1) Agroforestry is a land use system where trees are combined with crops and/or livestock on the same land area, providing ecological and economic interactions between tree and agricultural components. 2) Agroforestry can help manage water stress and floods by increasing soil porosity and organic matter, slowing rainfall and overland flow to improve water infiltration. Tree roots stabilize soil and trees act as water pumps. 3) Research shows agroforestry can reduce nitrogen leaching by up to 50% compared to arable land, as trees capture nitrogen not used by crops to improve water quality.

1. Stephen Briggs
stephen.briggs@abacusorganic.co.uk
Water & Catchment management using Agroforestry

2. Not good in
the countryside
Not good
in towns
or
the countryside
Too much or too little

3. The answer ?
Water stress & flood
rather than
being reactive.....

4. But .......
• Climate change
• Pressure on land use
• Food production
• Regulation WFD,CAP etc
• Global markets
• Finance

5. • Land use where trees are combined with crops and/or
livestock on the same unit of land and where there is
significant ecological or economic interaction between
the tree and the agricultural components
AGROFORESTRY

6. Agroforestry &
livestock production

7. Grain production
Agroforestry & crop
production
Biomass
Fruit
&
Nuts

8. lowland agriculture
Riparian systems

9. Catchment scale

10. Pontbren
shows
it works

11. Flood plain Agroforestry at Gardon d’Alès river, (Southern France)
diverting flood water away from the river and trapping detritus within the tree rows

12. Increase soil porosity & soil organic matter
Slowing rainfall, overland flow & Improving water infiltration

13. Roots stabilise soil & trees act as water pumps

14. Soil, Nutrient & Water management
Source : Research by INRA Restinclières, France
AgricultureAgroforestry Forestry
Average nitrate leaching
Kg / ha / yrUp to 50% less N
lost under
Agroforestry than
arable
Trees capture N
not used by crops
Reduced Nitrogen leaching & improved water quality

15. Improved sun & water utilisation
Greater overall productivity
LER’s
1.1 to 1.4
Tree and crop yields for
42 tree-crop combinations
http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas/naturalresources/research/projects/safe.jsp
Balancing productivity with environment management

16. •Improved soil & water quality protection
•Wind speeds reduced
•Reduced evaporation and water loss from crops
•Microclimate modified
•Carbon capture (1.5 – 4.0 t carbon/ha/yr)

17. Is agroforestry scalable to mainstream agriculture?

18. UK – 4.7 million ha arable land Henan Province 3.2 million ha agroforestry
Henan

19. 52ha of Agroforestry at my own farm in Cambridgeshire

20. Policy
• Agroforestry eligible under new CAP
– Greening measures
– Ecological Focus Area (EFA) option
• Pillar II schemes
– ERDP or similar options
• Article 23 Pillar II 80% funding (5yr plant & Maintenance)
• Defra has not implemented measures in England

21. • EURAF www.agroforestry.eu/
• AGFORWARD www.agforward.eu/
• AGROFE www.agrofe.eu
Knowledge transfer & research is key

22. Farmers could
easily adopt
agroforestry on
10-20% of their
land
Trees grow
in most
places
Agroforestry is one of the few
options with the potential to
help reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, help protect
natural resources, reduce
flood impact - whilst at the
same time produce more
food and biomass

23. Stephen Briggs
stephen.briggs@abacusorganic.co.uk