Instant Insights: Agroforestry practices
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The first chapter reviews the use of integrated crop-livestock systems, with a focus on agroforestry systems. The chapter discusses the potential environmental and economic benefits of agroforestry systems, as well as their contribution to animal health and welfare.
The second chapter considers the plantation and management of temperate agroforestry systems which combine timber trees and herbaceous crops. The chapter covers choice of tree species, techniques of tree planting, plantation maintenance and approaches to tree pruning and thinning.
The third chapter provides an overview of the implementation of alley cropping in agroforestry systems. The chapter explores the economic and ecological benefits of alley cropping, as well as the challenges and major considerations of implementing these practices within North America.
The fourth chapter addresses the challenges and key issues in the sustainable production and use of willow as feedstock for biofuel production in northern temperate regions, including the issues of feedstock quality for biofuel use.
The final chapter explores the contribution of agroforestry to meet global strategies to increase biodiversity while sustainably increasing agricultural systems resource efficiency.
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Dr Lindsay Whistance is Senior Livestock Researcher at the Organic Research Centre in the UK. She is internationally known for her research on farm animal behaviour, health, welfare and nutrition in organic agriculture.
Dr María Rosa Mosquera-Losada is Distinguished Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Professor Mosquera-Losada is President of the Spanish Agroforestry Association (AGFE) and a former President of the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF). She is also Coordinator of the EU-funded Agroforestry Innovation Networks (AFINET) project, a Policy Work Package Leader for the EU project AGFORWARD (Agroforestry that will Advance Rural Development) and Data Knowledge Work Package Leader for the EU project EURAKNOS (Connecting Thematic Networks as Knowledge Reservoirs: towards a European Agricultural Knowledge Innovation Open Source System) and is also co-Chair of the Croplands Working Group of the Global Research Alliance and of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (FAO).
Professor Anastasia Pantera is Vice-President of the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. Professor Pantera is an Associate Editor of Agroforestry Systems.
