A.R. Graves

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Cranfield University

Agroforestry systems, in which trees are integrated in arable or pasture land, can be used to enable sustainable food, material, and energy production (i.e. provide provisioning ecosystem services) whilst reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with farming. However, one constraint on the uptake of agroforestry in Europe is a lack of...

Rural development policies in many Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries promote sustainable landscape management with the intention of providing multiple ecosystem services (ES). Yet, it remains unclear which ES benefits are perceived in different landscapes and by different people. We present an assessment...

Agroforestry, relative to conventional agriculture, contributes significantly to carbon sequestration, increases a range of regulating ecosystem services, and enhances biodiversity. Using a transdisciplinary approach, we combined scientific and technical knowledge to evaluate nine environmental pressures in terms of ecosystem services in European f...

Food security, climate change mitigation, and land use challenges are inter-linked and need to be considered simultaneously. One possible solution is sustainable intensification, which is the practice of increasing food production per area of land whilst also reducing the environmental impacts associated with this. Agroforestry has been stated to b...

The study assessed the economic performance of marketable ecosystem services (ES) (biomass production) and non-marketable ecosystem services and dis-services (groundwater, nutrient loss, soil loss, carbon sequestration, pollination deficit) in 11 contrasting European landscapes dominated by agroforestry land use compared to business as usual agricu...

The SidaTim project is investigating new pathways for biomass production for a circular bio-based economy. Part of the project activities are focused on two new bioenergy crops, Sida hermaphrodita and Siphium perfoliatum, both perennial herbaceous crops, not native to Europe. Sida can produce both biomass for biogas, when freshly harvested with lea...

Sida hermaphrodita (Virginia mallow) and Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant), are two perennial herbs that can be used for energy production, or, particularly in the case of the first species, as a basic compound for various materials, such as fibre products or particle boards. Silphium can be used as an alternative to maize for biogas production. The...

The SidaTim project is investigating new pathways for biomass production for a circular bio-based economy. Part of the project activities are focused on two new bioenergy crops, Sida hermaphrodita and Siphium perfoliatum, both perennial herbaceous crops, not native to Europe. Sida can produce both biomass for biogas, when freshly harvested with lea...

Context Agroforestry systems in temperate Europe are known to provide both, provisioning and regulating ecosystem services (ES). Yet, it is poorly understood how these systems affect ES provision at a landscape scale in contrast to agricultural practises. Objectives This study aimed at developing a novel, spatially explicit model to assess and qua...

Whilst the benefits of agroforestry are widely recognised in tropical latitudes few studies have assessed how agroforestry is perceived in temperate latitudes. This study evaluates how stakeholders and key actors including farmers, landowners, agricultural advisors, researchers and environmentalists perceive the implementation and expansion of agro...

Agroforestry combines perennial woody elements (e.g. trees) with an agricultural understory (e.g. wheat, pasture) which can also potentially be used by a livestock component. In recent decades, modern agroforestry systems have been proposed at European level as land use alternatives for conventional agricultural systems. The potential range of bene...

The use of land for intensive arable production in Europe is associated with a range of externalities that typically impose costs on third parties. The introduction of trees in arable systems can potentially be used to reduce these costs. This paper assesses the profitability and environmental externalities of a silvoarable agroforestry system, and...

Agroforestry systems are known to provide ecosystem services which differ in quantity and quality from conventional agricultural practices and could enhance rural landscapes. In this study we compared ecosystem services provision of agroforestry and non-agroforestry landscapes in case study regions from three European biogeographical regions: Medit...

Potential benefits and costs of agroforestry practices have been analysed by experts, but few studies have captured farmers’ perspectives on why agroforestry might be adopted on a European scale. This study provides answers to this question, through an analysis of 183 farmer interviews in 14 case study systems in eight European countries. The study...

Most farm-based agroforestry projects focus on the integration of trees on arable or livestock enterprises. This paper focuses on the integration of understorey crops and/or livestock within high value tree systems (e.g., apple orchards, olive groves, chestnut woodlands, and walnut plantations), and describes the components, structure, ecosystem se...

This study investigated differences in farm productivity of women farmers using different healthcare services in Niger Delta Nigeria. Two hundred and sixteen female farmers were randomly selected from 18communities in three states in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were used to determine the correlation between farm output an...

The relationship between cultural ecosystem services (CES) and the many diverse aspects of biodiversity is complex and multi-faceted. A large public survey in Wiltshire, UK, was used to assess associations between public benefits from certain species groups in the local countryside, and (i) social antecedents, (ii) engagement in different outdoor l...

Whilst numerous studies have examined the environmental benefits of introducing additional trees within wood pasture systems few studies have assessed the impact on farm profitability. This paper describes a model, called Forage-SAFE, which has been developed to improve understanding of the management and economics of wood pastures. The model simul...

The relationship between nature and cultural ecosystem service (CES) benefits is well accepted but poorly understood, as is the potential role of biodiversity in the relationship. By means of a public questionnaire survey in Wiltshire, UK, the relationship between the presence of a range of common species groups, species group ‘charisma’, group abu...

The Forage-SAFE model has been developed to better understand the impact of trees on the profitability of wood pastures. It assesses the daily balance between the demand for and production of forage to estimate an annual farm net margin. The model allows the modification of selected biophysical and financial parameters related to the tree, pasture...

Evidence of the link between biodiversity and cultural ecosystem benefits (CEB) is scarce. Participatory workshops were used to explore perceptions of CEB attributable to biodiversity in lowland arable and semi-natural grassland landscapes in southern England. Increased biodiversity was found to be associated with greater perceived benefit, mainly...

Silvoarable agroforestry integrates the use of trees and arable crops on the same area of land, and such systems can be supported by national governments under the European Union’s (EU) Rural Development Regulations (2014–2020). In order to improve the understanding of farmers’ perceptions of such systems, detailed face-to-face interviews were comp...

Available at: http://www.agforward.eu/index.php/en/yield-safe-model-improvements.html

Agricultural policy in Europe is moving towards greater support of multifunctional agriculture, such as agroforestry systems. However, modern farmers appear to be resisting this change. Trees in agricultural landscapes have been declining, despite increasing direct payments for their ecosystem services. To understand the drivers of farmer behaviour...

After an introduction, the second section provides a definition of agroforestry for policy as ""the integration of woody vegetation (first component) in at least two vertical layers on land, with the bottom layer providing an agricultural product such crops or forage/pasture (second component) which may be consumed by animals (third component)”. It...

Increased adoption of silvoarable agroforestry (SAF) systems in Europe, by integrating trees and arable crops on the same land, could offer a range of environmental benefits compared with conventional agricultural systems. Soil erosion, nitrogen leaching, carbon sequestration and landscape biodiversity were chosen as indicators to assess a stratifi...

Global demand for food is increasing in terms of the quantity, quality and reliability of supplies. Currently, over 90 % of our food is grown on (or in) a virtually irreplaceable, non-renewable natural resource - the soil. This paper examines the latest research on selected soil degradation processes (soil erosion by water, compaction, loss of orga...

The livestock industry is a significant component of the agricultural and rural sectors in the UK. Grassland for livestock accounts for almost half of the terrestrial surface of the UK and almost two-thirds of its managed agricultural land. It therefore accounts for a major proportion of rural employment and income and provides many landscape and b...

Trees that characterized many agricultural landscapes across Europe are declining, despite the recent revival of agroforestry research and increasing direct payments for their maintenance. Therefore, in addition to field experiments, there is a need for transdisciplinary research in close alliance with local farmers. This paper proposes a three-ste...

There is an increasing recognition of the diverse ecosystem services provided by agro- forestry systems. With benefits for rural livelihoods, food security and biodiversity conser- vation. In Europe, agricultural policy is moving towards greater support of multifunctional agriculture. However, modern farmers appear to be resisting this change. For...

Context Current production from natural forests will not satisfy future world demand for timber and fuel wood, and new land management options are required. Aims We explore an innovative production system that combines the production of short rotation coppice in wide alleys with the production of high-value trees on narrow strips of land; it is an...

Methods for the spatial estimation of risk of harm to soil by erosion by water and wind and by soil organic matter decline are explored. Rates of harm are estimated for combinations of soil type and land cover (as a proxy for hazard frequency) and used to estimate risk of soil erosion and loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) for 1km(2)pixels. Scenario...

The push to combat climate change and greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependency on non-renewable energy sources has never been more topical. One aspect of this is the need to decrease human pressure on natural forests, which poses questions as to how timber, food, and bioenergy production on agricultural land can best be obtained. Agrofore...

1. Key findings This study examines the land use and greenhouse gas implications of UK food consumption change away from carbon intensive products. It shows that the UK agricultural land base can support increased consumption of plant-based products arising from the reduced consumption of livestock products. A 50% reduction in livestock product...

Developing models to predict the effects of social and economic change on agricultural landscapes is an important challenge. Model development often involves making decisions about which aspects of the system require detailed description and which are reasonably insensitive to the assumptions. However, important components of the system are often l...

The production and supply of food currently accounts for 20–30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the UK and the government and nongovernmental organisations are seeking to reduce these environmental burdens. Local authorities all over UK establish community farms with the aim to produce more sustainable food for citizens. This study used enviro...

Recent decades have witnessed substantial losses of biodiversity in Europe, partly driven by the ecological changes associated with intensification of agricultural production. These changes have particularly affected avian (bird) diversity in marginal areas such as the uplands of the UK. Future trends for upland birds will likely be impacted by cha...

A consequence of the increased requirements for renewable energy is likely to be allocation of more land to bio-energy crop production. Recent regulatory changes in England, as in other parts of the UK, mean that changes in land-use are increasingly subject to screening through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This paper reviews these regulat...

This paper introduces a system identification approach to overcome the problem of insufficient data when developing and parameterising an agroforestry system model. Typically, for these complex systems the number of available data points from actual systems is less than the number of parameters in a (process-based) model. In this paper, we follow a...

Financial feasibility and financial return are two key issues that farmers and land owners consider when deciding between alternative land uses such as arable farming, forestry and agroforestry. Moreover regional variations in yields, prices and government grants mean that the relative revenue and cost of such systems can vary substantially within...

Recent decades have witnessed substantial losses of biodiversity in Europe, partly driven by the ecological changes associated with intensification of agricultural production. These changes have particularly affected avian (bird) diversity in marginal areas such as the uplands of the UK. We developed integrated ecological-economic models, using...

This work assesses the viability of regional biomass chains by comparing the economic performance of potential bioenergy crops with the performance of current agricultural land uses. The biomass chains assessed are ethanol production from Miscanthus and from sugar beet in the North of the Netherlands. The competitiveness of bioenergy crops is asses...

Silvoarable agroforestry, the integration of trees and arable crops on the same area, has the potential to offer production, ecological, and societal benefits. However, the uptake of such systems in Europe has been limited by a combination of unsupportive policies and uncertainty concerning their productivity, profitability, and environmental impac...

A computer-based economic model of arable, forestry and silvo-arable systems has been developed as part of the ‘Silvoarable Agroforestry for Europe’ project. The process of developing the model Farm-SAFE is described in terms of: the model background and purpose, the systems modelled, the objective of the economic analysis, the viewpoint of the ana...

Drought risk is a combination of the probability of extended dry periods and the consequences for people, communities and their environment. The management of drought risk seeks to reduce the impacts of droughts, either by reducing their probability of occurrence (mitigation) or their consequences (adaptation). The paper shows how an ecosystems fra...

1. Answering many of the critical questions in conservation, development and environmental management requires integrating the social and natural sciences. However, understanding the array of available quantitative methods and their associated terminology presents a major barrier to successful collaboration. 2. We provide an overview of quantitativ...

Stakeholder analysis means many things to different people. Various methods and approaches have been developed in different fields for different purposes, leading to confusion over the concept and practice of stakeholder analysis. This paper asks how and why stakeholder analysis should be conducted for participatory natural resource management rese...

This paper introduces a system identification approach to agricultural ecosystems. In particular, the identification of an agroforestry system, combining trees with crops, is subject of study. Typically, for these systems N < p, where N is the number of data points and p the number of parameters in a (processbased) model. In this paper, we follow a...

Between 2003 and 2004, 264 face-to-face interviews were undertaken to determine farmers' perceptions of silvoarable agroforestry across 14 sample areas in seven European countries. Across the 14 sample areas, 40% of respondents had heard the term “agroforestry” and 33% then defined it as an association of trees with crops or livestock. By contrast...

Agroforestry systems have often been neglected in Europe because administrative structures within many national governments have considered that only agriculture or forestry are legitimate within their remit. This has resulted in the loss of agroforestry systems in European countries and an impoverishment of the benefits that they provide. This pap...

The environmental and economic performance of silvoarable agroforestry in Europe is highly variable. Multi-criteria analysis, using the PROMETHEE outranking approach, was used to evaluate the integrated performance of silvoarable agroforestry on hypothetical farms in nineteen landscape test sites in Spain, France, and The Netherlands. The silvoarab...

Silvoarable agroforestry, the deliberate combined use of trees and arable crops on the same area of land, has been proposed in order to improve the environmental performance of agricultural systems in Europe. Based on existing models and algorithms, we developed a method to predict the environmental effects of SAF at a farm and landscape scale. The...

1. Silvoarable agroforestry (SAF) is the cultivation of trees and arable crops on the same parcel of land. SAF may contribute to modern diversified land use objectives in Europe, such as enhanced biodiversity and productivity, reduced leaching of nitrogen, protection against flooding and erosion, and attractiveness of the landscape. Long-term yield...

Silvoarable agroforestry could promote use of trees on farms in Europe, but its likely effect on production, farm profitability, and environmental services is poorly understood. Hence, from 2001 to 2005, the Silvoarable Agroforestry for Europe project developed a systematic process to evaluate the biophysical and economic performance of arable, for...

Increased adoption of silvoarable agroforestry (SAF) systems in Europe, by integrating trees and arable crops on the same land, could offer a range of environmental benefits compared with conventional agricultural systems. Soil erosion, nitrogen leaching, carbon sequestration and landscape biodiversity were chosen as indicators to assess a stratifi...

Thank you for your interest in FarmSAFE 2006 model. FarmSAFE 2006 is a spreadsheet-based model for determining and comparing the profitability of arable, forestry and agroforestry systems at a one-hectare and a farm-scale. It examines profitability using an annual time-step over a period up to 60 years. At a farm-scale it can integrate the results...

Thank you for your interest in the PlotSAFE 2006 model. This Microsoft ® Excel-based model generates (using a daily-time step) crop and tree yields for arable, forestry and agroforestry systems over a period of up to 60 years (depending on the memory of the computer). The biophysical data can then be used within PlotSAFE 2006 to compare the profita...

Silvoarable agroforestry integrates the use of trees and crops on the same area of land. The development of such systems is supported by the European Union and a recent European Union project, the Silvoarable Agroforestry for Europe (SAFE) project (2001 - 2005) was tasked with reducing the uncertainties of silvoarable systems in Europe. One area of...

A review of existing computer models of silvoarable1 economics was undertaken for a project, entitled Silvoarable Agroforestry for Europe (SAFE), which aims to reduce uncertainty regarding the introduction and management of silvoarable systems in Europe. Because the published literature describing and comparing such models is sparse, a framework wa...

Technologies using low levels of external inputs readily available either on-farm or from nearby off-farm sources are seen by some experts as more appropriate and sustainable to address the demand for food in the next 50 years by improving the productivity of subsistence farmers. This approach, often referred to as low external input agriculture (L...

the contents of this communication was published as an article: Palma, J., Graves, A.R., Burgess, P.J.&Herzog, F., 2007. Integrating environmental and economic performance to assess modern silvoarable agroforestry in Europe. Ecological Economics, 63(4), 759-67.

Silvoarable Agroforestry (SAF), the deliberate combined use of trees and crops on the same area of land, can potentially improve the environmental performance of agricultural systems in Europe. However, such changes in land use also need to be seen in terms of their economic implications. The present study makes a combined environmental and economi...

Crop simulation models (CSMs) are mathematical, com- puter-basedrepresentationsofcropgrowthandinteractionwith the environment. They play an important role in scientific re- search and resource management, and have been used to help studentsunderstand,observe,andexperimentwithcropsystems. At the start of a new decade, it is timely that an assessment...

Increased adoption of silvoarable agroforestry (SAF) systems in Europe, by integrating trees and arable crops on the same land, could offer environmental benefits compared with conventional agricultural systems. Soil erosion, nitrogen leaching, carbon sequestration and landscape biodiversity were assessed for a stratified random sample of 19 lansca...

Crop simulation models have been used widely to describe systems and processes at the level of the genotype, the crop, the farming system, the region, and the global environment, but examples of how the use of such models has benefited poor people in developing countries are limited. There is, therefore, an urgent need to make the use of models in...