Erosion TTool/Doing Agroforestry
From Triple Performance
Agroforestry is the association of trees and crops or animals on the same plot[1].
Description
Advantages
- Improvement of soil structuring.
- Water filtration and better infiltration.
- Climatic protection of crops with creation of microclimates.
- Increase of biodiversity.
- Carbon sequestration in soils.
- Diversification of the farm with wood production.
Disadvantages
- Management over the long term (30 to 50 years for an valorisation economic return in most cases).
- Requires additional working time so that the plot is never deforested: cutting trees and planting progressively over the years.
- Technical incompatibility (e.g., planting then purchasing new equipment whose length is no longer compatible with the distance between two rows of trees).
Recommendations
- The selection of tree species to plant depends on the technical and economic objectives of the farmer.
- There is a multitude of arrangements: monospecific (e.g., walnut + arable crops; poplar + arable crops) or multispecific (mixtures of forest trees, shrubs, and fruit trees).
- Testimony from Gers: Agroforestry, or the art of reconciling trees and agriculture.
Regulation
CAP declaration: for forest trees, tree alignments and isolated trees are eligible up to 100 trees per hectare regardless of their location on the plot; fruit trees are all eligible.
1 ha of agroforestry = 1 ha of EFA.
