1. ILVO The development of agroforestry systems in Flanders. A farming systems approach to social, institutional and economic inquiry. 4th Belgian Agroecology Meeting 17 November 2015 Leuven, Belgium

2. ILVO RESEARCH OUTLINE

3. ILVO Problem statement Flanders, 1960’s: naturally integrated land use systems Agricultural intensification and scaling-up Flanders, 2000: trees and hedgerows on and between agricultural parcels have largely disappeared

4. ILVO Problem statement Flanders, 2011-2015: subsidy program for modern AF systems BUT response of farmers remains low Greening the CAP through agroforestry? Flanders, 2000: trees and hedgerows on and between agricultural parcels have largely disappeared

5. ILVO Research questions: 1.Why do agroforestry systems despite their benefits currently not have a breakthrough in Flanders? 2.Which requirements are necessary to give incentives for the breakthrough of agroforestry systems in Flanders? 3.Which organized or market- based governance models can foster agroforestry implementation by using the benefits of agroforestry to create value for society? A farming systems research approach

6. ILVO Mix of methodologies Semi-structured interviews Focus groups Q-methodology Stakeholder Analysis Discourse Analysis Open interviews with farmers and other SH Document Analysis Market and Chain Research Action Research Choice experiments Economic modelling at farm level Follow-up of Starters Repeated open interviews Who are the different SH involved, what are SH’s interests/power and what are SH’s perspectives on AF development? What are the structures, cultures, practices that make AF at this moment unattractive for farmers? What is the impact of context? What are possible markets for AF-products? Which alternative financing and marketing schemes can further support AF adoption? Who are the experiences of starters over time?

7. ILVO STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

8. ILVO Research questions and methodologies Research questions – Who are the different stakeholders involved? – What are the SH’s interests in AF? How can SH’s influence the development of AF in Flanders? – What are SH’s perspectives on AF? Methodologies 1.Semi-structured interviews 2.Focus groups 3.Q-methodology

9. ILVO Semi-structured interviews – Snowball sampling technique – 25 interviews from July-October 2015 – Structured around different themes – Transcription of interviews + coding in Nvivo What is AF for you? In which context did you already hear about AF? Knowledge How feasible/desirable is AF in Flanders? Why are farmers today not very interested in agroforestry? Perspective What are (dis)advantages of AF for your organization? What is the impact of AF-implementation on your organization? Interests How can your organization promote or stimulate AF? Influence Which other SH’s should be involved? How important are these SH? What are their perspectives? Other SH’s

10. ILVO Focus groups – 2 focus groups with a variety of SH’s – Planning: End november – Means: Power-interest diagram

11. ILVO Q-methodology – Goal: learn about the different perspectives on agroforestry – Statements: collected from interviews and focus groups – Participants have to order statements from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ in a predefined raster = Q- sort – Perspectives are extracted through factor analysis

12. ILVO Preliminary results 6 stakeholder groups

13. ILVO Preliminary results Farmers and private landowners We don’t speak about farmers but about ‘agricultural entrepreneurs’, and in the end it is all about income In order to convince them, it is important that farmers hear about it from farmers they trust Farmers are people of tradition, they do the same things for generations, and you need more time in order to achieve a mentality-switch Farmers are practical people, and as a farmer I know right away that there are practical difficulties In Flanders, we have a situation of lease and ownership and the owner will not be happy if the farmer wants to plant trees on his plot Plus, you create shadows, we have enough experience with trees on the border of plots to be aware of that.

14. ILVO Preliminary results Farmer organizations They are important because if the farmer organizations don’t belief in it, farmers will not adopt it. If there is clarity about the economic and juridical aspects, I think you have to go through the agricultural organizations to convince farmers If it turns out that agroforestry is economically viable, than we will promote it We are too small to have a lot of influence, and those with a lot of influence are not interested It is not really a topic within the organization, there are too many other more important topics that need our attention The consultants who visit the farmers are the ones you have to convince

15. ILVO The few times that I heard about the term, it is always linked with subsidies. So I don’t know anything more about it then ‘it has something to do with subsidies’ Preliminary results Suppliers and buyers If the sale of wood coming from agricultural plots is feasable or not, all depends on where the plot is, how much timber it contains and what quality of timber it is. It all depends on the context. The timber sector is really looking for more poplar At this moment they don’t have any interest, but once the trees are ready for harvest, they can have an important influence through price setting of the timber! Currently, our company does not have the goal to really use this, because we don’t see what the financial benefit could be for us Our companies need timber, but where it comes from, doesn’t matter, as long as it is produced sustainably

16. ILVO Preliminary results Government If they establish a subsidy program, they should combine it with an action program. The role of the government should be listening to civil society. In the past they invented too many rules to make everything difficult. If we have to convince someone, then it is the government. They have to give legal certainty to the owner and the user of the agricultural plot The government should facilitate and implement a steady policy in order to assure all the actors You should also take into account the municipalities and local authorities, because they are often also the licensing authority

17. ILVO Preliminary results Research I think it is important that you create a good scientific base with which you can convince the people What you have to do, is scientifically prove - with figures - that you can practice agroforestry in an economically viable way Besides nature reserves, research also has to focus on trees in agricultural areas, such as agroforestry and hedgerows. I think this is still a relatively unexplored area. You should also include the practical centers for agricultural reseach. They also have an important role to fulfill A knowledge center should be set up, where all scientific data are collected and made available for the farmers

18. ILVO Preliminary results Civil society I don’t think that nature organizations advocate agroforestry. Certainly not on plots where it is, for farmers, the most logical to plant trees I don’t think it is desirable to plant trees just anywhere. Each region has its own character and some regions are historically very open. There is an important task for the ‘Regionale Landschappen’ because they are in direct contact with farmers, tourism, government agencies, etc. They also already planted a lot of hedgerows and standard orchards themselves. There could be a role for the ‘Bosgroepen’. They collectively sell timber from different owners in the same area, making it is more interesting for timber buyers. You should not forget that there are a lot of farmers who are also hunters, and as such they are also willing to plant trees.

19. ILVO Thank you Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115 box 2 9820 Merelbeke – Belgium T + 32 (0)9 272 23 40 F +32 (0)9 272 23 41 lieve.borremans@ilvo.vlaanderen.be www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be 1 ILVO - Social Sciences Unit - Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115 box 2, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 2 ULB – Unit of Landscape Ecology and Plant Production Systems – Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium 3 University of Antwerp - Department of Veterinary Sciences - Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium * Corresponding author: lieve.borremans@ilvo.vlaaanderen.be