Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence department of France, May 2025
Pierre, a traditional wheat farmer, is continuing his ambitious agroforestry project in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence – a region increasingly affected by extreme weather. To boost soil fertility and promote biodiversity, he plans to plant 1,440 trees of 25 different species.
Since early 2022, Pierre has already planted 673 trees, including 108 new ones during the winter of 2023/2024. Installing an irrigation system, combined with a particularly rainy winter season, has resulted in an excellent survival rate for the young plants.
During the monitoring visit in 2024, the project’s technician noted the healthy development of the existing trees and helped plan the next planting stages.Pierre also decided to enhance the original design by introducing taller trees to create an ecological corridor for bats – inspired by a training session he attended with Groupe Chiroptères de Provence. He has already installed 42 bat boxes on his farm.
However, due to a particularly busy 2024 with many professional and associative commitments, Pierre opted to postpone planting the remaining 767 trees to the winter of 2025–2026. This decision was also down to delays in preliminary work, such as boundary marking the land and installing a water supply line.
To ensure the next phase goes smoothly, a detailed work schedule has been drawn up with the agroforestry technician:
- Spring 2025: boundary marking and agroforestry assessment
- Summer 2025: ordering the young plants
- September 2025: soil preparation and installing the water supply system
- December 2025: planting the remaining 767 trees
Thanks to Pierre’s careful attention, the first phase of the agroforestry project has successfully met its objectives. Building on this achievement, he is committed to completing the whole project during the 2025–2026 planting season, in line with the plan developed the project’s technical team.
Catch up soon for more news from the field!
