Agroforestry in Europe

Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations – that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms – has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.

Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations – that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms – has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.

Definitions and Components of Agroforestry Practices in Europe.- Classifications and Functions of Agroforestry Systems in Europe.- Agroforestry Systems in Europe: Productive, Ecological and Social Perspectives.- Farmer Perceptions of Silvoarable Systems in Seven European Countries.- European Mediterranean Agroforestry Systems.- Traditional Agroforestry Systems and Their Evolution in Greece.- Silvopastoral Systems in Portugal: Current Status and Future Prospects.- The Functioning, Management and Persistence of Dehesas.- Silvopastoral Systems in the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula: A Multifunctional Perspective.- Agroforestry Systems in Southeastern Spain.- Role of Livestock Grazing in Sustainable Use, Naturalness Promotion in Naturalization of Marginal Ecosystems of Southeastern Spain (Andalusia).- Role of Various Woody Species in Spanish Mediterranean Forest and Scrubland as Food Resources for Spanish Ibex (Capra pyrenaica Schinz) and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus L.).- Agroforestry Systems in Italy: Traditions Towards Modern Management.- Economics of Multiple Use Cork Oak Woodlands: Two Case Studies of Agroforestry Systems.- European Black Truffle: Its Potential Role in Agroforestry Development in the Marginal Lands of Mediterranean Calcareous Mountains.- European Atlantic Agroforestry Systems.- Assessment of the Extent of Agroforestry Systems in Europe and Their Role Within Transhumance Systems.- Agroforestry in the Netherlands.- The Potential for Silvopastoralism to Enhance Biodiversity on Grassland Farms in Ireland.- European Continental Pannonian and Alpine Agroforestry Systems.- Wood Pastures in Germany.- The Swiss Mountain Wooded Pastures: Patterns and Processes.- In Slovenia: Management of Intensive Land Use Systems.- The Traditions, Resources and Potential of ForestGrowing and Multipurpose Shelterbelts in Hungary.- Future Directions of Agroforestry in Europe.