Finland
Living Lab profile Type of Living Lab: Seed Lead partner: EFI – European Forest Institute Climatic zone: Boreal Type of Agroforestry Systems: Silvoarable, silvopastoral, linear Type of farming: Organic and conventional Main challenges: Soil health, climate change, reducing emissions from the agricultural sector, water quality, food security and self-sufficiency
Living Lab profile

Type of Living Lab: Seed
Lead partner: EFI – European Forest Institute
Climatic zone: Boreal
Type of Agroforestry Systems: Silvoarable, silvopastoral, linear
Type of farming: Organic and conventional
Main challenges: Soil health, climate change, reducing emissions from the agricultural sector, water quality, food security and self-sufficiency
Context and experience
Although agroforestry is not very often associated to northern European climatic zones, agroforestry has a long tradition in Finland. The most well-known examples of agroforestry practices in northern Fennoscandia are reindeer husbandry and the collection of non-wood forest products such as berries, mushrooms and wild herbs. Even though the climate in Finland is harsh, there would also be opportunities for vegetable production, although this is much less common. The purity of agricultural products in Finland is considered a main advantage. Due to the harsh climate, pests rarely reduce the quality of vegetables, which decreases the use of pesticides and opens opportunities for organic production. In northern Finland, vegetable production has been decreasing and currently there is very little production of vegetables grown in outdoor conditions. Supply is far from covering the demand, especially since locally grown-food ideology has grown in recent years. Therefore, studying and developing short and local food supply chains would provide opportunities for agroforestry in Finland in the future.
Grazing of forests and wood pastures is another agroforestry practice found in Finland. Forest and wood pasture grazing was still common in Finland in the 1930s, but disappeared almost completely in the 1950s with the intensification of agriculture and forestry. Forest and wood pastures are shaped when animals are grazing in the forest. Selective grazing of cattle modifies forest vegetation to a more meadow-like vegetation and speeds up nutrient turnover. An appropriate grazing pressure is important as grazing at intermediate pressure has in general a positive impact on biodiversity. In Finland, there were still about 2 million hectares of forest and wood pastures in the 1950s. Since then, the area of wood pastures (In Finnish: hakamaita) has decreased to about 1900-3300 ha and the area of forest pastures (In Finnish: metsälaitumia) to about 5000-9000 ha. The quality of the remaining woody traditional biotopes has deteriorated considerably due to eutrophication and forestry operations. However, the maintenance of traditional biotopes, their landscape values and delivered ecosystem services provide opportunities for entrepreneurship and development of modern silvopastoral systems. Government support is until now the main source of income for farms managing key biotopes and traditional rural landscapes by grazing. Nevertheless, there would be a range of opportunities to develop additional sources of side- or main income such as e.g. ecotourism, therapy and well-being services (Greencare), wild berry and mushroom cultivation, honey production, bioenergy production and direct sales of pasture meat.
Especially for pasture meat there would be large opportunities. There is a current trend that dairy production is moved more and more to indoor production. In addition the meat and dairy sector is a large emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. Forest and wood pastures store carbon, and when meat is produced by grazing cattle in forests or wood pastures, a large part of the emissions from livestock is compensated by the growth of vegetation and carbon uptake in the soil. In addition, no imported feeds are needed as the animals feed on natural forage. Moving livestock production back to a more natural environment opens up opportunities for carbon-neutral meat production. In addition it greatly improves animal well-being.
In Finland, there would also be large opportunities for linear agroforestry systems such as riparian buffer zones and windbreaks. As the Baltic sea is surrounded by land on all sides, problems with eutrophication and pollution are very large mainly as a result of agriculture, forestry, and the industrial sector in the surrounding countries. Riparian buffer zones are in place in much of the farmland surrounding water courses, but on the other hand, in many places buffer zones are missing. Making sure riparian buffer zones are in place everywhere would definitely result in an improvement of surface water quality and prevent erosion. In addition, riparian buffer zones function as wildlife corridors, increase carbon storage, and even have positive effects on biodiversity. Many aquatic species flourish better if there is deadwood and leaves in the water, which in turn attracts many other species such as benthic invertebrates, fish and birds creating a whole new ecosystem vibrant of life.
Last but not least, in Finland there would also be possibilities for forest farming, for instance the cultivation of edible and medicinal mushrooms, and wild forest herbs. Urban forest gardens and food forests can be a joy for the people and children would see again how food is produced.
Main activities to date
The Finnish Living Lab has been together several times. After the kick-off meeting in the beginning of the project, tool demonstrations took place, and some tools could also be tested by the participants themselves. There have tool demonstration sessions on species selection tools (Agroforestry TreeAdvice tool), on agroforestry design tools such as the Regenworks tool, carbon tools (Open Farm Carbon Tracker and Cool Farm Tool) and biodiversity tools (Cool Farm Tool and Biodiversity Metric tool). The earlier version of the DigitAF virtual space has also been presented in the Living Lab as well as to the members of the Finnish Agroforestry Network. In the Finnish living lab, one of the very few alley cropping farms in Finland participated in the financial analysis, for which it will be very interesting to see the results as a financial analysis on agroforestry practices in Finland does not yet exist. Soil samples were collected at a silvopastoral farm in Eastern Finland, which will be analysed in the summer for a soil health assessment comparing different types of pasture, wood pasture, forest grazing and normal commercial forest. The same farm will also participate in the greenhouse gas assessment for the whole farm.
Next steps and exploitation focus
Analyse the data obtained from the soil sampling to evaluate the impact of integrating trees on soil health in livestock systems, collect and analyse the data for the farm-level greenhouse gas assessment, analyse and present soil health and GHG assessment results to the living lab and relevant stakeholders. Tool demonstrations and workshops will continue for greenhouse gas, soil health and biodiversity tools. In addition, the updated version of the DigitAF virtual space (with all its functionalities for finding and contributing agroforestry relevant information) will be presented to the stakeholders.