Agroforestry for the Northeastern USA: Research, Practice, and Possibilities

Agroforestry has been proposed as a set of techniques that can produce food, conserve biodiversity, provide ecosystem services, and help people adapt to climate change. Research on alley cropping, silvopasture, windbreaks, riparian buffers, forest farming, and multistrata homegardens is happening all over the world; there is a growing momentum to adapt these techniques to cool temperate climates. This chapter details how agroforestry might expand in the Northeastern USA. Lessons from the intensive silvopastures of South and Central America can be applied to black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and mulberry (Morus spp.) fodder systems. Silvopasture establishment, especially by thinning existing second-growth woodlands, offers an opportunity to improve timber stands and livestock enterprises’ viability. Windbreaks and riparian buffers can protect crops and water quality and may also be adapted to include beneficial wildlife habitat and non-timber forest products like elderberries (Sambucus spp.) and ramps (Allium tricoccum). The region’s abundant forestland provides an ideal setting and substrate to cultivate gourmet mushrooms. Harvesting small-diameter wood on which to grow mushrooms could improve forest managers’ ability to make forest practices financially worthwhile. Each practice can be adapted to conditions in the Northeastern USA, but widespread adoption will require collaboration between farmers, policymakers and enforcers, consumers, and conservation organizations. Building on existing networks of innovation and information sharing—and expanding the resources available to agroforestry ventures—are two strategies that can accelerate this process.