UNHIDE Agroforestry booklet 2025.09.22 - Flipbook - Page 50
Skrīveri demo-trial: forestry on farmland, Latvia
Goat’s-rue (Galega officinalis) under the canopy of grey and black alder.
SKRĪVERI FORESTRY DEMOSTRATION TRIAL
was established in 2011 as a trial for introduced,
fast-growing and short rotation tree species and
perennial crops with potentially high industrial
yield for plantation on agricultural land in an increasingly warmer climate. The site is managed in
a collaboration between the Agricultural Institute
of Latvia, and the State Forestry Research Institute
Silava.
Trees planted here are; Norway maple (Acer
platanoides L.), sweet cherry (Prunus avium L. syn.
Cerasus avium Moench), willow (Salix), small-leaved linden (Tilia cordata Mill.), birch (Betula pendula L.), poplars (Populus spp), English oak (Quercus
robur L.), black alder (Alnus glutinosa), grey alder
(Alnus incana) and hybrids of alders and hybrids
of aspens (Populus temula X tremuloides) and
some native hazel bushes (Corylus avelana L).
To avoid weeds and to effectively use the space
Anders Lindén & Dagnija Lazdina.
Sid 15-16
between the trees, fast growing grasses and caulescent plants with high energy value were sown,
such as Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea),
Galega (Galega officinalis), large leaf lupin (Lupinus polyphyllus L.) and Festolium (Festuca sp.) to
produce industrial biomass for biogas and pellets.
Where the sowing was not done, traditional meadow plants have come in naturally. Mushrooms such
as Scaber Stalks (Leccinum spp.) also came naturally after a few years.
The trees in the trial are approximately the same
age and size, planted in rows that are slightly
sparser than in traditional Latvian forest plantations, but still have the same repetitive structure - a
non random and no multi-layer order, creating less
habitat and enhancing less biodiversity compared
to a natural forest, food forest or a forest garden.
Part of the experiment has been to test different
fertilizers such as wood ash, residues from digestate production and municipal wastewater sludge.
