UNHIDE Agroforestry booklet 2025.09.22 - Flipbook - Page 21
The system has 20 metres wide alleys, and 4 metre
wide refuges, a distance that is adapted to the farm’s
8 metre wide seed drill.
forestry. The method mimics natural succession
by densely planting a high level of native trees
sourced locally, with as broad a genetic pool in
plant individuals as possible, to speed up the
mycorrhiza collaborations needed to rebuild soil
microbiomes. When established, the tree line can
improve the stress tolerance and survival among
interplanted, more sensible trees.
“Before introducing sensitive trees
such as walnuts or sweet chestnuts in
the system, we ought to mimic natural
succession; start with letting in pioneers
- wind travellers such as willow, alder,
birch and poplar who prefer sun and
bare soils. When they’ve established,
welcome in the midsuccession, semishade tolerant trees such as hawthorn,
elderberry and bird cherry - bird
travellers who accept both bacteria
and fungi dominated soils. Finally let
in sensitive and climax trees that
depend on mycorrhiza collaborations,
- naturally coming in with mammals
and bigger birds”
- Wouter van Eck, Ketelbroek food forest,
the Netherlands.
In Sweden we only have about 40 native tree species, but they form the backbone of the country’s
biodiversity, and thus it’s crucial to integrate them,
we believe, in agroforestry systems, and if needed
to keep them low by coppicing and pollarding.
With a variety of native trees such as oak, bird
cherry, willow, linden, maple and rowan, insects
and birds would be attracted, and in return give an
efficient, integrated pest management. Introducing
plants typical of species-rich forest edges, such as
blackthorn, European hornbeam, sycamore, hawthorn, mountain ash and Swedish whitebeam
would also benefit biodiversity, especially as they
rarely occur in plantation forestry.
We also mentioned the unfortunate fact that shrubs
are not eligible for “tree farming” subsidies according to current Swedish regulations. Many
shrubs such as alder, sea buckthorn, mountain
currant, aronia, sloe, goat willow and other salix
species would be good options in a Nordic adapted alley cropping system, being easy to propagate
from cuttings and providing many ecosystem services without shading out annual crops.
