unhide agroforestry

UNHIDE AGROFORESTRY REPORT

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Looking at Swedish and Latvian  agroforestry systems through the lens of crisis preparedness, food sovereignty and biodiversity 2023-25.

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“Unhide Agroforestry” is a journey through food forests with nut trees as crisis preparedness and as a future cash-crop, through farms that strengthen their economy by foraging from wild edge zones, and through production forests, orchards, and tree meadows where ecosystems are revitalized, trees grow stronger and faster, and profitability increases with grazing. The aim in this collaboration between Permaculture Latvia, the NGO Meža projekti, the Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, and Agroforestry Sweden - was to explore outstanding systems with primary production from woody plants, and the many functions and persistent work of trees in food-producing landscapes. The texts in the booklet (in English) summarise conversations, observations, reflections and photos from the two road-trips across Sweden and Latvia in 2024.

I'm a Tree

"I'm a Tree, what do I need?" is a film portraying the Latvian forest owner and forester Agnis Graudulis, who for several years collected seeds of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), walnut (Juglans regia) and much more in Nordic and Baltic countries, with the aim to get as broad genetic diversity as possible, and has since built a 50 hectare Food forest system (Vadakste Biodiversity Forest) with great dedication of labor to the plantings, nature-based solutions to water management and biodiversity. Runningtime 20 min. Photography, editing, production: Maja Lindström Kling.

The project is disseminated from the Swedish side with the film "I'm a Tree" (2024), the booklet Unhide Agroforestry (2025) and with presentations at the Urban Food & farming Week at Botildenborg, Malmö, to agroecology students at SLU, Alnarp and during the yearly Nut Network Day at Holma folkhögskola 2024.