#27 Practical feedback on establishing silvopastoral systems with Ben Raskin

Ben Raskin is Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry at the Soil Association. He is also working at Eastbrook Farm in the UK, where he is overseeing the implementation of various agroforestry systems over the last few years, mainly focused on silvopasture. Ben gives us some detailed feedback on these first years on the farm : the design of the different fields, what species they have chosen and why, as well as how they approached weed control and tree protection from livestock. Ben is passionate about wood chips and he explains how they are using them on the farm and with what results. We also discuss how to integrate agroforestry in the workflow and skillset of an existing large scale farm.• TABLE OF CONTENTS01:17 Introduction06:52 Eastbrook farm08:17 Motives for planting trees13:17 Agroforestry systems on the farm29:22 Suppressing weeds and wood chips41:47 Scaling the supply of woodchips49:07 Protecting trees57:39 Bringing the agroforestry skillset onto farms01:07:17 Knowledge and managing a complex system01:12:02 Selling the produce of diversification01:18:29 Mistakes and learnings • RESOURCEShttps://helenbrowningsorganic.co.uk/eastbrook-farm/https://www.soilassociation.org/farmers-growers/technicalinformation/agroforestry-handbook/https://www.benraskin.com/general-8• GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org• SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry• FOLLOW US on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.