6.11.2025

DigitAF members Bohdan Lojka, Jakub Houška, Christian Dupraz, Gerardo Moreno, and Michael den Herder attended the 6th World Congress on Agroforestry which was held in Kigali, Rwanda 20-24 October 2025, under the slogan “Agroforestry for People, Planet and Profit”. Read the full story here!

A new paper from  the DigitAF Horizon Europe project explores the perceptions of stakeholders regarding agroforestry and digitalization, as well as the needs of these stakeholders for a successful implementation of this agricultural practice. The work bases on a questionnaire which was completed by stakeholders from seven European countries, including farmers, academics, policy actors, farm advisors, and actors in the value chain with an interest in agroforestry. Stakeholders from six living labs, representing Czechia, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK, were involved in the study, along with a multi-stakeholder group from Belgium. Respondents used data and digital tools for various purposes in farming and were interested in their potential to improve agroforestry including animal, tree, and crop performance, management guidance, system design, and tree species selection. The survey revealed that the perceived usefulness of digital tools for agroforestry was substantially higher than stakeholders' awareness of existing tools, indicating a need for better promotion and development of user-friendly, accessible solutions. Moving forward, efforts should focus on developing targeted solutions to promote agroforestry according to stakeholder perception, and user-friendly digital tools tailored to the needs of the stakeholders, while also increasing knowledge sharing among practitioners and researchers.

Reference: Tranchina, M., Burgess, P., Cella, F.G., Cumplido-Marin, L., Gosme, M., den Herder, M., Kay, S., Lawson, G., Lojka, B., Palma, J., Pardon, P., Reissig, L., Reubens, B., Prins, E., Vandendriessche, J., Mantino, A., 2024. Exploring agroforestry limiting factors and digitalization perspectives: insights from a european multi-actor appraisal. Agroforest Syst. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-024-01047-x

At the international agroforestry conference EURAF 2024, the institutions jointly concluded the Brno Agroforestry Declaration on the implementation of agroforestry in Europe. The Declaration focuses on the knowledge and actions needed in the field of agroforestry for landscape features and tree production in Europe. The agroforestry conference was held in the presence of ministers, representatives of the region and the city, as well as presence of EU Commission representatives. More info here