forest.farm

About forest.farm

Forest Farm is a Belgian non-profit organization focused on building and supporting food forests and sustainable agro-ecological farming projects in the Asse region. Its website presents the organization as a connector between farmers, landowners, volunteers, businesses, and donors who want to help create long-term, nature-friendly agricultural systems.

The organization works around land access, project coordination, planting, and fundraising. It supports the transition from conventional to sustainable agro-ecological agriculture, helps organize planting days and community involvement, and promotes food forests as a landscape and food-production model that can eventually become a viable farm activity.

Core Values

• Sustainability: The organization promotes long-term, sustainable agriculture and food forests, with a strong emphasis on ecological alternatives and reduced reliance on plastics and fossil fuels.
• Agro-ecology: Forest Farm requires projects to be 100% agro-ecological or organic and rejects pesticides, artificial fertilizers, and other non-natural substances.
• Biodiversity and landscape care: Its charter highlights biodiversity, landscape quality, and the creation of green elements such as ponds, hedges, trees, and paths that benefit the wider environment.
• Transparency: Forest Farm explicitly explains how donations are used, including website/payment costs, tree purchase, planting materials, and the association’s operating expenses.
• Community collaboration: The organization values cooperation between farmers, landowners, volunteers, local authorities, and neighbors to make projects work in practice.

Unique Aspects

• Clear role-sharing model: Forest Farm’s charter defines responsibilities separately for the association, the farmer, and the landowner, creating a structured framework for agro-ecological projects.
• Donation transparency: The website states that 3-5% of online donations go to website and payment handling, while the rest funds the tree, supports, protection, planting, and association costs if any money remains.
• No salaried staff: Forest Farm says that nobody is employed by the non-profit and nobody receives an allowance, which underlines its volunteer-driven structure.
• Food-forest planting model: Donated trees are planted with practical protections such as support poles and wildlife protection, and planting is timed to the winter season for best results.
• Regional focus around Asse: The organization specifically targets projects in the Asse area and nearby region, linking local landowners, farmers, and volunteers.