THURSDAY, JAN 26, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Module 3-13
Agroforestry
Agroforestry stands to become one of the most important practices in our striving for food systems resilient to global warming as well as ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration.
In places where the natural biome is open-canopy woodland, as for example in large parts of Europe, the Americas and Africa, agro-forestry practices are traditional. Essentially, it is the practice of deliberately integrating woody vegetation (trees and/or shrubs) with crop and/or animal systems to benefit from the resulting ecological and economic interactions. In Southern Europe, for example, polycultures of productive trees, such as fruits and nuts are still being combined with pigs, poultry and cattle. In Northern Europe, extensive grazing and silvopasture that combines woodlands with cattle, pigs and goats is a practice that goes back thousands of years and utilises the way all ungulates (hooved animals) maintain the health of the open canopy that allows under-growth the thrive. The browsers taste for woody shrubs that keep unwanted elements of undergrowth under control also ensures food supplies for the animals in winter. These practices have been marginalised by the subsidy systems that favour large-scale monocultures, but are being revived, sometimes with startling results in terms of regeneration.
The technique of ‘forest gardening’ is a prehistoric method of food production in many tropical areas. Robert Hart pioneered ‘forest gardening’ in temperate climates and his work has been taken up and developed further by Patrick Whitefield and Martin Crawford, who runs the Agroforestry Research Trust. Robert Hart transformed his existing small orchard into an edible polyculture landscape by intercropping into the following layers which are illustrated in Figure 3.5a:
· ‘Canopy layer’ consisting of the original mature fruit trees.
· ‘Low-tree layer’ of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks.
· ‘Shrub layer’ of fruit bushes such as currants and berries.
· ‘Herbaceous layer’ of perennial vegetables and herbs.
· ‘Rhizosphere’ or ‘underground’ dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers.
· ‘Ground cover layer’ of edible plants that spread horizontally.
· ‘Vertical layer’ of vines and climbers.
The related approach of ‘Analog Forestry’ uses “natural forests as guides to create ecologically stable and socio-economically productive landscapes”. This whole-systems approach to silviculture “minimizes external inputs, such as agrochemicals and fossil fuels, instead fostering ecological function for resilience and productivity”. Ranil Senanayake developed the ‘Analog forestry’ approach in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s. It has since grown into a global network of practitioners with a standard for certified ‘Forest Garden Products’ (International Analog Forestry Network (IAFN), 2015). The following short video (7mins) shows how Analog Forestry is spreading in Latin America, Asia, Africa and around the world.
Figure 3.5: Analog Forestry mimics the diversity of a climax forest ecosystem (Source)
Module 3, lesson 14
