The International Agroforestry Conference 2023 will form an important part of agroforestry education and stakeholder engagement on the island of Ireland.

The conference aims to promote the planting of trees on farms by demonstrating successful agroforestry business models and examples of innovation-driven sustainable farming techniques.

It will bring together a diversity of expert voices, both national and international, to discuss and highlight the multi-faceted benefits that trees can bring to farms and the wider environment.

The conference will engage directly with farmers and provide them with the knowledge they need to farm sustainably and with profit whilst carrying out climate change adaptation and mitigation and helping meet Ireland’s emissions reduction targets.

Keynote Speakers

Minister Pippa Hackett

Senator Pippa Hackett is Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity. She was appointed to this role in June 2020, only the third senator in the history of the state to be elevated to Cabinet. Senator Hackett was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Éireann in a by-election on 1 November 2019 and was re-elected in 2020. She is also a former member of Offaly County Council. She holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick.

Clive Bright

Organic farmer Clive Bright farms 120 acres of changeable, drumlin soil in south Sligo. He has been practicing agroforestry & holistic management in order to best utilise the varied landscape of his farm. Clive will share his experiences with agroforestry and why he believes it is an important and profitable addition to his livestock systems.

Professor Jim McAdam

Jim is a Director of the Irish Agroforestry Forum. He is an agricultural scientist specialising in agri-environment measures and in the potential for agroforestry systems to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. He retired from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in 2018 but remains active in silvopastoral research and in promoting agroforestry systems across the island of Ireland. He has a particular interest in developing climate-resilient farming systems. He is an honorary professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast and an Associate with Ulster Wildlife.