Objective
The European agriculture policy implies diversification of agriculture production and new uses of farmland. In this context forestry is an important means to rural development, for example, through afforestation of abandoned farmland and the use of forests for multiple purposes. However, more knowledge is needed to overcome the various different constraints that are evident in some European countries.
More knowledge is especially needed on socio-political and technical/silvicultural aspects of farm forestry in the context of rural developments. These aspects should be studied in mountainous areas as a special case, because nowhere are people so dependent on forests as in the mountainous areas.
Current status
Working Group 1
Collaborative research on the public perception of and the attitudes of farmers and forest owners towards forestry as a means to rural development.
Working Group 2
Research on management and silvicultural options of farm forestry. The first objective is to define methodologies able to improve or to regenerate existing forests and woodlands that are part of farms, in order to drive them outside the autoconsumption cycle and to increase the farmer's revenue by production of high quality timber for sale. The second objective is to create methodologies to define the best techniques for the afforestation of former agricultural fields, in order to get high and regular revenues from the production of high quality timber.
Working Groups 3 and 4
Research into the role of forests in protecting mountainous areas. The main objective is the conservation, improvement and reconstitution, according to ecological principles, of healthy and stable mountainous forests, through proper forest management by the forest owner and his representatives. The secondary objectives refer to the evaluation of political means and silvicultural techniques that have to be applied to achieve the main objective. Working Group 3 deals with the evaluation of policy means, while the focus of Working Group 4 is on the silvicultural means.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
2970 Hørsholm
Denmark