E-Academy Agroforestry (6 e-Modules)

E-Academy Agroforestry: an agroforestry e-learning tool for Flanders and The Netherlands

Knowledge dissemination is key to introducing agroforestry to farmers who wish to transform their conventional agricultural system into a climate-resilient one. To increase awareness about agroforestry among people in Flanders and the Netherlands, the e-learning tool ''E-Academy Agroforestry'' was developed.  The E-Academy Agroforestry was created for people who wish to learn more about agroforestry at their own pace, focusing on the Flemish (Belgium) and Dutch context. We aimed to meet the diverse needs of Belgian and Dutch interested parties, including farmers, consultants, students and teachers in agricultural education, policy actors, agrotechnicians, tree nursers, volunteers who work in the sustainable agriculture segment, and other agroforestry stakeholders. We further refer to this diverse target group as “students”.  To lower the barriers for participation, the complete E-Academy is in Dutch, hence understanding Dutch at the EQF 5 (+) level or beyond is a prerequisite.  

At present, six e-learning modules are available: 

• e-Module 1: What is agroforestry? 

• e-Module 2: Interactions between trees, crops, and animals 

• e-Module 3: Tree species selection 

• e-Module 4: Planting techniques and tree management 

• e-Module 5: Formulating a vision: strategic goals for a futureproof agroforestry system 

• e-Module 6: Agroforestry: the design phase 

In the future, further development of new e-Modules is envisioned. Nevertheless, these six topics should already equip the students with the main theoretical and technical knowledge that can be implemented in starting new agroforestry practices, guiding people who want to implement agroforestry on their farms, and understanding the assets, challenges and different steps involved in implementing agroforestry systems.  

The E-Academy Agroforestry will remain an open-access tool at:

• Click for a direct link to the E-academy: Publicaties - Agroforestry (agroforestryvlaanderen.be) 
• The Flemish platform site www.agroforestryvlaanderen.be hosts the E-Academy.
• The Dutch platform site www.agroforestrynetwerknederland.nl has a link to the E-Academy.

Documents that are included are:

• The course program
• The metadata file including links to the code repository
• The E-Academy Agroforestry logo

Do you need more information? Or are you interested in using, altering, or adopting the e-Modules for your country? Contact us through sarah.carton@ilvo.vlaanderen.be or info@agroforestryvlaanderen.be.