Agroforestry, a New Dimension in Agriculture

Julie Thorburn

               Growing up where I did was heaven on earth I always thought, and I believe I always will.   I grew up half an hour west of the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota and the area was rolling hills, farm fields, and forests.   I grew up associating corn fields with forest, because the fields were always surrounded by trees, the fields were cut out of the forest.   But the further west one goes from that area, the more flat and open it becomes.   Corn fields stretch out as far as the eye can see, and one can see pretty far out there.   Nutrients and fertilizer is constantly being added to the fields, and erosion is a big problem in western Minnesota.   The reason why the fields around where I grew up are more productive then the fields in western Minnesota is due to the forests, I believe.   Other people share my views and a new field of forestry is being opened, it’s called agroforestry.

            Agroforestry is still a relatively new area of study, and is still not widely known, but it is the future of farming and forestry and is a very important dimension to land management.   By planting trees along fields, hardly any agricultural land gets lost, and the benefits are well worth the small sacrifice.   Having trees on a farmer’s landscape helps to add nutrients to the soil, prevent erosion, has several advantages for wildlife, and helps diversify the land owners’ product.   The trees help slow down the run off of water after a rain event to prevent erosion, and soil loss due to erosion is one of the top problems facing soil scientists today.  

            Another large advantage to a land owner who plants trees along their fields is the diversity of products.   This summer the state of Wisconsin was declared to be in a state of drought, along with over a third of the country; a lot of irrigation occurred, and there was still less yields then many farmers were counting on for their income.   In this case, the farmer who practices agroforestry would maybe have trees large enough for harvest, and some of their lost income could be made up by selling timber.   Agroforestry is also more economical because of the nutrients that trees help to store in the soil.   Farmers pay to put fertilizer on their soil that trees would be able to produce for free, which shows that trees along fields saves money.  

            Agroforestry is a fairly new field of study that I feel needs to be explored more.   The benefits from agroforestry prove that it is worth the time and energy to study and develop, and it is a new way to merge agriculture and forestry.   I believe that agroforestry is the future of agriculture and I am personally excited to see what new doors this new area of study opens.