With Agroforestry, the AFaktive project hopes to improve water retention in the landscape. This form of climate adaptation helps to protect against drought, erosion and flooding due to changing weather conditions.
To monitor the results, Royal Eijkelkamp takes measurements of the entire water cycle around Agroforestry during the project. This takes place on demonstration farms in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, at two locations per country at minimum. For this purpose, research, monitoring, and sampling equipment will be used to generate valuable data on the basis of which models can be built. Analyzes of soil life will also be carried out.
With Agroforestry, planting trees is consciously combined with agriculture and/or livestock farming. This is a nature-inspired method, where trees and lower vegetation also grow together. Trees are able to keep stress off the landscape, for example by blocking hot or cold winds and providing shade. Tree roots also help absorb groundwater, which helps prevent flooding.
This agricultural method has the potential to make European agriculture and urban areas more resistant to the extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change. By choosing fruit and nut trees, additional food yields are also achieved.
This form of climate adaptation can only be a success if farmers are willing to apply it to their agricultural land. That is why they are involved in this project at an early stage. The measurements therefore take place on demo farms and the data collected will help to demonstrate the benefits of Agroforestry.
Within the AFaktive project, urgently needed practical projects will be carried out for five years to test Agroforestry systems in agriculture and thus improve water management. The participants in the consortium come from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The project receives a subsidy from the EU Life program and was started in November 2023.
