"Agroforestry refers to any of a broad range of land use practices where pasture or crops are integrated with trees and shrubs."
The creation of diverse and layered food-producing ecosystems through the use of trees, shrubs, and perennial plants.
Agroforestry Systems: The different types of agroforestry systems, their benefits, challenges, and examples.
Forest Ecology: The study of plants, trees, and animals that inhabit forests, including their relationships, interactions, and mutualism.
Soil Science: The study of soil properties, nutrient cycles, microbial ecology, soil conservation practices, and their importance in agroforestry.
Plant Anatomy and Physiology: The study of plant structures, functions, growth, and development, their response to environmental factors, and how it relates to agroforestry.
Bioregionalism: The study of the natural confluence of plants, animals, people, and cultures in a particular region, and how it is integrated into agroforestry.
Edible Landscaping: The use of aesthetic design principles and functional plants in creating food forests, including plant selection, planting, pruning, and maintenance.
Agroforestry Economics: The economics of agroforestry, including costs and returns, market development, environmental services, and policy support.
Agroforestry and Climate Change: The impact of climate change on agroforestry systems, mitigation strategies, and coping mechanisms.
Water Management: The collection, retention, and distribution of water in agroforestry systems, including techniques such as swales, ponds, and water-efficient irrigation methods.
Community Collaboration: The importance of community involvement in building and maintaining food forests, including cooperation, knowledge sharing, and socio-economic benefits.
Temperate Deciduous Food Forest: A food forest that includes shade-tolerant fruit and nut trees, shrubs, and understory crops that create a forest ecosystem.
Subtropical Food Forest: A food forest that includes heat-loving fruit trees, shrubs, and herbs, which thrive in warm climates.
Tropical Food Forest: A food forest that benefits from year-round rainfall and high humidity. Typical crops include bananas, papayas, and avocados.
Mediterranean Climate Food Forest: A food forest that survives in hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Plants such as figs, olives, and pomegranates are common.
Forest Gardening: An agroforestry system that simulates a natural forest ecosystem. Practitioners implement an organized methodology for cultivating perennial plants and shrubs together.
Silvopasture: These agroforestry systems integrate trees and grazing pastures for domesticated animals. Practitioners often use animals like cattle within the system.
Alley Cropping: A system that can help farmers protect their crops from soil erosion and excessive heat. Trees and shrubs are planted in rows parallel to the crops.
Riparian Buffers: A buffer zone positioned along the edge of streams, rivers, and lakes. It is intended to shield the water and the surrounding soil from agricultural runoff and pollution.
Windbreaks: An agroforestry system that leverages trees to protect crops from wind damage.
Home Scale Forest Gardening: Growing food in a forest-like ecosystem on a small scale, suitable for home gardens.
Urban Food Forest: Constructing edible tree gardens in individual yards, public parks and empty properties in an urban context.
Neotropical Food Forest: A food forest that enables the cultivation of all year-round crops, especially tropical fruit plants.
Community-Managed Forests (CMF): Small-scale agroforestry systems that empower local communities to manage and sustain the forest resources for food and medicinal plants.
Successional Agroforestry: A practice of continually establishing new trees and shrubs to replace those that have fully developed in forest gardening systems.
Wildlife-Friendly Food Forest: An agroforestry system that benefits both wildlife and plants through non-invasive design, which provides a safe haven for al kinds of animals.
Regenerative Agriculture: The term refers to agroforestry systems and land management practices that promote soil regeneration, building of ecosystems, and biodiversity preservation.
"This intentional combination of agriculture and forestry has multiple benefits, such as greatly enhanced yields from staple food crops, enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation, increased biodiversity, improved soil structure and health, reduced erosion, and carbon sequestration."
"Trees in agroforestry systems can also produce wood, fruits, nuts, and other useful products with economic and practical value."
"Agroforestry practices are especially prevalent in the tropics, especially in subsistence smallholdings areas with particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa."
"However, due to its multiple benefits, for instance in nutrient cycle benefits and the potential for mitigating droughts, it has been adopted in the USA and Europe."
"Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping but can also involve much more complex multi-strata agroforests containing hundreds of species."
"Agroforestry can also utilize nitrogen-fixing plants such as legumes to restore soil nitrogen fertility."
"Enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation"
"Increased biodiversity"
"Reduced erosion and carbon sequestration"
"Improved soil structure and health"
"Particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa"
"Enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation"
"Greatly enhanced yields from staple food crops"
"Trees in agroforestry systems can also produce wood, fruits, nuts, and other useful products with economic and practical value."
"The potential for mitigating droughts"
"Reduced erosion"
"Reduced erosion and carbon sequestration"
"Particular importance in subsistence smallholdings areas"
"Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping but can also involve much more complex multi-strata agroforests containing hundreds of species."