What is the future for agroforestry in Italy?

The implementation of modern agroforestry requires a strong complementarity between tradition and innovation. In Italy, agroforestry has been historically a key component of agriculture and the landscape. Complex systems, based on the integration among crops, animal husbandry, and fruit/forest trees provided a wide variety of productions and ecosystem services (food, feed, fibres, fuel wood and timber, soil nutrients recycling, and biodiversity preservation). Forest grazing and silvopastoral systems have been used for centuries, and are still managed in marginal areas. The integration of fruits trees (in primis olive trees) with crops and grazing was widely practised and is still profitable. Peculiar systems, called "coltura promiscua" (i.e. mixed crops), were historically developed with the integration of fruit and forest trees to supporting vines and intercrops; multifunctional timber trees (e.g. Juglans regia, Prunus avium) were very often cultivated in such systems. Today, international research projects on innovation in agroforestry are being carried out. The adoption of shade tolerant forage species and crops is studied for introduction into silvopastoral systems or in olive groves. Silvopastoral systems can significantly offset the CO2 emissions produced by the livestock and shield the grazing animals from "heat waves". Integration of fast growing timber trees (like Populus) in arable systems can significantly reverse the recent crisis of plantation forestry in Italy. Finally, the constraints imposed by the EU agricultural policy to the agroforestry development are reviewed. The prevalent provisions for monocrops severely limited the introduction of innovative agroforestry approaches. New political measures and certification actions are strongly required.