Kris Heirbaut – Dairy cattle farmer

This winter, dairy farmer Kris Heirbaut from Temse (Flanders) will start with ‘agroforestry’, just like 20 other Flemish farmers. He will plant several rows of cultivated poplar, sessile oak and sweet chestnut on one of his fields. By doing so, he opts for an extra income from wood production in the long term, more biodiversity on his farm and maximum carbon storage under his soils and in the wood. The agroforestry plot on the farm of Heirbaut and his wife Ginny De Meulemeester is an example of what is called ‘alley cropping’: parallel rows of trees are alternated with broad crop zones, on which in this case mixed crops consisting of as many as six plant families are grown to feed the dairy cattle.

Kris Heirbaut consciously chooses for innovation. In the past year, he has repeatedly made the news with innovative initiatives such as the cultivation of micro-algae with surplus CO2 from manure processing and roadside trimmings. The mixed crops he uses to feed his cows are also innovative: this diet provides more circularity and fewer inputs. Mixed cropping also provides more biodiversity, and the plants he uses extract extra nitrogen and carbon from the air.

Kris Heirbaut: “On our dairy farm, we consciously opt for a climate-positive approach and for reducing our ecological footprint. That is why we choose a forest farming system that will provide maximum carbon storage and biodiversity, in addition to producing quality timber in the long term.”

In the future, the farming couple hopes to be compensated for the additional social services provided by their investment in the trees. What such compensation might look like is currently being investigated.