ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF AGROFORESTRY IN LITHUANIA – PROJECTIONS AND CHALLENGES

In Lithuania, the potential of agroforestry has been largely unexplored from either an environmental or economic perspective. There are no clearly established local methodological elements that would allow assessing the potential scope of new activities in Lithuania. The results of the article show that it makes sense to develop agroforestry activities on a significant part of the land area, but this activity is more relevant for large farms.This is especially relevant in those regions that do not have particularly fertile land areas and opportunities for diversification of activities. The forecast activity volumes are assessed based on good foreign experience - this is how the volume of sustainable agroforestry activities in the relevant land area is determined. Foreign models are adapted to the Lithuanian case - it is considered that there is still a lot of land use in Lithuania, farms are still in the formation stage, and the enlargement of areas can significantly affect the volume of agroforestry in the long term. Consolidation in agriculture will continue in the coming decades, and the enlargement of areas can open new prospects for agroforestry.