Agroforestry on upland farms in the UK
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
- For more information and resources about agroforestry, visit www.soilassoci...
Three upland farmers talk about the benefits of giving their livestock access to trees and hedgerows, and why it's good for the animals, soil health, biodiversity, the environment and the bottom line.
Meet Andrew Barbour from Mains of Fincastle in Perthshire, Glasnant Morgan from Pwllyrhwyaid Farm near Brecon in Wales and Freya Meredith from Lower Withecombe Farm on Dartmoor in Devon.
We also hear from Luke Dale Harris, Innovative Farmers silvopasture trial coordinator from FWAG SW, and Kate Still from the Soil Association Farming Team.
Supported by FABulous Farmers
with Innovative Farmers (www.innovative...) and Soil Association Forestry
Support more work like this - become a member of the Soil Association: www.soilassoci...
This video just makes me feel the world will heal sooner if we have enthusiastic agroforestry lovers like those in the videos. My wishes for a good harvest 🙏
This video makes me live safely and freely. It will make the world recover from all stress. We have lovers to grow and invest in crops. This is very beautiful.
What a beautiful barn with the oak. Well done!
Really well-produced and convincing documentary showing why it's so important to plant trees. Well done all the interviewees and the Soil Association
It’s also important to allow areas to naturally regenerate. Sadly at present we get penalised for this 😬
We planted around a thousand or so native trees and hedgerow shrubs 10 years ago. It is now a productive, sheltering and nectar rich life system. Birds, bees, chickens and humans benefit from them. And hazelnut pesto is a revelation. Keep planting like your life depends on it.
Brilliant! Great to see such initiative in the UK!
I'm very happy to see initiatives like this in the UK and I hope more farmers can identify areas that they invest in agroforestry
I loved your documentation style.
When farmers are compassionate about animals and environment its so heart warming.
#Savesoil
Thank you!
When sound business includes excellent land stewardship - examples of farmers at their best. Thank you for the inspiration.
Excellent video Andrew et al.
I really enjoyed that video. Its cool to see how the livestock and forest are able to support one another.
It all comes down to the farmers, brilliant video
So inspiring, keep up the good work!
I'm growing macadamia trees and sharing them on my channel. Macadamia trees grow strongly, are suitable for barren lands and provide quite stable income. afforestation is very good
This is an education and an inspirational one at that
Nice place and Career
This is just a revival of farming methods of centuries ago before 'we humans' cut down the forests for warfare - all the points made in the video are so relevant and true, why have we forgotten how to live with the land instead of off it? Money that's why - I'm so pleased there is a real initiative for those farmers who have lost sight of this to take this on board proper land management and make a difference. Years of intensive farming have destroyed land, wildlife and animal welfare conditions. This revival of living with the land is long long overdue, hurrah for common sense!
Intensification really started post WW2 when farmers were encouraged to continually strive for bigger yields…great to see the emphasis changing now
Nice documentary
Quality video!
Love it!
Been doing this kinda thing for years.
NICE
It would be great to see examples of agroforestry nut crops in the UK, 40x more efficient in terms of energy over animal farming
hey nature works what nuts can you grow in uk,,,other than hazelnut
@@arthursrealm5783 a whole range, Sweet Chestnuts, Walnut. Depends on where you are in the UK and which varieties you go for. Best to ask Martin Crawford direct, or even better, get his book "How to Grow Your Own Nuts" :)
Why not integrate animals into a nut system? The two aren't mutually exclusive.
@@joshuafinch9192Especially pigs
thank you!!!!
plenty of room left for tree swale as well
Yes Yes Yes!
How could you implement this idea on full on industrial, or intensive, lowland dairy farms?
There are opportunities to integrate more trees into any farming systems! For outdoor dairy units splitting fields up with alleys of trees, as is happening at Eastbrook Farm, might be an option. Obviously for indoor housed systems the impact of the trees will be reduced, but there might still be opportunities for capturing ammonia from the houses, or even feeding browse from the trees as tree silage or hay. More info here: www.fwi.co.uk/news/environment/organic-farmer-branches-out-into-agroforestry-to-diversify-income
I would say lanes of trees spaced far enough apart that you can do rotational grazing in between them/ Clusters of trees like you can see being planted in the video are also great. I would check out Greg Judy: ua-cam.com/channels/i8jM5w49UezskDWBGyKq5g.htmlfeatured , as I looked him up I saw that he just posted a videao about establishing a Silvopasture: ua-cam.com/video/juTWpNp9mJs/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GregJudyRegenerativeRancher
Is this by-and-large going back to how we used to do it, or does this add anything new?
What exactly is a 'store lamb'?
I'd love to know if the cows suffered more injuries than normal with them been in the woodland. How often do they check on them? Have they had trouble standing up? Has lameness gone up?
Ah yes, it's difficult to stand up in a wood.
Hi James, thanks for your question! Instead of suffering injuries, cows/livestock are actually better off with trees in many cases. For example, they can use the trees to rub up against and treat skin conditions, or access nutrition from them through grazing. They're also a great source of shelter. As with any environment, stock should still be regularly checked, and if you notice any sharp branches etc you should manage them as necessary (like you would with sharp fence posts). Along with the video, this blog post by one of our Farmer Ambassadors does a great job of explaining the benefits of pairing livestock with #agroforestry: soilassociation.co/3HfM5OO
@@sroberts605 It is when you have 4 legs, no arms and decide to lay down in a stupid place
@@jamessmith5459 Sorry for the sarcasm, I didn't think your comment was serious, hard to tell on youtube where comments could be from anywhere, with possibly quite different livestock characteristics and practices.
My dream is to buying large field around my house, starting there i will be planting some plants and growing some pets. Those're awesome, right ! Just looks like a prophet, right or at least a good king or a good leader who manages his people. Wish me lucky, Insya Allah, Ameen 🌐🇬🇧❤️
Which breed of sheeps?
Isthefarmforsale?
check out the #SaveSoil movement! 🙏🏾 we're trying to bring this approach to the whole world 🗺
00:15
Thats a pretty lofty sh!t.😅🏴
Please rotationally graze.
*I am annoyed!* - many years ago when I found out that cows/cattle are actually a forest animal I asked on the Internet why don't farmers keep cows in woods and little forests and I was told that I was a naive townie and that letting the cows eat wherever they wanted to in the woods would affect the taste of the milk and make it unsellable, now it seems I was right all along. I am bitter, I am angry that I've been misled and lied to.
Yes, very good and very encouraging but I don’t hear any talk about cattle producing methane.
Well I am glad some there finally realized they need trees...not only damn grass and burnings... because that is all they did there.
UAU
How old are baby sheep when they go to the butchers ?
There is no wolfs and bears on farm land and in forests. Why? Farmers in Slovenia are forced to feed the wolves and bears with sheep and calves against their will.
From an environmental point of view farming this way seems like a good solution. But let’s not kid ourselves, , 95% of all animal farming in the world is factory farming. It is the only way to manage the demand.
There is no way near enough land to feed the world population with grass fed animals.
So we should grow sensible to our planet’s capabilities and start consuming less meat less often, reduce the absurd amounts of food waste in hotels/restaurants/functions and at home and eat and live in conjunction with the planet that feeds us, not against it.
@@DeboraLengler how much less meat do you think we should consume?
@@isaacperal9778 sorry bro, I am no dietician to prescribe meal plans.
I completely understand the commonsense of your comment, so I thought you could appreciate the commonsense I sent back at you. It is naive to think we can feed an unconscious society using conscious productive practices.
So that said, don’t you agree that all the while there are people going hungry in your country and in mine, us urban dwellers are having bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch and beef for dinner and that is entirely unnecessary?
Do we really need meat protein in every single meal considering our parents had meat 3x per week and our ancestors hunted and gathered eating a meal every other day if much?
The magnificence of our modern civilisation can also be its doom, we live in so much abundance and can have virtually anything at the click of a button, and yet how much of this abundance is actually serving us well as a species and as individuals, right?
@@DeboraLengler I agree. And would you say the same about dairy products?
Hi Isaac, thanks for your thoughts. Models show that we could feed a growing population in Europe a healthy and sustainable diet if there was a wholesale transition to agroecology in our farming systems. This would, however, involve us all eating roughly 40% less meat. You can read more about the potential of agroecology here www.soilassociation.org/causes-campaigns/a-ten-year-transition-to-agroecology/
I was disappointed the video was so focused on animal agriculture, old paradigm slavery systems. Live "stock". Appreciated the information on how agroforestry can help with flood protection, carbon sequestration & general the regeneration of ecosystems. There are so many other benefits of agroforestry for human beings and a natural ecosystem but there is an obsession with "using" animals.
Slowly..gradually...
@@mcvector76 11:09 lol
What did you think they would raise on upland farms in the UK? Soybeans and quinoa? Those cows and sheep have better lives than any wild animal and most domesticated ones.
@@abequiner9815an excellent response and well made.
It’s focusing on food production and upland farms therefore food production animals that can utilise grass are the obvious choice.
Is it me or is livestock inadvertently being made the hero in this story? Seems backwards.
Nice film too much conifer. Ever seen a herd of cows go at a felled Ash tree
Ahhh promoting Agroforestry and mentioning that having your own fence posts grown on site is good. However you're also promoting hedges that grow tall rather then a true hedge which would contain livestock. Hedge laying is a tradition that's slowly being forgotten about all because post and stock fencing.
Good video besides this. Also would rather see less conifers and more deciduous trees due to how the conifers turn the ground acidic killing off undergrowth
at the end its all about how animals "perform" and that just doesnt sit well with me. by the way who plants trees like this except geometry geeks and goofballs?