Novia University of Applied Sciences

Website: Novia UAS

Research Focus & Mission Statements

COMING SOON

Project Role

Lead partner for economic assessments of msAFS

Novia leads the Finnish Living Lab, centered on their partner’s farm in Kirkkonummi, Finland. Novia’s tasks include working with the farmer to continue diversification of the understory of existing silvoarable agroforestry and apple orchard according to the project plan for aromatics and perennial alliums. The silvoarable system is managed by Novia, while the apple orchard is managed by the farmer. One farm has multiple systems to trial as well as different relationships between the lab members.

Novia coordinates the activities related to citizen and multi-stakeholder involvement, including working with the local municipality and schools, restaurants, and direct consumers through the existing on-farm Community Supported Agriculture program.

Multi-stakeholder discussions help determine which new crops to add and where. The AFS site has large management zones where new crops can be added either between the trees in the alleys of the field or the diverse perennial margins. Agroforestry systems in the north often have wider spacing between trees, which serve as useful locations for non-woody perennialization of the arable farm landscape through strip cropping. By including the herbaceous layer of the entire AFS system in the decision making process, we aim to expand the opportunity to achieve triple bottom line outcomes as perennial vegetables begin to fill currently underproductive niches.

Novia’s team includes Dr. Ruslan Gunko, who will provide the lab with rigorous social science frameworks to help understand the emerging relationships between people and agroecosystem. His expertise in investigating the role of nature in our perception of well being is an important element to combine with CSA type models where the emphasis on 1:1 transactions can be lessened, lifting the role of other management practices and methods in achieving the desired quality of life for all the participants.