In my presentation on Successful Commercial Polycultures at this year's Oxford Real Farming Conference, I presented several case studies of growers who manage to make multi-layer crop systems work. I tried to draw out lessons for aspiring polyculture growers. and highlight factors that are pre-conditions for successful growing of polycultures. Multi-species cropping systems are not new on our farms, but through good design we can make them work even better for farmers and the landscape as a whole.