Agricultural trees for resilient landscapes: a vision for European agroforestry and a response to the Commission´s "Vision for Agriculture and Food"
Creators: name: European Agroforestry Federation
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025

description: Version 2 of this document adds a final section responding to the Commission´s "Vision Agriculture and Food (19.2.2025 COM(2025) 75 final)

EURAF is deeply disappointed the the Commission´s Vision does not mention agricultural trees  or agroforestry. This demonstrate that some parts of the Brussels planning process continue to view agriculture and forestry in separate siloes, with agricultural trees falling through the gap between them. It is also unfortunate that there is no mention of the Commission´s 3 billion additional tree planting target or the repeated failure of Member States to meet tree planting targets in the current and previous CAP Programmes. Agroforestry has an unexploited potential to contribute to  the 2040 climate targets, to protein production, to bioenergy, to timber and to the environment. There is much to welcome in the Vision, but, in addition to new initiatives, the Commission should commit to delivering on previous policies which have been neglected.  These include the Farm Sustainability Platform, the GreenData4All Initiative and compliance by Member States with the almost twenty-years-old INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) for open access to geospatial data linked to public funding.  Priorities in the Vision are shown in bold below together with EURAF comments.





Agroforestry has a vital role in helping meet Vision´s goal of resilient ecosystems, maintenance of soils, fight against pests and diseases, pollination of crops, water quality and availability, clean air and climate conditions. 




The limited availability of fertile land is noted in the Vision, and agroforestry can make a significant contribution - by producing timber and nature/climate credits with agricultural trees, without conversion of these fertile areas to forests.




EURAF welcomes the Farm Scale Sustainability Compass and its intention to streamline reporting and reduce administrative burdens for farmers, allowing them to monitor and record sustainability data only once, while gradually adopting more sustainable practices and attracting new sources of financing. EURAF sees the Sustainability Compass as built around the CAP Land Parcel Information System (LPIS), with data on agricultural trees and landscape features collected at a scale where tree planting initiatives and nature based solutions implemented by individual farmers can be rewarded and integrated into future carbon farming schemes.




EURAF also suggests that the EU Observatory on Farmland should also be based on the CAP Land Parcel Identification system, extended to include forest parcels, and also agricultural areas which are too small to be covered by the CAP. The CAP LPIS is the best land use registry, of its kind,  in the world, but is marred by differences in data-access between Member States and by lack of consistency in the data collected.  The LPIS is vital to provide ground-truth for remote sensing information, yet is not mentioned in the Vision.




We welcome the Vision´s initiative for Nature Credits and the mention of inconsistencies between existing standards and monitoring indices. To these inconsistencies we add the unnecessary differences in metrics used for monitoring the CAP and the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR).  The Common European Agricultural Data Space has to help in collecting and harmonising the data needed.




The new EU Climate Adaptation Plan and Water Resilience Strategy are badly needed, but we note that the former is not in the Commission´s 2025 Work Programme and the latter has non-legislative status.




The Vision´s emphasis on advanced digital technologies is welcome and will help plan the response of agriculture, forestry and the food system to future challenges. EURAF works on several relevant Horizon projects, and is producing tools which can be used by Member States when planning agricultural and forestry incentives and evaluating their impacts.




EURAF also welcomes plans for a toolbox of tailored measures to support the sector and regions in their efforts to reduce emissions. We have developed models and maps to show the regions and areas where "tree deserts" exist, and where even small areas of tree planting or woodland restoration can have the biggest benefit.




The emphasis on renewable energy production in agriculture is also welcome, and agroforestry, e.g. "alley-coppice", has a significant role to play in the production of wood chips and biochar, while diversifying the landscape and biodiversity benefits.




The upcoming harmonisation of CRCF methodologies and verification rules, together with completion of the carbon farming parcel-based geospatial registry by 2028, will open the door for the launch of an AFOLU Emission Trading System, and it is disappointing that this is not mentioned in the Vision. It will be needed for the possible extension of energy accounting to agriculture and forestry imports via the EU Carbon Borders Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).




Long-term support for the livestock sector, with an emphasis on traditional extensive grazing is welcome, but we note that most of these systems depend on silvopastoralism, and Member States have done little to support this historic practice in recent CAP programmes.  EURAF´s "Vision for Agricultural Trees" called for 2 million ha of new silvopastoral areas and greater support for the restoration of parkland systems.  We also hope for an emphasis on DELIVERING the Commission's plans for 3 billion additional trees  by 2030, including EURAF´s call for 8.6 million ha of new silvoarable areas.




Increased use of tree fodder, including from tree coppices, can contribute significantly to the proposed Protein Strategy.




The emphasis on building an ambitious investment agenda and the one health approach is welcome, but EURAF has been lobbying for several years for agroforestry and sustainable agriculture to be included in the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, with no apparent movement.  Agroforestry and nature based solutions to climate change have a major role to play in the EU´s Proposed Competitiveness Compass, and private investment should be encouraged.



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