Roadmap 2.0 on Tools for Anticipated Benefits and Costs of Agroforestry Innovations. DigitAF EU Project. Deliverable 2.4

In surveys of user needs for agroforestry tools, the request for agroforestry tools to predict the financial benefits and costs of new or existing systems, relative to an existing enterprise, typically features highly. Within the EU funded research project DigitAF (Grant Agreement N° 101059794), one of the objectives was to enhance the quantification of financial benefits and costs of agroforestry systems. This report presents the insights learnt from using four financial tools across six case studies across Europe. The Rekentool was only used to estimate nut yields in the Netherlands case study.

The Farm-SAFE tool is a financial tool designed for researchers to compare the economic and financial benefits and costs of agroforestry compared to tree-only and arable or grassland only systems. It is an Excel-based model that can use annual yield data derived from the biophysical Yield-SAFE model. The Farm-SAFE model was used to compare a silvoarable system in Italy, Finland, and the United Kingdom. In order to use the model in the UK, it was necessary to modify the model so that fruit production by trees could be considered alongside timber and/or fuelwood production. In each case study, the model provides a framework for comparing the benefits and costs of agroforestry with a baseline land use. Although it is a useful research tool, when the tool was examined by the stakeholders in the Italian Living Lab, they considered that the tool was not sufficiently user-friendly for use by farmers and advisors. The model could benefit from more user-friendly interface and database.

The INTACT tool is a financial tool to predict the financial benefits and costs associated with the tree component of agroforestry systems. It does not address the crop and livestock components of agroforestry. The tool, which was developed in Belgium, was successfully used in Italy and the United Kingdom. The users particularly valued the pictures and the step-bystep process of predicting tree establishment costs. In the feedback, it was recognised that tool could benefit from increasing the simulation period beyond 20 years.

The AgroForstRechner model is a tool that describes the yields and economics of short rotation coppice. It was successfully used at the case study site in Germany. The analysis indicated that the sale of woodchips could generate a revenue of about 23,000 € ha-1 over 30 years, with associated costs of about 9,500 € ha-1 , resulting in a net margin of about 13,500 € ha-1 . The “break-even-price” of woodchips was about 50 € per tonne.

The Final ALS model is a spreadsheet based financial tool, developed in Czechia, to determine the financial benefit and costs of coppice tree belts. It was used in the Dutch and the Czech case studies. With Final-ALS, the potential production of woodchips was calculated for three scenarios of a coppice tree belt system (CTB), producing: 5.5-7.5 m3 in a single row; 10.5-15 m3
in double row; 14.5-20 m3 in triple row. In the Czech case study the model predicted that the net present value tree component of AFS (over 40 years) would be 191,000 € and the agroforestry system was able to show a positive return by the second year, because of the tree planting subsidy in the second year resulting in an internal rate of return of 70%.

A key demand for all of these financial tools is to make them more “findable”, “accessible”, “interoperable”, and “reusable”. During the DigitAF project, the Farm-SAFE and INTACT tools have been made more readily available, including on the DigitAF tool catalogue .