Webinar New Approaches to Agroforestry Training from Around the World

This is the second of four International webinars organised by the Farm Woodland Forum, Irish Agroforestry Forum and Interlace Commons linked to the need for agroforestry training provision, learning from areas of the world that adopted agroforestry policies earlier and have already developed a range of training protocols to meet increasing demand for knowledge linked to agroforestry schemes. Regards Andrew Ormerod FWF secretary

Presenters

USA

* Meghan Giroux from Interlace Commons

Interlace Commons’ mission is to promote the adoption of agroforestry land-use practices that address climate change and land degradation and move toward resilient, biodiverse landscapes that enhance livelihoods. We achieve our mission through farmer-driven field projects, education, and research initiatives throughout the Northeastern United States.

* Katie Commendar from Appalachian Sustainable Development.

Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) Agroforestry Program was founded in 2010 with the goal of helping farmers adopt agroforestry practices that support both conservation and specialty crop production.

They will relate their experience of agroforestry training in the USA successes and challenges.

Mainland Europe and Ireland

* Julia Gunzel - Co-founded the German Association for Agroforestry (DeFAF) in 2019, which aims at promoting agroforestry in the country as a sustainable land use system. They have members and supporters from diverse sectors, ranging from government and politics, practical agriculture, sociology and the renewable energy sector. Her presentation will include learning from the training courses they have been running for a diverse audience.

* Sarah Carton - Agroforestry Flanders developed an e-learning course for those interested in learning about and adopting Agroforestry in Flanders Belgium. Their website contains useful information about local agroforestry, including a knowledge hub and decision-support tools available in their Agroforestry Planner. Members of their consortium also provide in-person advice by phone and email, and in some cases farm visits (paid service).

Sarah has been involved in Train the Trainer initiatives in Flanders and South of the Netherlands. Sarah will be combining her presentation with Maureen Kilgore.

* Maureen Kilgore from the Irish Agroforestry Forum which has adapted the e-learning course to meet the needs of people wanting to learn about or adopt agroforestry practices in Ireland. The IAF has been actively involved in engaging with farmers, foresters and policy makers through a range of approaches including topical webinars, farm visits and answering farmers queries on the phone.

Your chance to have a say

We are trying to make the webinar as interactive as possible with maximum audience participation, so it's great to hear or read any experiences from any of you who have delivered or been through training or are in search of knowledge and answers emanating from agroforestry training in whatever form. Hopefully with plenty of input from UK, European and US attendees in the Q & A afterwards.