The second conference within the research project in agroforestry systems that we are running together with Mihai Enescu (USAMV Bucharest, Forestry Section) took place yesterday in Buzău, in a perfect setting: on the premises of the newly opened Bioincubator – a business incubator in bioeconomy.

Last October, the presentations focused on basic theoretical and historical perspectives on agroforestry in Romania and were held at the University for Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) in Bucharest. But for this year’s event, we focused on practical solutions for the environment and agriculture.

Agroforestry systems can be solutions for the environment and agriculture

The climate crisis surely impacts everyone, but farmers may be the most aware of its effects. Large swaths of agricultural land in Romania suffer each year due to drought and the increasing risk of degradation and desertification threatening agricultural production in the traditional areas.

“Given that, in Romania, the years 2023, 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2015 were the hottest on record for the entire period 1961-2023. The protective forest shelterbelts can be the ‘paramedics’ of agricultural lands,” explained Mihai Enescu (USAMV Bucharest) in his presentation which detailed with figures the impact of agroforestry on productivity. “There are public funds available through NPRR programs and there are 2 million hectares of uncultivated agricultural land, where these protective shelterbelts could be established.”

Further presentations from Gabriel Oltean, forestry advisor to the Minister of the Environment, and Cosmin Florea, the director of the Directorate for Agriculture Buzău, analyzed the funding opportunities via NPRR of agroforestry systems. Bogdan Chiripuci, policy and programs manager of the Romanian Farmers’ Club, presented a wider range of support programs for farmers.

“Agroforestry systems have direct benefits on the resilience and productivity of crops, but at the same time they can bring additional income,” said Mihail Caradaică, executive director of the Tomorrow’s Forest Foundation. “The carbon credit market – certificates for capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in soil and biomass – will see an accelerated development in the coming years, given that the European Union has updated the targets for reducing greenhouse gases emissions.”

The conference presentations can be downloaded below (Romanian)

And the recordings are uploaded here and on the Youtube channel of the Pădurea de Maine Foundation: playlist

A big thank you to all the participants for interesting and applied discussions, as well as the Bioincubator Buzău – Bioeconomy Business Incubator and the Romanian Farmers’ Club for supporting the organization of this event! We’ll be back soon with new news about the agroforestry systems program!