Project description
Growing interest in agroforestry
Agroforestry is not new. It is an ancient agricultural practice that is gaining renewed interest. It is a dynamic system that combines trees, crops and livestock on the same area of land; agroforestry systems are not only multifunctional but sustainable. The EU-funded AF4EU project will promote agroforestry in Europe through the development of a multi-actor interactive and innovation-driven expanded agroforestry network. This will be based on the sharing of successful practical experiences. All AF4EU partners have associated networks of agroforestry farmers, policymakers and advisors. The overall aim is the implementation and uptake of agroforestry across Europe. For instance, the project will develop a knowledge platform providing a business support tool and an open online course targeting farmers.
Objective
The overall objective of AF4EU is to promote the European AF through the development of a multi-actor interactive and innovation-driven expanded agroforestry network. This will be based on the sharing of successful practical experiences and existing research knowledge (applied to different and new territories, climates and agricultural sectors) connected through ICT-Tools, with a special focus on the development and implementation of new cost-effective practices, business models and AF-extension services considering the whole food chain and therefore including consumers. All AF4EU partners have associated networks of AF farmers, policy makers and advisors thanks to their leadership of the European Agroforestry Association National Network and others are large farmers association itself (e.g. EFI) that will be an essential part of the 11 Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks including relevant actors and specially operational groups. The Andalucian ministry of agriculture as policy maker is also part of the consortium. A set of 33 successful AF farm business models will be analysed across Europe from a sustainability perspective (economic, environmental and social). The project builds up on previous H2020 projects and aims at developing an AF knowledge platform that integrates a end-user (i) searchable knowledge reservoir namely Knowledge cloud, (ii) an alive-handbook, (iii) an agroforestry innovation business decision support tool (AFi-Bus DSS) including a business and a business environment analysis targeting AF policy in Europe and a Multilingual Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with training modules targeting farmers and advisors. AF4EU will definitively contribute to the implementation and uptake across Europe thanks to the supply of cost-effective business models techniques and a successful communication, dissemination and exploitation planning reaching a large audience in Europe.
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HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
15782 Santiago De Compostela
Spain