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WHAT IS AGROFORESTRY?
Agroforestry is a management
approach that integrates familiar and new agriculture and forestry practices
into land management systems which contribute to diversification and
sustainability of production.
There are five basic
Agroforestry systems in use in BC including:
- Alley cropping or
intercropping (sun systems);
- Silvopasture;
- Forest farming (shade
systems);
- Shelter- and
Timberbelts/windbreaks/buffers;
- Integrated riparian
management (riparian forest buffers).
Within each agroforestry
system, there is a continuum of options available to landowners depending on
their specific goals. For example, within a silvopasture system choices might
include whether to maximize the production of animal forage and livestock with
timber as a secondary product or whether to target enhanced tree growth as the
primary objective and co-manage for some enhanced forage and livestock
values.
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KEY CHARACTERISTICS
Agroforestry systems blend
agriculture and forestry practices/crops with active management of the system
pieces. Agroforestry is:
Intentional
designed and managed combinations for a planned result;
Intensive
components are managed to maintain production and environmental benefits;
Integrated a
blend of agriculture, forestry and environmental science;
Interactive
designed to minimize negative and maximize positive interactions between trees,
other crops, livestock and humans. The goal is to enhance the production of
more than one component at a time while providing for environmental benefits.
Thus management for a single
agriculture or forestry crop would fall outside of the definition as would
opportunistic wild harvest of native plants from the forest. Agroforestry must
include some "human management of the agriculture and forest crops". E.g. The
opportunistic harvest of salal or other non-timber forest products is not
agroforestry. Agroforestry involves the intentional integrated management of
the forest to increase the production or quality of the nontimber components.
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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS
?
Productivity
- Combinations of
trees/shrubs with herbaceous agricultural crops can make better use of
available soil resources and light resulting in greater total production per
area than conventional agriculture and forestry.
- Nutrient cycling can be
enhanced and vegetation management (weed control) costs reduced in
silvopastoral systems.
Economic
- Provides short term cash
flow and extra income while awaiting the long term tree crop.
- Diversifies crops and
labour resources.
- Diversification of crops
helps decrease dependence on single commodities.
- Develop and market new
crops.
- Can make better year-
round use of labour or machinery.
- More income and community
jobs per hectare of land.
- Diversifying and
strengthening agricultural and forest production, contributes to a strong
natural resources sector and enhances community stability.
Environmental Services
- Enhances the
environment.
- Can plant trees, shrubs,
and other crops to help buffer streams, farm buildings, communities, etc;
- Tree and shrub buffers
can intercept nutrient rich groundwater and surface water, reduce impacts of
flooding, reduce wind and resulting erosion, decrease odours, etc.
- Trees and shrubs on
farmland provide biodiversity, wildlife habitat, greenspace and aesthetics.
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WHAT IS THE AGROFORESTRY
INDUSTRY?
Industries are
characteristically defined by the products they produce, or the experiences
they provide. In contrast, Agroforestry is an industry defined by the
production systems used. Thus, it may be viewed as being composed of
subsets of BC's agri-food industries. Agroforestry does not convert
agricultural land to forests or forested lands to agriculture. Rather, it is an
approach to land management that spans the breadth of the industries of each,
integrating with current land management practices to produce both familiar and
novel crops.
Who are the industry
agroforestry producers or potential producers?
You and your neighbors.
Agroforestry production possibilities are diverse and existing and potential
producers span a number of British Columbia 's existing agricultural and
woodlot groups, including:
- Christmas tree growers;
- traditional and specialty
woodlot managers;
- livestock producers
(dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats and others);
- landscape, ornamental and
nursery plant producers;
- berry, nut, grape and
tree fruit producers;
- vegetable, grain and
other field crop farmers;
- producers of herbs,
medicinal and aromatic plants;
- forest farmers producing
bark, syrup, mushrooms, floral and greenery products, as well as other
specialty crops.
How do you add
Agroforestry practices to what you are doing now?
- Add a forestry or
agricultural crop component to current land management systems for
environmental and / or economic benefit;
- Integrate and actively
manage BOTH the agriculture and forestry crops / products.
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WHAT IS BEING DONE TO
ASSIST THIS EMERGING INDUSTRY?
In the fall of 2002 farmers,
ranchers, woodlot owners, and product buyers completed an agroforestry
questionnaire. With the help of the survey results, a five year Strategic Plan
was developed to increase agroforestry activities in BC. In 2003, the Plan was
approved by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, who, as trustee,
distributes provincial and federal funds from the Agri-food Futures Fund. To
implement the Agroforestry Strategic Plan, there is now $500,000 funding over
the next five years. There must be industry in-kind and industry cash
contributing funds as well. The administrator of the agroforestry funds is the
Federation of BC Woodlot Associations. There is a volunteer Agroforestry
Management Committee to guide implementation of the Plan and review funding
proposals.
Committee - Industry
members:
- Douglas Justice -
Vancouver, UBC botanist, Native Plant Society of BC;
- Lee Hesketh - Lumby,
rancher, riparian restoration expert;
- Charlie Willis -
Cranbrook , Kootenay Christmas Tree Assoc.
- Harold Macy - Courtenay,
agroforestry systems instructor, woodlot owner;
- Jennifer Cunningham -
Kamloops , BC Sheep Federation, woodlot owner;
- Detmar Schwichtenberg -
Fraser Valley , private land stewardship advocate.
Agroforestry Funding
Agreement Administrator:
- Carmen Wheatley, Prince
George , Federation of BC Woodlot Associations
Committee - Ministry
of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries members:
Committee - Investment
Agriculture Foundation of BC members:
- Jens Larsen, Merritt
rancher, IAF representative
- Al Oliver, Vancouver, IAF
Manager program delivery
Agroforestry Project
Development and Implementation Facilitator
- George Powell, PhD, PAq.,
Quesnel, B.C.
Committee -
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada members:
- Phil Bergen, Burnaby ,
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
- Allen Eagle, Dawson Creek
, PFRA, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Opportunity for you or
your association / organization to access funding?
- In 2005, proposal and
letter of intent submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis.
Examples:
- Identify demonstration
sites to help showcase a successful agroforestry operation to others.
- Educate others about
agroforestry.
- Develop better marketing
or branding of agroforestry products.
- Application forms are
available at www.woodlot.bc.ca or
contact Carmen Wheatley as below.
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AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM
DEFINITIONS
Forest Farming
Also known as 'shade
systems.' Forest farming is the sustainable, integrated cultivation of both
timber and non-timber forest products in shaded forest understory. Forest
farming is separate and distinct from the opportunistic exploitation of wild
non-timber forest products. Successful forest farming operations produce:
mushrooms, maple and birch syrup, native plants used for landscaping and floral
greenery (e.g. salal, sword fern, bear grass, cedar boughs and others),
medicinal and pharmaceutical products (e.g. ginseng, goldenseal, cascara or yew
bark, St. John's wort), wild berries and fruit.
Alley Cropping
Also known as 'sun systems.'
Alley cropping employs the cultivation of various berries, forages, vegetables
or grains between rows of trees or shrubs spaced to allow near full sun between
the rows. Tree fruits, nut or berry producing shrubs, native or exotic high
value hardwoods or more common softwood trees can all be produced in alley
cropping systems.
Silvopasture
Silvopastures combine
livestock grazing on forage crops or pastures within actively managed tree
crops. Cattle, sheep and goats have all been incorporated into silvopasture
systems in British Columbia and they may be deployed entirely within a private
farm/woodlot silvopasture or through collaborative arrangements between forest
licensees and livestock producers on Crown land (e.g. using sheep as a
vegetation management tool on forest plantations).
Shelter- and
Timberbelts / Windbreaks / Hedgerows
These conservation plantings
include shelterbelts, timberbelts, windbreaks, fence line plantings, and
hedgerows designed for both shelter and the opportunity for woody plant harvest
and non-timber forest production. Trees and shrubs have long been used for
protecting livestock, crops and buildings as well as reducing soil and water
erosion. Agroforestry plantings also derive forest products in addition to
their conservation value and environmental services. A wide variety of tree and
shrub species are employed for shelter, each suited to specific growing
conditions and production opportunities.
Integrated Riparian
Management
Riparian buffers are managed
forest and shrubs in areas bordering lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands.
Integrated riparian management systems are used to enhance and protect aquatic
and riparian resources as well as generating income from timber and non-timber
forest products. Similar to shelter and timberbelts, integrated riparian
management systems can employ a wide variety of tree and shrub species, with
specific plantings tailored to suit the specific growing conditions and
production opportunities.
Agroforestry practices may
also be employed to realize a number of other associated Environmental
Services, including:
- Carbon sequestration
- Odour, dust, and noise
reduction
- Waste water or manure
management (e.g. utilizing urban waste water on intensive, short rotation
forests for wood fibre production)
- Green space and visual
aesthetics.
- Enhancement or
maintenance of wildlife habitat.
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