Two days in the agroforestry landscapes in the province of Girona, Catalonia, 29th – 30th July 2023 A team of researchers from the EU Horizon Europe project ReForest, Marcos Jiménez Martínez and Prajna Kasargodu Anebagilu, both from the University of Bonn, Johannes Schmitt from the University of Marburg, and Rico Hübner from the German Agroforestry Association – DeFAF, embarked on a two-day field trip in the Catalonian province of Girona. The aim is to get in touch with farmers practicing agroforestry and gain insights into the status, management, and challenges of their agroforestry endeavors. ZurückWeiter Day 1 – Silvopastoral Farm with Aubrac and alfalfa at Can Genover On the first day, the group visited the BioGrassFed silvopastoral farm Can Genover in the Alt Empordà County, stretching approximately 370 hectares of mostly ridged terrain on the pre-Pyrenean foothills. The farm contains a mosaic of Mediterranean forests, shrubland, and pasture where a herd of 180 suckler cows of the Aubrac breed ranges freely all year round. Olive orchards dominated the landscape until 1956, when most trees died due to severe frost damage. Since then, the landscape has regenerated naturally as dense mixed-species Mediterranean woodlands composed of holm oak (Quercus ilex), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), olive (Olea europaea), and others. Meanwhile, cereal and oilseed production continued in some arable plots across the property. In 2004, the current owner, Marisa Reig, took on the responsibility for the land from her father. During the first years, she rotated a wide variety of annual crops, finding out that the soil was too compacted and, in general, too infertile to provide any relevant agricultural production or to improve the ecosystems productivity. Therefore, she initiated an ambitious plan to put free-range cows at the center of the farm and landscape management strategy. Studying the philosophy of Allan Savorys Holistic Management, Marisa developed the pasture by sowing perennial grass species, mostly leguminous, such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and stopped using agrochemicals. Since then, the cows graze exclusively on the grassland vegetation from the farm and additionally feed on alfalfa hay. More recently, inspired by the millennial tradition of agroforestry management across the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula, the farmer has thinned some of the densest woodlands to permit cows to roam throughout the farm segments. This is considered beneficial across the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin, in which biomass accumulation in shrubland and forests poses a potential threat due to a higher susceptibility to propagate and increase the severity of wildfires across these drought-prone regions. Truly critical in hilly areas, where extinction operations are complicated – even becoming impossible at times. By ranging within the woodlands, cows benefit from adding aromatic plants, twigs, and leaves from trees and bushes to their diets, while trampling the terrain and avoiding undesired re-growth of the under-story. The cattle herd moves weekly across a network of pastures subdivided by electric fences. Rotational grazing and open-air resting promote the re-growth of pastureland species and allow vegetation regeneration. During our visit, we observed a large variety of native leguminous species and vigorous populations of economically valuable plants, such as fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). The BioGrassFed initiative is a good example of how biodiversity and human land use can complement each other to support health, income generation, and regional value. ZurückWeiter Day 2 – Transition from plantation forests to silvoarable agroforestry systems On the second day of the field trip, the director of EMYS Foundation, Ander Achetegui Castells, joined the group, and we visited more than a handful of silvoarable plots on the properties of Antoni in the municipality Riudarenes in the La Selva county. Located in a flat valley bottom, the municipalitys name means sand-river, as we could witness while walking around the plots. Likewise, the countys name means forest, which indicates its original landscape, which, in turn, may also explain its aptitude for silvicultural production. Along our way, we passed through several monoculture tree plantations, prevailed by Sycamore (of the genus Platanus). The first alley-cropping system we encountered had a size of approximately ten hectares and was planted in the winter of 2022 with 4 m poplar rods (Populus spp.), placed 80 cm into the ground, and wheat growing underneath. At the same site, a part was planted with poplars six years earlier; one could see the trees more mature. The trees are heavily mulched with straw around the stem to keep the moisture in the soil. Both plots have been converted into agroforestry from previous mono-crop tree plantations. The walnut agroforestry system – approximately two hectares in size – was stocked with walnut hybrids (Juglans regia x J. nigra), now seven years of age and cultivated with rapeseed. This site was already the second trial by farmer Antoni on that plot after having suffered a harvest failure from the last cherry tree plantation. The cherries suffered difficulties due to exposure to the sun and drought conditions. Antoni also reports increasing incidents with the wild boar population, as the area is not fenced. Damage includes marks on the young trees, all too often breaking them off, besides feeding on the grain before the harvest. This problem is relieved by placing dry branches of Robinia (Robinia pseudoacacia) around the young stems. The plan is to remove damaged or multistemmed trees and free space for cereal production after some years. Intercropping usually involves wheat, rapeseed, and barley in the rotation. Our hosts then took us to the up-slope of the valley to show us a section of a mixed-species woodland formed by cork oak (Quercus suber), chestnut (Castanea sativa), pines (Pinus spp.) and shrub species, which had been clearcut in 2022 to harvest mature pine trees. In 2023, Tritordeum was sown, a drought-resistant and water-efficient hybrid of durum wheat (Triticum durum) and wild barley (Hordeum chilense) with good nutritional value and agro-processing features. With this intervention, the farmer expected to promote the growth of healthy trees and their cork-producing aptitude while obtaining an annual income from the arable crop. Finally, farmer Antoni drove us back to the valley bottom near the river to show us a medium-aged mixed-tree plantation of poplar and two varieties of Persian walnut (Juglans regia), which he expects to resist climate crisis better than walnut hybrids. Mixing tree species instead of a one-species plantation is still very innovative in the region, but according to Antoni, it works well. The tree population looked healthy and vigorous, but the site benefited from loamy soils near the river and the groundwater table within reach. Poplars, which were about twice as high as the walnut trees, are grown in a rotation of 15 years and will be logged within the next few years, some years earlier as in plantation forestry, opening the space for the cultivation of cereals and giving room in the crown for the walnuts. The farmer is convinced of the beneficial interaction between the walnut and cereal production that he plans to extend to the neighboring fields, but solely with Walnuts. ZurückWeiter In the afternoon, we visited the landscape managed by the EMYS Foundation. After a well-deserved meal made from seasonal local and some non-marketable products in Can Moragues and an enriching exchange of perspectives and ideas with Ander and his colleague Carla, they showed us three plots within a cropland landscape aligned with woody hedgerows. The trees were planted in spring 2023 within the network of demonstrative sites in the EU Life AgroForAdapt project. Plot I was a four-hectare wheat field subdivided in its middle section by a row of elderberry (Sambucus nigra). The aim is to increase the edge effect for biodiversity and ecosystem functions such as pest control by natural antagonists and pollination services from insects by increasing the perimeter of woody hedgerows without reducing the operational efficiency of common-size tractors. The other two plots were alley cropping systems with fruit trees. Unfortunately, both of them showed signs of potential failure. The other systems follow an alley-cropping layout. Plot II was established on a field with very low fertility after decades of intensive cultivation of cereal and ryegrass (Lolium spp.). Well-marketable varieties of apple (Malus spp.), pear (Pyrus spp.), and apricot (Prunus armeniaca) saplings were planted in six single species rows at a distance of 16 m in-between rows and 4 m spacing within the row and drip irrigation installed. By appearance, most leaves displayed some sort of unidentified wilt. In the case of the pears, this could even be pear rust. This might have been triggered by the neighboring juniper stands a common vector for this disease. The planting also showed the absolute necessity for proper protection of the young trees – not only by an outer fence against deer or wild boar but also directly at the stem by a tree protection sleeve – several trees showed fresh gnawing marks from rodents or rabbits. Plot III is dedicated to vegetable agroforestry (leafy vegetables, gourds, etc.) and was planted with almonds (Prunus dulcis). These saplings showed heavy signs of water stress, and many trees appeared dead. Ander and Carla explained what went wrong: 1) the planting date was in spring instead of winter, thus too late in the season; 2) the bare-rooted planting material could not be planted immediately due to a lack of workforce and 3) technical difficulties with the irrigation to distribute water over the long hosepipes to the remote plot exaggerated by some clogging of the drip emitters. Common elements that may clog the system are calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese, where calcium carbonate is the most common precipitate. As a first reaction, the almond saplings were pruned radically to see if they would regrow. If they fail to display signs of recovery, they will likely be substituted by other tree species. Towards the end of the tour, Carla and Ander showed us the local seed bank of the EMYS Foundation, where they collect and promote forgotten regional varieties. We are very grateful to all our guests in Catalonia for their hospitality and the time dedicated to us. We thank Jaime Coello from the CTFC and the AgroForAdapt project for facilitating the connections. We return to Germany with many new ideas. This visit was made possible by the EU ReForest project, a pdf-report can be downloaded here. It was the start of what surely will become a long-lasting and fruitful exchange to promote the re-adoption of agroforestry management across Europe. Der Beitrag REFOREST Excursion Catalonia (Beitrag in EN) erschien zuerst auf Agroforst.
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