 16-17 November 2016. Val de Uico, Spain.
AFINET main goals and activities were showed among different stakeholders together with other projects.
 
Infoday H2020 Social Challenge 2. 21 November 2016. Madrid, Spain.
The AFINET project was shown in a meeting composed by researchers as a success case of Innovation Thematic Netowork.