Stop 10 – Agroforestry: the practice

Agroforestry is the deliberate growing of trees and shrub with agricultural crops, in the same surface unit, with the possible presence of animals
Agroforestry:

  • is very widespread in tropical and equatorial countries
  • has almost disappeared in the simplified cropping systems of western countries that have adopted intensive agriculture, where monoculture has supplanted the wooded arable land and wooded pastures
  • ongoing revaluation in innovative agricultural systems
    • to achieve the objectives of economic and environmental sustainability
    • to contribute to the agreement on the Paris climate – COP21 which provides for a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Long-term trial on agroforestry systems underway at CiRAA

  • location: Arnino
  • trial area: 40 hectares
  • Factors being compared:
    • conventional three-year agricultural rotation (without trees)
    • conventional seven-year mixed rotation (without trees)
    • three-year agricultural silvoarable rotation
    • seven-year mixed agrosilvopastoral rotation
  • annual crops: durum wheat, sorghum and pigeon bean
  • polyphite grassland with a four-year duration: Italian ryegrass, small grass, fescue, alfalfa and sulla clover

Herbaceous crops are associated with polycyclic oak rows (Quercus robur – 40 year cutting cycle) and clones of poplar hybrids (Populus spp. – 10 year cutting cycle) in BES (Best Environmental Sustainability) placed five meters from each other, near the drainage ditches of each plot. Two different poplar densities are compared: 60 and 100 trees per hectare
In total, around 2000 trees were planted

Expected results in terms of ecosystem services

  • carbon storage
  • reduced risk of nitrate leaching
  • microclimate improvement
  • soil and biodiversity conservation

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