Forests and food main topics to headline agroforestry event

The Irish Agroforestry Forum, in collaboration with Teagasc, is hosting its national agroforestry conference entitled 'Trees, food and the future' in Athenry next week.

The event will take place across two days on Wednesday 12 November and Thursday 13 November at the Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry, Co Galway.

Wednesday will comprise a field visit at Teagasc Athenry with a start time 2pm, while the conference aspect will start at 9.30am on Thursday.

The conference is focused on the integration of trees into productive farming systems.

The conference proceedings on Thursday will be opened by Minister of State for forestry Michael Healy-Rae.

The core of the conference is a line-up of farmers, researchers and consultants sharing their practical experience and technical expertise.

Speakers

Speakers at the conference will include professor Jim McAdam who will discuss the option of integrating trees into farmland and also integrating animals into forest plantations.

He will also explain how the integration of these two systems can benefit both the farmer and the environment.

Farmer Gavin Lynch will detail his experience integrating poultry and calf rearing into a hazelnut agroforestry system and present a case for how farmer co-operation can help scale these diverse enterprises.

Una Wycherley will discuss the next phase of her certified organic farm, focusing on how she is integrating fruit, nut and timber production to create a resilient, diverse system linking food, forestry and craft.

Twenty years of tree planting policy will also be examined by Terry Thomas.