21.10.2014 What is agroforestry? This short animation explains it ! So, ready to join the #AgriculturalRevolution ? For more information about Pur Projet, please visit : http://purprojet.com/en/
What is agroforestry?
Agroforestry is the interaction of agriculture and trees, including the agricultural use of trees. This comprises trees on farms and in agricultural landscapes, farming in forests and along forest margins and tree-crop production, including cocoa, coffee, rubber and oil palm. Interactions between trees and other components of agriculture may be important at a range of scales: in fields (where trees and crops are grown together), on farms (where trees may provide fodder for livestock, fuel, food, shelter or income from products including timber) and landscapes (where agricultural and forest land uses combine in determining the provision of ecosystem services).
Agroforestry works because it’s farming in 3D – the roots reach deep into the ground to cycle nutrients and store carbon, while above ground, the trees protect crops and animals against the elements. Agroforestry can therefore solve many problems of intensive farming in one fell swoop.
Agroforestry has been around for thousands of years, but it’s benefits have often been forgotten. In the future, in the same way as the past, planting trees amongst crops or grazing fields could allow us to achieve ‘sustainable intensification’. This is a way to increase crop yields, while also benefitting the environment in the following ways:
27.08.2013 Agroforestry is a system of land management that involves the simultaneous cultivation of farm crops and trees. This video is one of a set of six, which focuses on a farm in Viola Wisconsin. The videos demonstrate practices and innovative techniques to help you understand how to incorporate agroforestry on your land. On-site interviews are combined with instructional video and narrated slides. Content specialists include scientists and outreach professionals. In the secod video, “Starting Agroforestry on Your Farm”, we learn about planning and resources available to begin agroforestry.
Unfortunately, not many farmers have come across agroforestry. Even if they understand the benefits, converting your farm can be a daunting task: someone who expertly manages a dairy farm may not feel so confident starting from scratch growing chestnuts! Short-term farm tenancies are also a problem, because they discourage farmers from making long-term investments. It can be years before trees start to bear fruit or can be harvested to pay themselves off. Luckily, these challenges can be overcome. More and more UK farmers are beginning to experiment with agroforestry, and they’re already starting to see improvements in resilience, biodiversity and soil health.
Agroforestry for the Future
Agroforestry has huge potential to create positive change for the farming landscape in the UK, and there are currently several trials taking place investigating its potential. As well as a massive positive impact on the soil, the environment and wildlife, agroforestry also boosts productivity. Diverse systems are more productive than monocultures. Tree roots reach down below those of cereals or vegetables means you can get more crops from the same acre. The future for agroforestry looks bright. It has already been rated as one of the most promising systems for the ‘sustainable intensification’ of farming, meaning that farmers can produce more food while also reducing negative impacts on the environment. All we need to do now is spread the word.
FAO, 2005 – Realizing the economic benefits of agroforestry: experiences, lessons and challenges
Agroforestry is the set of land-use practices involving the deliberate combination of trees, agricultural crops and/or animals on the same land management unit in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence (Lundgren and Raintree, 1982). Cultivating trees in combination with crops and livestock is an ancient practice. However, several factors have contributed to a rising interest in agroforestry since the 1970s: the deteriorating economic situation in many parts of the developing world; increased tropical deforestation; degradation and scarcity of land because of population pressures; and growing interest in farming systems, intercropping and the environment (Nair, 1993). Most research on agroforestry has been conducted from the biophysical perspective, but socio-economic aspects are gaining attention (Mercer and Miller, 1998).
Main agroforestry practices include improved fallows, taungya (growing annual agricultural crops during the establishment of a forestry plantation), home gardens, alley cropping, growing multipurpose trees and shrubs on farmland, boundary planting, farm woodlots, orchards or tree gardens, plantation/crop combinations, shelterbelts, windbreaks, conservation hedges, fodder banks, live fences, trees on pasture and apiculture with trees (Nair, 1993; Sinclair, 1999).
2018 Professor Martin Wolfe was one of the UK’s pre-eminent pioneers in Agroforestry. He devoted over twenty years of his life to investigating the ways and means by which trees can be integrated into farming systems to develop their resilience and productivity. In this film, Martin describes how Wakelyns Farm was established, reflects on how his understanding has changed over the years and shares his plans for the future.
Model of a food forest: Welcome to Kauaʻi Food Forest, where canopy and sub-canopy trees, shrubs, ground covers, vines and root crops form synergistic partnerships with the soil, the atmosphere and the people who care for this abundant forest foodscape http://www.kauaifoodforest.org/
Laying the groundwork for widespread agroforestry in the Midwest.
The Savanna Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to lay the groundwork for widespread agroforestry in the Midwest US. We work in collaboration with farmers and scientists to develop perennial food and fodder crops within multifunctional polyculture systems grounded in ecology and inspired by the savanna biome. The Savanna Institute strategically enacts this mission via research, education, and outreach.
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature Greg Judy of Green Pastures Farm in the first video in our new Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Greg will be the keynote speaker at our Perennial Farm Gathering in Madison, Wisconsin Dec. 7-8th, where he will be speaking more about silvopasture, mob grazing, and the business of improving the land health on leased acreage. Funding for this video was provided by the USDA North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Service (https://www.northcentralsare.org/).
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature River Hills Harvest in our Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Founder Terry Durham began working with other elderberry producers across the Midwest to establish a retail brand to market elderberry products nationally. “It’s very rewarding,” he says. “We’re doing all the research right here in the Midwest.” Stay tuned for more videos from the Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series this winter! Funding for this video was provided by the USDA North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Service (https://www.northcentralsare.org/).
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature Dan Shepherd of Shepherd Farms in our Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Dan operates one of the largest pecan orchards in the state of Missouri and also raises row crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. “It’s a long term investment,” says Dan. “You need to be committed.”
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature Tom Wahl and Kathy Dice of Red Fern Farm as the final farm in our Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Tom and Kathy manage over 80 species of agroforestry crops on their farm near Wapello, Iowa. “We’re trying to mimic the biodiversity you’d see in nature,” Kathy says. This video was produced by Man Alone Media, with funding provided by the North Central Region SARE program.
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature Mark Shepard of New Forest Farm in our Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Mark operates an edible woody crops nursery, Forest Agriculture Enterprises LLC, and is the author of the book “Restoration Agriculture”. Mark says that his goal is to convert his farm in southwest Wisconsin into a “perennial polyculture agroforestry system that mimics the oak savanna.”
The Savanna Institute is excited to feature Hoch Orchard and Gardens in our Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series! Owners Harry and Jackie Hoch have been managing their 94 acre organic, biodynamic orchard outside La Crescent, Minnesota for over 30 years. “Our goal is to have everything be in balance,” says Jackie. “We’re trying to mimic a natural system.”
Articles:
Agroforestry opens up new possibilities for farmers to earn well while also repairing and restoring unhealthy ecosystems. Read on to see how agroforestry puts money in the farmer’s pocket and how everyone can benefit from its positive environmental impact. https://isha.sadhguru.org/sg/en/blog/article/complete-what-why-how-agroforestry
18.02.2020 Hey farmers and landowners, learn about the many ways Agroforestry can be applied on your land in this new video! The fact is only 1% of all farmers in the US integrate tree crops with their other crops and livestock. Farmers and landowners have the potential to take advantage of this opportunity. Learn how these practices can help you make a profit while growing your soil and cultivating the future of agriculture and land management in the Midwest.
16.01.2020
2019
30.08.2019 Sadhguru explains how growing trees for income can free the farmer from daily chores in the farm, and that the 70% of Indian population involved in farming can then be engaged in so many more productive activities. #CauveryCalling
16.05.2019 In the Sahel, it only rains for three months each year. During this short period, rural populations grow their food for the year. Given this insecurity, agroforestry’s multiple advantages are a blessing: adaptation to climate change, improving soil fertility and even crop protection against pests, according to recent scientific findings. A report on Faidherbia albida, an emblematic tree in central Senegal.
7.04.2019
18.02.2019 Instead of neat rows of monoculture, forest gardens combine fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables together in one seemingly wild setting. This type of agroforestry mimics natural ecosystems and uses the space available in a sustainable way. UK-based Martin Crawford is one of the pioneers of forest gardening. Starting out with a flat field in 1994, his land has been transformed into a woodland and serves as an educational resource for others interested in forest gardening. This short film by Thomas Regnault focuses on Crawford’s forest garden, which is abundant, diverse, edible, and might be one answer to the future of food systems.
2018
11.11.2018 Epicentro Dalva is an amazing epicenter of experimentation and training for successional agroforestry. Bringing back the human into the system to regenerate environment and be happy is the purpose of Karin, Cassia, Leo and all the living beings including hens, dogs, trees and a team of volunteers. In this video, Karin shows one of the places where successional agroforestry is happening.
2.11.2018 Agroforestry & Permaculture that can be used in your backyard from Kauaii, Hawaii
2017
9.09.2017 Agroforestry is any sustainable land-use system and a climate smart agriculture approach that maintains or increases total yields by combining food crops (annuals) with tree crops (perennials) and/or livestock on the same unit of land, either alternately or at the same time, using management practices that suit the social and cultural characteristics of the local people and the economic and ecological conditions of the area.
30.07.2017 Forest farmer and land steward, Larry Harding, explains his start with forest farming and gives insight into how his business, Harding’s Wild Mountain Herbs, has grown into what it is today.
1.03.2017 Martin Crawford Forest Garden. Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centred on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems.
2016
19.08.2016 Agroforestry is being used in different ways to help restore degraded land in Brazil.
2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGlAcyPbHa0
8.12.2015 “Farming the Woods” co-authors Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel discuss agroforestry, climate change, and paw paw. www.farmingthewoods.com
18.08.2015 Presented by: Rich Straight, US Forest Service Lead Agroforester, USDA National Agroforestry Center, Lincoln, NE View the webinar at http://conservationwebinars.net to earn CEUs. Participants will learn about the five recognized agroforestry practices: Windbreaks, Alleycropping, Silvopasture, Forest Farming and Riparian Forest Buffers. Agroforestry is the combination of traditional agriculture and conventional forestry. Agroforestry has also been described as the intentional combining of agriculture and working trees to create sustainable farming systems. In agroforestry systems, trees or shrubs and their products are intentionally used within agricultural systems, livestock, or forests. Agricultural knowledge, careful selection of species, and good management of trees and crops are needed to optimize the production and positive effects within the system and to minimize negative competitive effects. Agroforestry systems can be advantageous over conventional agricultural and forest production methods through increased productivity, improved economic benefits and social outcomes and the enhanced ecological goods and services provided. This unique management approach is used world-wide today. Agroforestry practices: mitigate the impact of wind and water on soils; shelter crops, livestock and farmsteads from sun and wind; diversify agricultural landscapes and provide wildlife habitat. The result is a more environmentally sustainable farming or ranching enterprise. By providing a more diverse array of potential income opportunities agroforestry can also make a farming or ranching enterprise more economically sustainable.
22.06.2014 Meet Rowan Reid from the Bambra Agroforestry Farm. He has been planting and managing trees on the property for 27 years and over that time has planted out over 45 different tree species with a focus on shelter, conservation and profit. On the property you will find mature Eucalyptus trees, Redwoods, Blackwoods and dozens more. Most of the trees have been managed to grow straight and tall with very few knots in the timber. This gives the forested areas a nice spacious feeling and stock animals can graze under them.
12.06.2014 At Whitehall farm, they’ve planted cereals between rows of fruit-bearing trees. Steven Brigg’s tell us how agroforestry has helped increase profits on an organic farm.
1.08.2010 Agroforestry Practices – Alley Cropping – Center for Agroforestry 2004 – DVD AF1008 – University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry. Noncommercial use only, video used with permission. In alley cropping, an agricultural crop is grown simultaneously with a long-term tree crop to provide annual income while the tree crop matures. Fine hardwoods like walnut, oak, ash and pecan are favored species in alley cropping systems and can potentially provide high value lumber or veneer logs. Learn how nut crops can be another intermediate product and see examples of successful alley cropping practices.
1.08.2010 Agroforestry Practices – Forest Farming – Center for Agroforestry 2004 – DVD AF1008 – University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry. Noncommercial use only, video used with permission. In a forest farming practice, high-value specialty crops are grown under the protection of a managed forest canopy that has been modified to provide the correct shade level. The practice also includes the production of non-timber forest products for specialty markets. In this segment, examples of successful forest farming operations, including shiitake mushrooms, pine straw, woodland wildflowers, medicinal plants and high value wood blanks are presented, along with tips for marketing forest farming products.
Associations, etc.
World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
World Agroforestry (ICRAF) is a centre of science and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. Leveraging the world’s largest repository of agroforestry science and information, we develop knowledge practices, from farmers’ fields to the global sphere, to ensure food security and environmental sustainability. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/about/agroforestry
Assocation for Temperate Agroforestry
The mission of AFTA is to promote the wider adoption of agroforestry by landowners in temperate regions of North America. Formed in 1991, the Association for Temperate Agroforestry Inc. (AFTA) is a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization based at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry at Columbia.
With members in the US, Canada and overseas, AFTA pursues its mission through activities such as networking, information exchange, public education, and policy development. Our intended audience includes university researchers, educators and extensionists, private farm and forestry groups, public policy makers, and private landowners. AFTA has received financial support through dues and contributions from its members and the public, sponsorships from public agencies and private corporations, contracts with USDA, and foundation grants, notably the Allen and Josephine Green Foundation.
AFTA is primarily a voluntary organization. Many individuals from universities, public agencies, private organizations and businesses donate their time and agroforestry-related expertise to help AFTA conduct its educational programs. The affairs of AFTA are overseen by a voluntary Board of Directors elected by its members.
