A few years ago, agronomist Pedro Liñan decided to shake things up at his family farm Doña Marina in Granada, Spain. Inspired by what he seeing through his partner’s work, CrowdFarming Farmer Analyst Antonia, and driven by his own ideals and passion for sustainable agriculture, he decided to start his own CrowdFarming almond project, and set out on the path converting some of his family’s fields to organic – together with Antonia of course. More recently, the pair – having both learned about regenerative agriculture – also realized that they wanted to do more, that they wanted to actively foment biodiversity and regenerate their area. Knowing how important the support of a community is, they decided to actively involve their CrowdFarmers in this process. This is how a new project was born: CrowdForest.

Let us share with you a first-hand account of Pedro, detailing his journey:

“For years now, as an agronomist, farmer and human, I have had a bug in my stomach. Something that eats at me. I have the feeling that there are too few trees in the countryside. Think about it, either we have trees, in the form of forests, or agriculture, but not both together. In other words, most of our rural landscapes are very specialised, no longer mixed or combined. And this worries me.

Having done my research homework, there is a very clear reason, the tree is an element of the landscape that for many years now, has become a nuisance to agriculture. Therefore, it has been gradually disappearing, to make it easier for agriculture to be done without disturbance.

Within our region, our farm, Doña Marina, is a very special place. Around the houses, it is full of trees, of different types, colours and shapes. Thousands of birds can be heard, the wind is slowed down and the summer heat is best endured in the shade. A litmus test is to sit in the middle of any plot, close your eyes and listen. And then repeat the same exercise in the middle of the farmhouse. The difference is spectacular, it’s alive!

But this was not always the case. After many years of very intensive farming practices and extreme land use, the farm and its fields had lost much of their trees. This was especially noticeable around the houses – it was like the Wild West! With a lot of effort and love, my father started planting a few trees every year for 40 years. The result of all that time is the refuge, the oasis, we enjoy today. 

My idea is to take it to the next level: What if we could extend this paradise of biodiversity to our fields, can we generate even more positive impact than in our little refuge?”

So Pedro called us up to see if  Crowd Farmers could participate in our dream of regenerating the landscape – the CrowdForest project was born.

Pedro explains:

“Planting trees is not something you can just do, you have to think it through, the types, how and where to plant them… it’s a whole science!

A tree is a fixed element in the landscape, so you have to think very carefully about where you put it, because it will be there for many years. And if you want to put a lot of them, you have to plan it even better. You can’t just put them there at random. There are actually seven established patterns of tree planting (KeyLine Systems, Dehesa/Savannah Systems, Orchards, Riparian Buffers, Windbreaks, Avenue Planting and Forest Blocks) and it is important to not only choose the right pattern for your specific situation, but also the right kind of tree.”

What did we want to achieve?

To us, planting trees is a great way to achieve the following objectives:

• Increase the biodiversity of our land
• Regenerate the landscape
• Create ecosystems and habitats for animals, pollinators, birds…
• Protect our crops from the wind
• Give shelter to our sheep when they graze in hot weather
  
  

The result: a varied landscape design

In the end we chose to plant elm trees (Ulmus minor),which had disappeared from the area some decades ago due to diseases, hackberry (Celtis australis), which are very strong and resistant to the dryness of the area and holm oak (Quercus ilex), which evergreen and produce fruit. We also planted pine trees (Pinus spp), which are native to the area, and wild olive trees (Olea Europaea var. sylvestris) as well as some Cypress and Aromatics (Lavender and rosemary).

We decided to go for the following pattern:

• Windbreaks: in our case, they not only protect us from the wind, but also from the sun.
• Planting in avenues: we noticed that only a few of the roads around our farm are planted with trees. What a pity! We don’t understand why, it’s so beautiful! So we started to line our roads with trees. We hope that many of them will survive. And that they will give rise to beautiful views! 
  
  

These two types of planting systems are the first step and the most accessible form of land regeneration. Through this method, we hope to achieve our objectives without competing with existing crops and agricultural land.

In the future we would like to plant much more along key lines and also make forest blocks.


Thanks to all the Crowd Farmers who participated and the volunteers who helped us with the planting!

One last phrase I would like to share with you that was said to me years ago:

“The tree attracts the clouds”.