The Benefits of Agroforestry

How Can Trees Benefit Agriculture? 

If you live in Washington State, you know we appreciate our forested land. But believe it or not, those trees have a lot more to offer than just scenery. Trees supply a deep support system for natural ecosystems, down to their very roots. But can their benefits be applied to farmland? The answer is yes, and it’s not a new revelation. Agroforestry is the use and cultivation of trees in agriculture, and it has been around for centuries. It’s another amazing sustainable farming practice and it may be easier to incorporate than you think. 

What Adding Trees Does For Your Homestead 

So here’s how it works. When trees are planted on farmland they offer up a lot of stability to the land. Their deep roots help to keep soil in place and limit erosion. Because they pull water from deeper down in the soil they don’t take water from your crops, but actually can aid in water conservation. In agriculture, soil is always a main concern, but trees can help manage nutrients too! Certain tree species can help salvage nutrients and their root system helps to maintain balance on a deeper level than most plants can achieve. Topsoil is certainly a priority in most sustainable farming practices, but agroforestry can help manage your soil's ecosystem as a whole by not taking resources needed for other plant life. Because your regular crop root system can’t grow to those levels, the trees can pick up the slack.  

Although the root system they provide is certainly a plus, trees can provide so much more. When planted on strategic areas of your farmland they can form a windbreak, helping stop your plants from being uprooted and the soil from being blown away. All plants need sunlight, but certain species need shade to grow properly. When planted in a guild, trees can shade the plants growing below its canopy. Trees can also supply fresh organic matter when pruned, you can either use this in your compost pile as your Carbon materials or through the chop and drop method, you can place it on the ground for a slower breakdown.

How to Use Agroforestry

  There’s more to agroforestry than just simply planting a tree. But if that’s your goal, we still encourage you to do so! But it’s important that growers approach the cultivation of their trees just like they would their crops. With some sort of strategy in mind. So here are a few clever ways to add trees to your holding to get the most benefit from your time and space.

  In permaculture, they often talk about guilds. A guild is a grouping of plants that has a mutualistic relationship, meaning that each separate species benefits from the union, with no one species taking resources from the other. This is particularly helpful in gardens and lawns, or at the edge of your property so it doesn’t interfere with crops that you’re growing for consumption on a larger scale. Another clever permaculture practice is the use of swales. A swale is a ditch dug on a moderate slope, placing the freshly dug earth in a mound on the downhill side. What this does is catch runoff from rain and snow and hold it in place so it has time to soak into the earth. Where it plays into agroforestry is when you plant a tree on the mound. The deep roots help the moisture to penetrate deep and this helps to form a more sustainable water pocket. You can apply both of these methods and plant a guild around your swale. This means no extra watering from the grower because you’re helping form the earth in a way so your plants stay hydrated year-round with no extra effort on your part. 

What is Silvopasture?

You can even take agroforestry a step further, and use it in the feeding of your animals if you graze. This method is called silvopasture. It’s often used in permaculture and on biodynamic farms. Silvopasture is essentially tree grazing. You can use movable fencing or have each separate pasture area set with a fixed fencing structure and allow animals to graze when the trees have grown to maturity. But as always when you graze, double-check and ensure whatever tree species you’ve planted suits your animals. Animals like goats, chickens, sheep, and cows all do well grazing by silvopasture. Think of all the money you can save on feed! And through tree hay, you can continue to feed your animals this way through the winter. Tree hay is just leafy branches cut and stored so they can dry completely, much like traditional hay. But it’s important that you don’t attempt silvopasture until your trees are mature enough, animals don’t know when to stop so they will eat a whole sapling if you let them! But don’t worry too much about them being too hard on them otherwise, trees actually benefit from being cut or eaten down, it encourages new growth. Some tree species even benefit from the animals trodding on their root area, causing the tree to grow their roots deeper into the ground. 

How is Agroforestry Good For The Environment?

But let’s talk about the environment, a topic that’s on a lot of people’s minds these days. And if you’ve been delving into our Sustainable Agriculture Blog Series, I’m sure it’s a concern of yours too. A major downside of farming and ranching is the growing carbon footprint of the industry. Unfortunately, agriculture is a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. But when agroforestry is introduced to a holding it can lessen these emissions, because the trees you’ve planted actually absorb and store carbon dioxide. The only setback is that if you’re cultivating trees for firewood or something that requires them to be chopped down when fully grown, 70% of the carbon dioxide they’ve absorbed in their life will be reintroduced back into the atmosphere. But that being said, it’s still better to plant the tree to be cut down than not at all. When you add trees to your homestead you’re adding to the biodiversity of your holding, which in turn is helpful to the environment and ecosystems. 

How to Bring the Forest Home  

We here in the Pacific Northwest cherish our forests, but the beauty can be brought home. Every tree planted provides benefits to the farmers and their consumers. So don’t forget about agroforestry the next time you’re trying to expand your farm or garden. Four Roots is a Spokane Washington-based company that is passionate about sustainable practice, and the brighter future that it can help provide. So we urge you to keep reading and gain the knowledge necessary to continue to make our land bountiful. Because a tree planted today is progress towards sustainability tomorrow.