BoerInNatuur
What if you could get all the ingredients for a delicious muesli from the same agroforestry system? And at the same time could boost local biodiversity? And that again on former - read impoverished - heathland. It seems utopian, but Wilco de Zeeuw & Debbina van Vuuren are making it happen with their 24-hectare BoerInNatuur (“Farmer in Nature”) project in the expansive Maashorst nature and recreation area.
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Wilco had previous experience with agroforestry, but in Sjef and Wilma he found the appropriate sounding board in 2016 to determine what grows well on impoverished land, what crops combine well with livestock (their core business) and what demand existed from customers. Based on this, a unique matrix was drawn up (species - production - usability) that was optimised together for the final plant selection and financial justification for the Nature Inclusive Regional Farms Fund. It is through the successful combination of creativity and realism that the project has since been implemented incrementally.
"The goal is still to create more food organically, but it's great to see how we are also quietly creating more nature than the State Forestry Commission."
Whereas the past three dry years meant a difficult start for the trees, you could suddenly see them growing solidly over the past period, which does give the necessary confidence for the future. Besides the numerous badgers foraging there, the extremely rare red-backed shrike nested in the hazel/apple hedge. It apparently finds the combination of extensive livestock farming and shelter from the hazels a perfect habitat and provided quite a bit of publicity in the region. The fact that all this is possible on former moorland - "you don't find much more infertile" - effectively means that agroforestry is possible everywhere.
Volunteers from all over the world
Wilco and Debbina strongly believe in the story of indirect energy where they prefer not to go overboard with their degree of mechanisation. "There are so many people who only work with their heads, while this is wonderful to do on top of it," Wilco says. Meanwhile, they get so many requests from volunteers that they can barely cope. "As a farmer, you are tied to your place, but they bring the whole world to you. They come with stories from Japan, America, Spain, French and they all have their own vision. During coffee breaks and dinner, we exchange stories and that only makes you richer." It seems that the company is gradually becoming so diverse that it no longer fits 1 or 2 people. In time, it will probably become a three-person company, with someone also getting more involved in customer contact.
Gap between nature and agriculture
Within the farm, cycles are closed as much as possible and maximum use is made of nature's restorative capacity. Everything is geared towards closing the gap between nature and agriculture. Thus, 3 different landscapes were elaborated to match the different soil types:
a hedgerow landscape with a hedge every 25 metres from the idea that between the hedges there would be a permanent lee between which animals walk that will help determine the shape of the hedge. Various grasses, clovers, and herbs such as plantain, chicory, yarrow and lesser burnet grow on the meadows.
on the plot where soil quality was reasonably good, shrubs were planted 4m apart with a higher planting density and chicken tractor on the row paths
on another plot, a food forest with undulating rows was planted with more than 60 species of trees and shrubs criss-crossing each other.
Having written the basic plan himself, Wilco engaged Sjef and Wilma as a sounding board. For each section, the planting material was delivered and planted each autumn so that the different types of landscape were laid out block after block. That makes this experimental farm a special type of farm with unusual varieties (Anna Paulowna tree, gingkgo, nashipear, chokeberry, honeyberry, grapevine, pawpaw, ...), different animals (chickens, turkeys, cows, sheep) and enormous processing possibilities.
