Compost as climate tool

The path from wood chip to fertile field begins with a simple neighborhood collaboration: a local tree surgeon supplies the wood chips that first serve as animal bedding and bind ammonia, reducing odors in the barn. Mixed with straw, feces, and urine, this material is then turned three or four times—depending on outside temperature—until it becomes stable compost.

This additional work step pays off in the field. The resulting humus acts like a sponge, improving water retention and helping the soil buffer both drought and heavy rainfall. For the participants of the roundtable, the compost heaps and the long-lasting green of the fields made visible how agroforestry-inspired practices can strengthen farm resilience far beyond the tree rows themselves.

Agroforestry: more than “just hedges”

In the discussion that followed, Andrea Sausmikat, an agroforestry consultant from the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, drew a clear line between classic hedges and agroforestry systems used for timber or food production. While hedges become protected landscape features under nature conservation law once planted, agroforestry strips on agricultural land can be removed again, even though they also deliver benefits such as timber, fruit, or nuts, as well as biodiversity, and protection from wind erosion, drought, and flooding.

This flexibility opens doors for different financing strategies. Since 2023, agroforestry areas used for timber or food production have been recognized as land use areas in Germany’s CAP Strategic Plan and can be subsidized via the ELAN application under land use code 081 with basic income support. In addition, Eco-Regulation payments are available for agroforestry structures on arable land or permanent grassland, provided that hedgerows meet defined size and area criteria published by the Chamber of Agriculture.