Agroforestry

Introduction What is Agroforestry? Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. Agroforestry practices include: Alley Cropping Forest Farming Riparian Forest Buffers Silvopasture Windbreaks Special Applications Agroforestry is a \"
social forestry\"
- its purpose is sustainable development. Practices are focused on meeting the economic, environmental and social needs of people on their private lands. At the farm level, agroforestry is a set of practices that provide strong economic and conservation incentives for landowner adoption. Incorporated into watersheds and landscapes, agroforestry practices help to attain community/society goals for more diverse, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. Where does Agroforestry apply? Agroforestry applies to private agricultural and forest lands and communities. These are highly disturbed, human-dominated land-use systems. Targets include highly-erodible, flood-prone, economically marginal and environmentally sensitive lands. The typical situation is agricultural, where trees are added to create desired benefits. Our goal is to restore essential processes needed for ecosystem health and sustainability, rather than to restore natural ecosystems. Agroforestry provides strong incentives for adoption of conservation practices and alternative land uses, and supports a collaborative watershed analysis approach to management of landscapes containing mixed ownerships, vegetation types and land uses. Agroforestry key traits Agroforestry practices are intentional combinations of trees with crops and/or livestock that involve intensive management of the interactions between the components as an integrated agroecosystem. These key characteristics are the essence of agroforestry and are what distinguish it from other farming or forestry practices. To be called agroforestry, a land-use practice must satisfy all of these criteria: Intentional: Combinations of trees, crops and/or animals are intentionally designed and managed as a whole unit, rather than as individual elements that may occur in close proximity but are controlled separately. Intensive: Agroforestry practices are intensively managed to maintain their productive and protective functions; these practices often involve annual operations such as cultivation and fertilization. Interactive: Agroforestry management seeks to actively manipulate the biological and physical interactions between the tree, crop and animal components. The goal is to enhance the production of more than one harvestable component at a time, while also providing conservation benefits such as non-point source water pollution control or wildlife habitat. Integrated: The tree, crop and/or animal components are structurally and functionally combined into a single, integrated management unit. Integration may be horizontal or vertical, and above or below ground. Such integration utilizes more of the productive capacity of the land and helps balance economic production with resource conservation. Agroforestry in India Ever since man began cultivating crops and domesticating animals, he has been practising agroforestry as these activities took place along forest areas. Agroforestry is the system of land use that combines growing and raising of crops and/or livestock along with plants that belong to the forest. The land can be used to raise agricultural crops and trees and to rear animals. Some examples are shifting cultivation, growing of tea and coffee under the shade of trees, inter-cropping under coconut trees, and home gardens. In fact, most farmers in India grow agricultural crops, rear animals, and plant certain trees on their land, often on the boundary area. Agroforestry reduces the farmers’ dependency on forests even as it provides them economic benefits. It results in more diverse, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. It focuses on meeting the economic, environmental, and domestic needs of people on their private lands. For hundreds of years, farmers have nurtured trees in their fields, pasturelands, and around their homes. Agroforestry is defined by some as a dynamic, ecologically-based natural farm management system that, along with agriculture and the integration of trees on farms, has many environmental benefits. Put simply, agroforestry is using trees on farms. Trees can provide many products such as timber, fodder, fuelwood, medicines, and oils. It also helps to conserve soil, enhance soil fertility, and provide shelter belts for crops and fruit trees. Queries have been raised on the efficiency of this type of agriculture, especially regarding soil nutrients, their requirements by both the groups, i.e. trees and crops, and how they help each other. All plants compete with their neighbours to some degree for these vital resources. But they can also be helpful to each other. For instance, some trees have a light, thin canopy, which allows adequate light to filter through to crops below. Crops growing under them save their own moisture as the protection of the tree cover reduces their rate of evaporation. Many trees can fix nitrogen, enriching the soil when their residues decompose. This benefits subsequent non-leguminous crops, which do not have this capability. Trees also improve the soil in other ways. Leaf litter decomposes and adds nutrients. Even the root systems release nutrients and improve soil structure when they decompose. Some trees capture nutrients lying deep in the soil, too deep for crops to reach, and bring them to the surface and later return them to the soil as litter, which the crops utilize when it decomposes. Trees use nutrients and regain them through their recycling system. However, if leaves and branches are left on the ground to decompose and their nutrients are lost, the tree will have to be nourished with equivalent nutrients added as fertilizer or organic manure. Thus, agroforestry is sustainable if it is well managed. By growing trees and crops in harmony, by returning to the earth, in one way or another, most of the nutrients taken from it – by organic or inorganic means – the system can be biologically sustainable. The agroforestry programmes in India were started in the late 1970s as a result of the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture. This in turn led to various social forestry projects, which provided the farmers additional income from the sale of timber and other subsistence benefits like fuelwood, fodder, and non-timber forest produce. Agroforestry is a farming system that integrates crops and/or livestock with trees and shrubs. The resulting biological interactions provide multiple benefits, including diversified income sources, increased biological production, better water quality, and improved habitat for both humans and wildlife. Farmers adopt agroforestry practices for two reasons. They want to increase their economic stability and they want to improve the management of natural resources under their care. A traditional tree farm or nut plantation managed as a single-purpose monocrop is not an agroforestry system. Neither is a woodlot when it’s managed for wood products only. Agroforestry involves combining a tree planting with another enterprise — such as grazing animals or producing mushrooms — or managing a woodlot for a diversity of special forest products. For example, an agroforestry system might produce firewood, biomass feedstocks, pinestraw mulch, fodder for grazing animals, and other traditional forestry products. At the same time, the trees are sheltering livestock from wind or sun, providing wildlife habitat, controlling soil erosion, and — in the case of most leguminous species — fixing nitrogen to improve soil fertility. Agroforestry practices in use in the United States include alleycropping, silvopasture, windbreaks and shelterbelts, riparian buffer strips, and forest farming (special forest products). An overview of each of these major systems is presented below. Agroforestry Practices 1. Alleycropping Alleycropping involves growing crops (grains, forages, vegetables, etc.) between trees planted in rows. The spacing between the rows is designed to accommodate the mature size of the trees while leaving room for the planned alley crops. When sun-loving plants like corn or some herbs will be alleycropped, the alleyways need to be wide enough to let in plenty of light even when the trees have matured. Alternatively, the cropping sequence can be planned to change as the trees’ growth decreases the available light. For example, soybeans or corn could be grown when the trees are very small; then, as the tree canopy closes, forages could be harvested for hay; finally, when the trees are fully grown and the ground is more shaded, grazing livestock or shade-tolerant crops like mushrooms or ornamental ferns could occupy the alleyways. Like all integrated systems, alleycropping requires skillful management and careful planning. Both the crop and the trees have requirements that sometimes necessitate trade-offs between them. The design must allow sufficient room for the equipment needed to service each enterprise. If either crop requires chemical herbicides or insecticides, the other must be tolerant of these treatments. In the case of livestock, there may be periods during and after chemical use when animals must be withdrawn from the area. Livestock can cause damage, even when the trees are fully grown; roots injured by livestock hooves are susceptible to disease. Soil compaction is a danger in wet weather. These examples indicate how crucial planning is to the ultimate success of an agroforestry system. In most alleycropping systems, trees are planted in straight rows, sometimes with no regard for slope or contour. There are, however, advantages to planting the trees in curves or on the contour. These include the slowing of surface-water movement and the reduction of soil erosion. The trees can be planted in single rows or in blocks of multiple rows between alleys. The first row in a block is planted on the contour line; subsequent rows are planted below the original line according to the slope of the land. The final row of trees in one block is planted parallel to the contour line on which the next block of trees will begin. The width of the tree blocks varies, but the cropping alleyways between them have parallel edges. This design avoids creating point rows within the alleys, thus simplifying crop equipment maneuvers. The width of the alleys is determined by the size of this equipment. If planting on the contour is impractical, another option is to plant trees in curved zigzags so that water running downhill is captured or at least slowed. Islands of trees can offer some of the same advantages if they don’t interfere with cropping operations. In large plantings, fast-growing hardwoods or pines are interplanted as trainers to ensure that the crop trees develop upright, unbranched trunks. Alternatively, the crop trees can be planted close together in the rows, to be thinned and pruned several times as they grow. Although these early-harvested trees may have little market value, their presence during the first years of growth has increased the main crop’s value. The goal is to produce long, straight sawlogs with few lower branches, for maximum profit at final harvest. Whatever the planting design, trees on the outside edge of a group will grow more side branches, or even a lopsided trunk, resulting in lower-value sawlogs. 2. Silvopasture Tree and pasture combinations are called silvopastoral agroforestry. Hardwoods (sometimes nut trees) and/or pines are planted in single or multiple rows, and livestock graze between them. Although both the trees and the livestock must be managed for production, some systems emphasize one over the other. Usually, in the early years of establishment, crops or hay are harvested from the planting. Grazing generally begins after two or three years, when the trees are large enough that the livestock can’t damage them. In other instances, tree tubes and electric fencing protect the young trees, and grazing begins immediately. Grazing livestock on silvopasture eliminates some of the costs of tree maintenance. With good grazing management, for example, herbicides and mowing may become unnecessary. Grazing also enhances nutrient cycling and reduces commercial fertilizer costs; the animals remove few nutrients, and their waste is a valuable input for the trees. Well-managed grazing will increase organic matter and improve soil conditions. However, controlling the number of animals per acre, limiting the number of days those animals remain on each site, and avoiding compaction are critical for a successful silvopasture system. Competition for water between the pasture and the trees may be a concern. In a silvopasture with nut trees, for example, seasonal water shortages during late summer can negatively affect nutfill and the production of fruit buds for next year’s harvest. Irrigation is justified in such a situation if the trees are being managed for nut production. Water competition may not be as critical for timber silvopastures. 3. Windbreaks or Shelterbelts Extensive research on windbreaks, also called shelterbelts, has been carried out in the U.S. Trees are planted in single or multiple rows along the edge of a field to reduce wind effects on crops or livestock. Windbreaks have been shown to reduce wind impact over a horizontal distance equalling at least ten times the height of the trees. Wind and water erosion are reduced, creating a moist, more favorable microclimate for the crop. In the winter the windbreak traps snow, and any winter crops or livestock are protected from chilling winds. Beneficial insects find permanent habitat in windbreaks, enhancing crop protection. Although the trees compete for available water along the edges between the windbreak and the crop rows, potentially reducing crop yield near the windbreak, the net effect on productivity is positive. In fact, even on land that’s well suited for high-value crops, a windbreak can increase the crop yield of the entire downwind field by as much as 20%, even when the windbreak area is included in the acreage total (2). Windbreaks can be designed specifically for sheltering livestock. Studies have shown the economic advantages of providing protection from windchill, a major stress on animals that live outside in the winter. Reduced feed bills, increases in milk production, and improved calving success have resulted from the use of windbreaks. The National Agroforestry Center (see Further Resources) offers a series of booklets on windbreak technology as well as a publication entitled Outdoor Living Barns. Another resource, focused specifically on incorporating trees into family farms, is Shelter and Shade by John and Bunny Mortimer (3). Besides providing protection to crops and livestock, windbreaks offer other advantages. They benefit wildlife, especially by serving as continuous corridors along which animals can safely move. Farmers can even develop windbreaks into additional profit centers for the farm — hunting leases, selective timber harvests, firewood sales, and special forest products are some of the possibilities (these marketing options are discussed below). Any tree species can be used in a windbreak. However, deciduous species, even in multiple rows, will lose effectiveness when they lose their leaves. For year-round use, some of the species selected should be evergreen. Fast-growing trees should be included; it’s best to plant deep-rooted, non-competitive species along the edges. Regular deep chisel-plowing along the edges will keep roots from spreading into the crop rows. If some of the trees are harvested periodically, replacements can be planted, establishing a long-term rotation within the windbreak. 4. Riparian Buffer Strips Trees, grasses, and/or shrubs planted in areas along streams or rivers are called riparian buffers or filter strips. These plantings are designed to catch soil, excess nutrients, and chemical pesticides moving over the land’s surface before they enter waterways. Such plantings also physically stabilize streambanks. On cropland that is tiled to improve drainage, polluted water can flow directly into streams; constructed wetlands installed in the buffers can capture and clean this drainage water before it enters the stream. Forested areas along streams fulfill other needs of the community at large by storing water and by helping to prevent streambank erosion, which in turn decreases sedimentation downstream. These areas protect and enhance the aquatic environment as well. Shading the water keeps it cooler, an essential condition for many desirable aquatic species. Buffer strips also provide wildlife habitat and can be managed for special forest products. Crop and livestock farmers, as well as local communities, have become aware of the threat that agricultural practices can pose to pure drinking water. Consequently, there are federal, state, and local government programs to assist in the design and planting of riparian buffer strips. The federal Continuous Conservation Reserve Program can be used for this purpose. The local Farm Services Administration office can advise on this program and other options. Conservation organizations are another potential resource. Some offer conservation easements or trusts when land is permanently withdrawn from agricultural production. 5. Forest Farming and Special Forest Products When a natural forested area is managed for both wood products and an additional enterprise, it becomes an agroforestry system. For help with the management of timber, county Extension agents can refer farmers to Extension forestry specialists. These specialists are qualified to give advice on thinning, pruning, and harvesting practices, as well as on marketing options. They may or may not be able to visit the farm for on-site consultation. The Association of Consulting Foresters of America (See Further Resources below) can refer you to private forestry consultants in your area. Besides producing saw timber and pulpwood, woodlands can generate income from many other products. Established forests offer many non-timber ”special forest products” that contribute to cash flow without requiring the one-time harvest of old trees. For example, landowners can manage established woods to encourage naturally occurring patches of berries or bittersweet. Or they might plant understorycrops adapted to the forest type and climate. Growing mushrooms on logs is another, more labor-intensive, possibility; a canopy of either hardwoods or pine will provide the shade needed to maintain moisture for fruiting. See the ATTRA publication Mushroom Cultivation and Marketing for more information. Berries and vines for crafts or basketry are examples of products that can be harvested and marketed without any costs of establishment; on the production end, they may require only that the canopy be managed for optimal light conditions. Some other examples of non-timber forest products are listed in the box on this page. For more information on special forest products, request the new ATTRA publication Woodlot Enterprises, and visit the Web sites listed below under Further Resources. 1. Establishment Costs and Interim Income Effort spent at the beginning of an agroforestry project on properly preparing the site and following the recommended planting procedures will pay off well later on. Depending on the type of project, establishment costs can be considerable. For an alleycropping system — or even a windbreak — destruction of existing vegetation and deep chiseling or ripping of the soil are minimal requirements. A season of growing a cover crop before planting the trees, and use of mulch or landscape cloth to reduce early competition for water and nutrients, will increase the chances of quick, healthy growth. Lending institutions will likely require a good business plan in order to fund such a project, especially for a beginner. However, government support programs such as the continuous CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) or other program payments will help to defray these costs in some areas of the country. Consult with your local Farm Services Agency about whether such programs would apply to your acreage. The delay until the income from a new planting begins to pay back these initial costs is a key consideration for most landowners. Alley crops and silvopastures provide income from the area between tree rows in this early stage. In addition, as a stand of same-age trees matures, some trees will be harvested in order to reduce competition as the trees begin to require more space. Although the early thinnings are not likely to be worth very much, the later ones may have some market value. It pays to investigate all the options, including marketing value-added products directly. Hardwood chips could be sold to a landscaping firm, for instance, or firewood may have nearby customers. Consider some of the “special forest products” mentioned above. Nut trees produce income from the nuts long before the timber can be harvested. In fact, over the life of the planting, the value of the nut harvest of improved varieties is liable to surpass the value of the wood at final harvest. Black walnut is a valuable timber and nut tree, but it requires a good site and takes a long time (often eighty years) before timber harvest can begin. Early training and pruning, as well as managing fertility and pests, will maximize the value of both crops. Pecans, either native or improved varieties, have some of the same advantages and disadvantages. However, pecan trees are seldom harvested for timber while they are still producing because of the high value of the nut. In the case of pines, boughs for the ornamental market and pine needles for landscaping mulch provide early income potential. Again, the total value of these products over the life of the stand can be more than that of the timber. The advantage of providing income while trees grow to maturity, however, can be critical to the cash-flow situation of the farm. In every system, the amount and type of management and labor required for interim and final products must be carefully weighed during the design stage. Larry Godsey at the University of Missouri’s Center for Agroforestry wrote an excellent publication on developing a budget that combines multiple enterprise budgets over the life of an agroforestry planting. Economic Budgeting for Agroforestry Practices is available from The Missouri Agroforestry Center (See Further Resources below). An on-line version can be downloaded from the Center’s website. 2. Marketing Thorough research into the markets available for each type of tree product is absolutely essential before committing to any forestry enterprise. For most forestry products, the buyer must be relatively close to the site. Otherwise, the transportation costs will eat up potential profits. Although short-rotation woody crops are a relatively new type of forestry without established markets, it is likely that regional markets will develop over time where there are customers such as ethanol producers, electric power producers, and the fiber industry. Regions where forestry is a long-standing tradition are likely to have markets for all types of wood products (e.g., saw timber, chip and saw, pulpwood). Without such a forestry infrastructure already in place, it is risky to commit to an agroforestry system. However, because private lands are becoming a more important source of tree products, new markets will develop in other regions. It is, of course, difficult to predict where, especially when planning for harvests twenty years or more in the future. Careful consideration must be given not only to the marketing plan, but to the harvest plan as well. The planting design must accommodate harvest equipment and leave room for maintenance operations. Young trees are easily wounded, and these wounds provide entrance to pest organisms. Thinning and pruning may generate sales if wisely marketed. This part of the planning process requires the advice of a forestry professional, whether a government agent or a private consultant. Remember that loggers and timber buyers are likely to have their own best interests in mind. Landowners who want to add value to their forest products have some choices. One way is to certify that the forest and its harvest have been managed according to specified ecological standards. There are currently several “eco-label” certification programs. Eco-labeling has caught on in Europe where consumer recognition is high, but has not consistently earned premium prices in the U.S. Contact ATTRA for more information about forest certification programs. In some cases, landowners can add value themselves, for example by cutting and selling firewood. Access to a portable sawmill can enable landowners to saw their own logs into lumber, air dry it, and sell it directly to specialty woodworkers. Other options, like selling pine thinnings as Christmas decorations, require imagination and marketing know-how. Fee hunting or wildlife photography, possibly combined with camping or bed-and-breakfast facilities, might also be considered.

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