UNHIDE Agroforestry - A Knowledge Exchange Latvia- Sweden 2023-25 - Report - Page 44
Vadakste Forest Farm: Edible landscape, Latvia
PLANTING TREES IN
THE FOREST
VADAKSTE FOREST FARM (former Vadakste
Biodiversity Farm) in southwestern Latvia is a partially fenced 50 hectares, mostly forested area in
flat terrain, on calcareous clay soils, surrounded
by state-owned spruce monoculture plantations.
Agnis Graudulis, a trained horticulturist and forester, began implementing his vision for his land
in 2019; a seed source for biodiversity and trees
for food and timber.
The ambition is to restore the vegetation to its
original deciduous forest character in combination with adopting the concept of PNV, “poten-
Linden (Tilia cordata).
tially natural vegetation”, in terms of reintroducing
native vegetation and assisting the migration of
new vegetation, as an increasingly warmer climate
opens up new possibilities for planting nut trees.
The land contains several systems of different
types of vegetation.
Initially, what caught our interest from a Swedish
perspective—to the extent that we made a film
about it,—was the establishment of several
thinned stands of pioneer grey alder (Alnus
incana) on former arable land, underplanted
with cherry (Prunus avium), linden (Tilia cordata),
maple (Acer platanoides), walnut (Juglans nigra),
sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), larch (Larix
decidua), wild pear (Pyrus pyraster), wild apple
(Malus sylvestris), beech (Fagus sylvatica), and
