Drivers of agroforestry adoption in Northern Ireland in the context of British and Irish policy

Abstract

In recent years, agroforestry has been gaining increasing interest from several land-based sectors in Northern Ireland, notably agriculture. In Northern Ireland the first agroforestry research programme was established in 1989 at the now Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) station at Loughgall, as part of the United Kingdom (UK) National Network Silvopastoral Experiment, and applied research continues at the site. Recent research and development at Loughgall now has a larger focus on climate change, and the investigation of the resilience of agroforestry compared to agricultural and woodland systems. On 8th May 2024, an Agroforestry policy workshop was held in AFBI, Northern Ireland as part of a research project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) “Agroforestry: Responding to Climate Change – Adaptation and Mitigation”. This workshop provided an opportunity to discuss policy drivers and incentives for agroforestry within a range of farming system options and woodland schemes across different jurisdictions. A disparity in financial incentivisation across nations was found, with the greatest benefit vs cost (initial capital outlay plus annual premia payments) in the Republic of Ireland, while the least incentivised schemes were in England and Wales (no financial help with establishment, and lowest annual premia respectively). Although agroforestry has had strong policy support in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland has had relatively few farm-based agroforestry payments; and uptake has been low. It is recommended that drivers other than financial, and barriers to uptake, are effectively explored by policy makers and scientists to ensure sufficient uptake of agroforestry on-farm in Northern Ireland to meet climate, environmental and agricultural industry sustainability and resilience targets. It is believed these findings are critical to refine post-Brexit agricultural policies that are currently under development.