Browsing by Author "Graves, A."
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- Agroforestry can mitigate environmental problems in european agricultural deficit areasPublication . Kay, S.; Roces-Diaz, J.; Crous-Duran, J.; Giannitsopoulos, M.; Graves, A.; den Herder, M.; Moreno, G.; Mosquera-Losada, M.R.; Pantera, A.; Palma, J.H.N.
- Alley coppice: an innovative land use system - options of system design with experimental evidencePublication . Paris, P.; Facciotto, G.; Tosi, L.; Nahm, M.; Morhart, C.; Douglas, G.C.; Lunny, R.; Dupraz, C.; Andre, J.; Graves, A.Agroforestry and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), for timber and bioenergy wood production, are recognized as economically viable and sustainable as separate cropping systems under ideal growing conditions. Little is known about agricultural and ecological interactions which might occur combining them in a tree-based intercropping system. This mixed approach, called alley coppice, is currently investigated in an European research Project (www.agrocop.com), and has important advantages: (i) a regular income guaranteed from the SRC component; (ii) light competition between species can often improve the stem form of timber trees; (iii) timber trees can be planted at the final spacing, avoiding expensive thinning; (iv) SRC component protects young timber trees from wind/storm damage; (v) alley coppice is expected to have positive impacts on biodiversity, and reducing soil erosion. Three system designs are currently investigated: Simultaneous planting (SP); Lagged planting (LP) and Border planting (BP). In SP, timber and SRC components are planted in the same year; the key investigated factor is the distance between timber trees and the first SRC row, comparing 1, 2, 3 m in plantations in Ireland, Germany and Italy. A tree row width of three meters guaranteed satisfying growth rates of Sorbus and Pyrus timber trees in a mixture with 2-yr SRC poplar (Populus spp) in Italy, improving timber wood quality. LP, with planting SRC under adult timber trees, is studied in France and Ireland, according to timber tree age, species and inter-row spacings. In France, light and water competition had significant effects on poplar SRC growth and yield according to the distance from the walnut trees. BP involves planting timber trees along the borders of SRC blocks. Experimental plantations were established in Ireland and Germany, with the aim of avoiding asymmetric light competition that might hamper stem form of timber trees. Guidelines for practitioners on alley coppice optimization will be provided at the end of the project.
- Assessing the environmental externalities of arable, forestry and silvoarable systems: new developments in farm-SAFEPublication . Garcia de Jalon, S.; Graves, A.; Kaske, K.J.; Palma, J.H.N.; Crous-Duran, J.; Burgess, P.J.
- Forage-SAFE: a tool to assess the management and economics of wood pasture systemsPublication . García de Jalón, S.P.J.; Graves, A.; Moreno, G.; Palma, J.H.N.; Crous-Duran, J.; Oliveira, T.; Burgess, P.J.The Forage-SAFE model has been developed to better understand the impact of trees on the profitability of wood pastures. It assesses the daily balance between the demand for and production of forage to estimate an annual farm net margin. The model allows the modification of selected biophysical and financial parameters related to the tree, pasture and livestock components (such as tree cover density, carrying capacity and livestock species) which can be optimised to maximise net farm income. A case study in a dehesa wood pasture in South-western Spain was used to show the applicability of the model. The case study results showed that net margin was maximised at around 27% tree cover for a carrying capacity of 0.4 livestock unit per hectare from which 61% were ruminants and 39% Iberian pigs. The analysis also showed that high carrying capacities were positively correlated with tree cover profitability. This was accentuated as the proportion of Iberian pigs increased
- Forage-SAFE: a tool to assess the management and economics of wood pasture systemsPublication . Garcia de Jalon, S.; Graves, A.; Moreno, G.; Palma, J.H.N.; Crous-Duran, J.; Burgess, P.J.Forage-SAFE is a spreadsheet model that has been developed within the AGFORWARD project to better understand the interactions between trees, the grass understorey and livestock on the profitability of wood pastures. It can be used to assess the daily balance between the demand for and the production of forage to estimate an annual farm net margin. It is possible to use the model to modify biophysical and financial parameters related to the tree, pasture and livestock components (such as tree cover density, carrying capacity and livestock species) in order to maximise net farm income
- Integrating a finantial module in the Web-Ecoyield-SAFE model for bioeconomic assessment of agroforestry systemsPublication . Tomás, A.; Palma, J.H.N.; Graves, A.; Garcia de Jalon, S.; Burgess, P.J.
- Social and economical evaluation of innovative alley coppice systems mixing timber trees with bioenergy wood crops in agroforestry systemsPublication . Tosi, L.; Nahm, M.; Paris, P.; Pisanelli, A.; Lunny, R.; Morhart, C.; Graves, A.Alley coppice (AC) is an innovative agroforestry system where high value timber trees in lines are intercropped with bioenergy short rotation coppice (SRC). AC potentially provides several production and environmental benefits, although so far these are poorly investigated. Thus, research on farmer interest in AC systems, and preliminary economic evaluations, have been made on the AgroCop European project (www.agrocop.com). A questionnaire was conducted with farmers in Italy to identify and assess their interests and concerns regarding AC systems. Farmers appeared to be familiar with managing forest plantations as species mixtures and the value of fuelwood. However, the value of the timber and biomass produced during the rotation appeared to be farmers’ main source of uncertainty, with no clear idea of what demand there would be for both wood products, and they assigned a higher rank to the importance of environmental benefits (biodiversity, landscape, soil fertility improvement). This indicated that there was a need to study the economic performance of the AC system developing two tools: a simplified economic calculator for stakeholders, that can estimate and compare net present value (NPV) of different AC systems, and a more complex model, adapting FarmSAFE. Biophysical data was generated using LERSAFE. Wood chips from the SRC component were found to have a low market value, and AC profitability depends mostly on the timber trees, with the essential need to optimize revenue from the valuable timber, especially by maximizing its quality. Therefore, the SRC component has an important role to play in increasing the quality of the valuable timber by improving timber tree form, reducing the costs of management operations and for giving a revenue during the growth of standard trees. AC could be an innovative option for timber and bioenergy production, integrating some of the advantages that are characteristic of agroforestry systems into mixed tree plantations.
- Yield-SAFE model improvements. Milestone Report 29 (6.4)Publication . Palma, J.H.N.; Graves, A.; Crous-Duran, J.; Upson, M.; Paulo, Joana Amaral; Oliveira, T.S.; Garcia de Jálon, S.; Burgess, P.The Yield-SAFE model is a parameter-sparse, process-based dynamic model for predicting resource capture, growth, and production in agroforestry systems that has been frequently used by various research organisations in recent years. Within the AGFORWARD project, the model has been enhanced to more accurately predict the delivery of ecosystem services provided by agroforestry systems relative to forestry and arable systems. This report also summar izes the new developments made in the model which were partially implemented during AGFORWARD modelling workshops held in 1) Monchique in Portugal in May 2015, 2) Kriopigi in Greece in June 2015, 3) Lisbon in Portugal in November 2015 and 4) Lisbon in Febru ary 2016 .