em português

Silvopastoral systems

This category brings together low-density tree-cover systems over pasture — the classic "parkland" model that defines much of Portugal's agroforestry landscape, especially in the interior and south.MontadoThe montado is a distinctive agro-silvo-pastoral system found mainly in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal. It is dominated by cork oak (Quercus suber) and holm oak (Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia) woodlands, integrated with grasslands and pastoral activities. The montado is a park-like landscape of scattered trees of varying densities and wide canopies spread over a productive herbaceous understory.This multifunctional system supports livestock production, agriculture, forestry, beekeeping, hunting, and eco-tourism, providing a mosaic of habitats crucial to biodiversity while remaining deeply tied to rural livelihoods and carrying significant cultural and socio-economic value throughout Portugal. The European Environment Agency classifies the montado as a High Nature Value (HNV) farming system, where agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation go hand in hand 7. A closely related system, the dehesa, is found across the border in Spain, sharing much of the same ecological structure, land-use history, and cultural significance.

Soutos e CastinçaisIn northern and central Portugal, soutos and castinçais are low-density systems based on the sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), with an average density of around 89 trees per hectare and covering approximately 41,410 hectares. They combine the production of chestnuts or high-quality timber with permanent pasture for livestock, and may include Pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica) in mixed stands. In 2013, national chestnut production reached around 22,000 tonnes.In the Bragança region, chestnut orchards are sometimes intercropped with cereals consumed by sheep, taking advantage of the trees' relatively open spacing. This system occupies a distinctive position between orchard, woodland, and silvopasture — one of the clearest examples of a Portuguese agroforestry system able to shift between fruit, timber, pasture, and cereal production depending on how it's managed 8. By combining fruit, timber, and pasture production on the same plot, this system allows rural holdings to diversify income and reduce dependence on a single crop 9.

Vinha de EnforcadoIn northern Portugal there's an ancestral agroforestry system, dating to the medieval period, now in rapid decline: the "hanged vineyard" (vinha de enforcado). In this system, trees such as oak, elm, or cherry serve as living supports for grapevines, which grow upward rather than being tied to stakes or wires, while maize and vegetable crops are grown between the rows.It's one of the most distinctive examples of Portugal's agroforestry diversity — a combination of traditional viticulture, cereal production, and the functional use of the tree as a living structure — and represents a form of family farming that for centuries allowed small holdings to diversify production from a single plot. Today, it is at risk of disappearing 12.

Sistemas Lineares e em Mosaico

This category covers systems where trees don't form continuous cover but are distributed through the landscape as hedges, borders, or lines — often on small, fragmented holdings, especially in the north.In northern and central Portugal, lameiros are natural or improved pastures where trees appear scattered — as hedges, field borders, or riparian lines along watercourses. They serve multiple functions: marking property boundaries, providing firewood and animal feed, protecting against water and wind erosion, and improving pasture conditions.
This system is especially hard to quantify, since its trees are distributed across small, fragmented holdings rather than forming a continuous, easily mapped canopy — average farm size in the region was just 6.5 hectares in a 2013 survey. In recent decades, reduced grazing has contributed to the abandonment of these landscapes and to changes in the composition of lameiros and other pasture-based mosaics. Beyond their productive function, lameiros play an important role in regulating the water cycle and protecting waterways, contributing to water resilience in northern Portugal's landscapes 13.

Contemporary Agroforestry Approaches

Beyond the traditional systems, a new generation of agroforestry approaches has been emerging in Portugal — denser, more diversified, and often inspired by soil-regeneration and water-management techniques. These approaches don't replace montado or the other traditional systems; rather, they extend their multifunctional logic, testing new ways to design, manage, and restore agroforestry landscapes in Portugal.Successional and Syntropic AgroforestrySuccessional agroforestry organizes plants by strata, growth rate, and ecological function, following the logic of natural succession over time. Fast-growing species are repeatedly pruned, and the resulting material is placed on the soil to support decomposition, moisture retention, and nutrient cycling — a technique originally developed in tropical contexts and now being adapted to Portugal's Mediterranean climate 14.Food Forests and Diversified OrchardsFood forests combine trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and productive ground cover in a layered structure, often complemented with biomass or pollinator species. In Portugal, examples include diversified olive groves, mixed orchards, and systems established on degraded or fire-prone land 15.