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The economic growth in the last decades has been running at the expense of our environment. Given that all products derived from fossil fuel can be obtained from biomass, agroforestry reveals itself as one of the best allies for the circular bioeconomy, which can be part of the solution to address some of the most eminent European and global challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, increasing forest fires, the plastic ocean… Agroforestry is known for the diversification of products that can be obtained in an integrative way, providing a great variety of raw materials that may be later on transformed into bio-based products

The Western part of Europe is dominated by Atlantic weather conditions which are associated with high rain fall conditions of over 600 mm to 2500 mm per year. This precipitation provides excellent conditions for high productivity for all types of crops which are mainly associated with forestry and to permanent grasslands in the Western part of Europe. There is also a temperature gradient from the North to the South that creates growth restrictions associated with cold and droughts in areas like Ireland and Galicia. Both areas have enormous potential to increase agroforestry use and promote more sustainable land management. Ireland has a large number of hedgerows that help reduce the negative impact of winds in grassland production but also contributes to improved animal welfare. Galicia has a 70% of its land allocated to forestry and should use livestock to reduce forest fires which results in over 100,000 ha of burned land in only a few days every decade when weather conditions become increasingly negative. The benefits that silvopastoralism could provide are even greater considering the rising temperatures and the appearance of extreme events due to climate change. Increasing forest cover in Ireland and delivering agricultural products (livestock) can be achieved on the same piece of land, while access to the land is prolonged through the presence of trees and the enhanced drainage they provide. The potential for agroforestry to mitigate the negative effects of wildfires in Ireland is also recognised. Increasing forest land used by livestock in Galicia is essential to increase income and rural development as livestock produces a short and medium term income to farmers that otherwise cannot live exclusively from the benefits of forestry. Tree species selection and tree density becomes a key issue in both cases. Broadleaves such as oak ,ash (some species), birch, willow, walnut, poplar or cherry are excellent species because they can provide feed in the autumn or when pruned and shaped to obtain high value timber trees. In addition they can protect water, intercepting silt and nutrient runoff and can increase soil fertility as they incorporate leaves every year into the soil increasing nutrient recycling and carbon storage. When selected the species it is important to take into consideration the time when the leaves appear, the capacity of generating epicornic buds, fruit and nuts, but also its management such as the distribution within the plot or the timing for thinning and final harvests as this will affect the development of both livestock and forest stand. The management of light will be critical too as the trees mature and shade increased it is important that there is enough light for grass to thrive. In spite of the known positive impacts silvopastural agroforestry systems could have in both areas, the number of measures promoting them is still rather small.

Agroforestry is one of the most prominent tools to make easy the transition of European agricultural and forestry farms to more sustainable land use systems such as agroforestry. The extent of agroforestry in Europe is 19.5 million of hectares, of which 85% is allocated to silvopastoralism mainly associated to European Southern countries but also present in some Eastern countries. Silvopasture is associated to the improvement of livestock farming systems providing feed in a more sustainable way while increasing the multiple ouputs production from the same unit of land, therefore improving rural development. The current share of silvopastoralism in the EU is the 10% of the permanent grasslands which shows the huge potential that this land use has. The second most important agroforestry systems are the homegardens which represents the 8.3% of agroforestry lands and occupy around 8.65% of the land allocated to homegardens. Forest farming is not inventoried at all, while silvoarable only occupies almost half a million hectares and less than 1% of the arable land. Europe fosters agroforestry mostly through the Rural Development programs with more than 383 and 467 measures fostering agroforestry in one way or another in the previous CAP (2007-2013) and current CAP (2014-2020). Future measures should be fostered through the CAP Strategic plans developed at country level

Agroforestry are sustainable land management systems able to increase the production considering both the woody and herbaceous component. The Woody component economic return is usually produced when the stand is thinned and in the final harvest. However, the herbaceous production is usually negatively affected by the shade, but it also depends of the type of understory that it is grown. Yield SAFE is a biophysical model that allow to compare different crop production under different tree management options. The aim of this paper was to compare the herbaceous production of wheat and grassland in a tree less situation and a silvopasture system with low tree density (600 trees ha-1) developing four different scenarios. Wheat and grassland were sown at the beginning. Under treeless situation (Figure 1), wheat produces more than grasslands, but in extreme years with a high leve lof drougth the production of pasture is reduced in a lower degree or even not reduced. When the herbaceous component grows up under the tree, wheat diminishes more its productivy than grasslands. As a mean pasture under tree is able to maintain the 20% of the full sunlight situation grassland production, while the whea is below 5%. We can conclude that having grassland as part of the understory of a pinus radiata silvopastoral systems, farmers are able to have more forage than having wheat. Moreover, the resilience of pasture availability is higher when grassland is used in silvopastoral systems

Silvoarable practices are a type of agroforestry systems that allows combining a crop with a Woody component. Tree layout designs considering distribution but also density modify the productivity of both components. Yield safe was used to compare two tree densities of a Pinus radiate stand considering the productivity of the tree and of wheat. Low initial tree density (600 trees ha-1) aiming at high value timber production was compared with high initial density (1333 trees ha-1) aiming at to produce a higher volume per hectare. Two different thinning were programmed being the first the extraction of 20% of the trees in years 10, 15 and 20 and the second a 20 and a 10% in years 10 and 15. Stand volume was reduced when low tree density were implemented compared with high tree density, while the contrary happened with the tree volume and diameter. Tree diameter was higher when 20:20:20 thinning program was carried out in both tree densities, being the effect more noticeable when low tree density was evaluated.

The Sierra Mountains of Central Argentina: Afforestations in Argentina converted some areas in silvopasture. Major benefits include: (i) Decreased flash flooding through increased precipitation infiltration (ii) Rapid improvements of soil health by OM and nutrient deposition(iii) increase rural employment (iv) Production diversification. (v) Higher stocking capacities than treeless areas (v) Silvopasture provides shelter for livestock during extreme weather events (vi) Improved silvopasture rotational grazing increases animal performance and health and plant richness. Central New York: Livestock farms in New York are typically a mix of pasture and forest. Major benefits of silvopasture are: (i) Control tool of invasive forest plants (ii) Increase farmland use and diversification leading to a greater viability. (iii) Soil health improvement (iv) Improved water infiltration in soils (v) Reduced extreme weather events livestock exposure and animal confination (vi) Greater forage drought resilience(vii) Reduced pest issues (viii) Greater resilience. Galicia: Silvopasture benefits in Galicia are (i) Feeding animals during shortage feed periods (ii) Increasing short, medium and long term productivity (iii)Reducing fire risk and GHG emissions (iv) Increasing biodiversity (v) Reducing water contamination in agricultural lands (vi) Improving soil water infiltration (vii) Improves landscape beauty (viii) Increasing productivity, rural development and community resilience.

AFINET is a European Union funded project which overall objective of AFINET is the promotion and innovation of European Agroforestry (AF) through the development of a multi-actor interactive and innovation-driven network, based on successful sharing of practical experiences and existing research knowledge, applied to different contexts, climates and agricultural sectors. AFINET will modify AF systems design and management in order to increase the agricultural systems production and profitability to promote a sustainable land management throughout Europe. AFINET networking is based on nine Regional Innovation Networks in the nine countries where it is based where over 300 stakeholders meet every six months. AFINET first meeting aimed at asking farmers which are the main challenges to foster agroforestry in Europe. Among all, challenges could be summarized in four main topics: technical, economic, education and policy. Solutions to these challenges were discussed with all stakeholders and a provisional list of innovations was produced that has been validated in the third RAIN meeting. Innovation topics can be seen in Table 1 and the technical challenge can be grouped in several clusters: Livestock management, Lower story management, woody perennials management and horizontal innovation clusters for the technical challenge.

Soils play an important role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The carbon associated to the different soil fractions can vary over time due to several factors including biological system characteristics, climatic conditions or land use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the amount of carbon uses traditionally encountered in the semi-arid areas of the South of Portugal (natural forest vegetation, agroforestry and agricultural). The experiment was carried out in three plots of the Perímetro Florestal of Contenda located in the Baixo Alentejo province, South of Portugal. The three selected plots were: i) a plot with natural forest vegetation, dominated by uneven aged Quercus rotundifolia L. trees established through natural regeneration, ii) a plot with an agroforestry land use (montado), in which uneven aged Quercus rotundifolia L. trees were established and are currently at a low density (66 trees ha-1) and combined with an extensive grazing with sheep, iii) a plot with an agricultural land use in which during the last six years the soil was tilled to sow a mixture of grasses (triticale, oat and wheat) and legumes (clover) for livestock feeding. In these plots soil samples were collected at a soil depth of 25 cm in March 2017. In the plots with natural forest vegetation the soil samples were collected under the trees and in the agroforestry plots the soil samples were collected under the trees and in those areas not affected by the trees. In the laboratory, soil samples were physically fractio- Elemental Analyzer. The percentage of carbon was used to calculate the carbon storage per hectare (Mg C ha-1) in the soil fractions. The obtained results showed that the land use modified the carbon storage in the soil fractions, mainly due to the different inputs of organic matter to the soil and the management activities associated with each land use such as the soil tillage or the livestock grazing. In this study, the trees established in the plots increased the carbon storage per hectare in the macroaggregates and in microaggregates probably due to the high inputs of organic matter to the soil coming from the tree leaves and roots. Therefore, in semi-arid areas such as those in this study it could be recommended the implementation of agroforestry systems such as the montado as a land use to mitigate the effect of the climate change, allowing agricultural production.