Volunteers measuring out beds for planting in February 2024.
On the farm we have a focus on our workers, our community and our environment. We love having volunteers onsite, we always have a lot of fun and we are very grateful to our community who help support us with projects, such as planting up trees and shrubs! We want to share with you some of the ways we support the environment on our farm, specifically through agroforestry and alley cropping. We recently completed an alley crop design on our farm with the support of our community and funding from the Scottish Government and the Forth Valley and Lomond CLLD Programme.
What is Agroforestry?
Seem like a good place to start… agroforestry is a land management system where trees and shrubs are integrated into farming systems to support other functions. For instance, at Upper Ballaird we have planted over 1500 native species of trees and shrubs. Many of these are planted outside our rabbit and deer proof fence, around the perimeter of the farm. This area will function as a windbreak, provide food and shelter to local wildlife, promote biodiversity and store carbon. We have also planted windbreaks on the inside of our fence, both around the perimeter of the site and between our plots, in addition to the afore mentioned benefits these areas will also be used as part of our production where trees will be coppiced. This will provide the farm with a regular harvest of timber which can be used for a number of things such as in basket making, firewood or wood-chipping. Another way in which agroforestry can be applied to a farming system is through an alley cropping design.
Alley Cropping
Alley cropping is one of the ways that agroforestry can be applied to farms. Alley cropping is where rows of trees or shrubs are included in an agricultural/horticultural setting to create alleys within the production. So from the picture you can see how we have incorporated alley cropping into our farming system at Upper Ballard Farm. We now have 8 annual beds which have an alley on either side. Our alleys are made up of 3 rows of perennial crops, these include apple trees, pear trees, blackcurrants, blueberries, raspberries and some perennial veg such as asparagus and kales and many other exciting crops.
These alleys will provide many functions on the farm;
provide additional crops
improve biodiversity
enhance the beauty of our landscape
provide habitats and a source of food for our local wildlife
create a micro climate to support our vegetables (slows winds, reduces water evaporation, warms growing area)
perennial crops improve soil structure (permenant roots in the soil can hold onto water and nutrients promoting a good soil structure)
We can’t wait to see how this develops over the coming years, it will be very exciting to include fruit in to our veg boxes. Thank you to the Forth Valley & Lomond CLLD Programme who supported us in purchasing the perennial plants for these alleys and to all our volunteers who have helped us plant out our the alleys.
This project was part-financed by the Scottish Government and the Forth Valley & Lomond CLLD Programme 2023-2024.
Agroforestry at Upper Ballaird
On the farm we have a focus on our workers, our community and our environment. We love having volunteers onsite, we always have a lot of fun and we are very grateful to our community who help support us with projects, such as planting up trees and shrubs! We want to share with you some of the ways we support the environment on our farm, specifically through agroforestry and alley cropping. We recently completed an alley crop design on our farm with the support of our community and funding from the Scottish Government and the Forth Valley and Lomond CLLD Programme.
What is Agroforestry?
Seem like a good place to start… agroforestry is a land management system where trees and shrubs are integrated into farming systems to support other functions. For instance, at Upper Ballaird we have planted over 1500 native species of trees and shrubs. Many of these are planted outside our rabbit and deer proof fence, around the perimeter of the farm. This area will function as a windbreak, provide food and shelter to local wildlife, promote biodiversity and store carbon. We have also planted windbreaks on the inside of our fence, both around the perimeter of the site and between our plots, in addition to the afore mentioned benefits these areas will also be used as part of our production where trees will be coppiced. This will provide the farm with a regular harvest of timber which can be used for a number of things such as in basket making, firewood or wood-chipping. Another way in which agroforestry can be applied to a farming system is through an alley cropping design.
Alley Cropping
Alley cropping is one of the ways that agroforestry can be applied to farms. Alley cropping is where rows of trees or shrubs are included in an agricultural/horticultural setting to create alleys within the production. So from the picture you can see how we have incorporated alley cropping into our farming system at Upper Ballard Farm. We now have 8 annual beds which have an alley on either side. Our alleys are made up of 3 rows of perennial crops, these include apple trees, pear trees, blackcurrants, blueberries, raspberries and some perennial veg such as asparagus and kales and many other exciting crops.
These alleys will provide many functions on the farm;
We can’t wait to see how this develops over the coming years, it will be very exciting to include fruit in to our veg boxes. Thank you to the Forth Valley & Lomond CLLD Programme who supported us in purchasing the perennial plants for these alleys and to all our volunteers who have helped us plant out our the alleys.
This project was part-financed by the Scottish Government and the Forth Valley & Lomond CLLD Programme 2023-2024.