Welcome to the website of the ‘Green Deal Food Forest Project’!

This project is initiated and will be financed from and as part of the GDIF which stands for the ‘Green Deal Initiatives Fund’. The aim of this project is to purchase a piece of (agricultural) land for the start of a food forest. Also on the plot a completely self-sufficient, climate-neutral building will be realized. Below we explain more about what a food forest is. On the second page is briefly explained what the EU Green Deal stands for and on the third page is more to read about the crowdfunding campaign.

The European Union will in the coming years allocate 30% of the budget for the EU Green Deal!

Significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a key objective in this regard. In part, this must be achieved by reducing emissions themselves. It is equally important to neutralize greenhouse gases that are still emitted by recapturing them. In order for this to be successful, it is essential to enlarge the existing forest area. Monoculture farming has reduced the forest area in large parts of Europe to far below an acceptable minimum. When forest expansion is realised, it usually delivers mainly a gain for natural values, but food can no longer be produced on the land. In the countries surrounding us, both thinking and legislation are designed in such a way that agricultural function and nature are two different worlds. Over the past decades, in various places in Europe cautiously a new understanding starts to grow that forests and natural values ​indeed can be combined with food production. In fact, that this combination offers opportunities for a more sustainable, organic and nature-inclusive way to produce food. Food forests is the name used for this.

In line with the EU objectives for increasing natural values ​​and biodiversity together with a more sustainable, more environmentally friendly food production and the capturing and storage of emitted greenhouse gases we started this special project to bring these three objectives together. Food forests offer excellent opportunities for this.

What is a food forest?

Food forests are probably the world’s oldest form of land use and are still common in various countries and areas in Central Africa and Asia. Food forests constitute a resilient agro-ecosystem and have proved to be an important source of income and food security for the local population. In the second half of the the twentieth century on several continents methods have been devised for the design, construction and management of food forests namely 1) from the permaculture principle (B Mollison and D Holmgren) in Australia, 2) Syntropic agriculture (E. Götsch) in South America and 3) Analog Forestry (Ranil Senanayake) in South East Asia.

A food forest is a man-made productive ecosystem modeled on a natural forest, with a high diversity of perennial and/or woody species, of which parts (fruits, seeds, leaves, stems, roots, etc.) serve as food for humans, with the presence of a crown layer of tall trees and at least 3 other vegetation layers of low trees, shrubs, herbs, ground covers, underground crops, creepers and a rich forest soil life. Also in Europe indigenous people know the tradition of food forests. In the 1980s, Robert Hart adapted the permaculture principles to the temperate climate of the United Kingdom. He coined the term for this “forest gardening” or woodland garden. His theories were further developed by Martin Crawford of Agroforestry Research Trust and several permaculturalists such as Graham Bell, Patrick Whitefield, Dave Jacke and Geoff Lawton. The Agroforestry Research Trust, managed by Martin Crawford, conducts experimental food forest projects. Crawford describes a food forest as a low-maintenance way to sustainably produce food and other household products.

A number of European food forest projects are primarily focused on food production as a transition from agriculture, while others are mainly focused on education, research, experience, for the reinforcement of natural values, or with the intention creating a healthy and therapeutic environment for visitors. All these projects have in common that they use the natural forest dynamics in design and management.

Multifunctionality and added value, the benefits of food forestry can be summarized as follows:
• Production of a high diversity of high-quality food products, possibly year-round, against annually decreasing costs;
• Habitat for a high biodiversity of species of plants, animals and micro-organisms, among which especially bees and other pollinating insects;
• Climate mitigation through permanent build-up of organic soil carbon from atmospheric CO2;
• Climate adaptation by increasing the water capacity of the soil and direct and indirect buffering of climate extremes;
• Building soil fertility through permanent cultivation and nutrition for soil life;
• Differentiated range of food products as a basis for regional processing and marketing;
• Opportunities for education, research, experience in other words to create a healthy and therapeutic environment for visitors.

Contact: info@greendealfoodforestproject.org