PREFACE

What is Agroforestry?

W hat is agroforestry? While the word "agroforestry" may sound unfamiliar, the concept behind agroforestry is not: it mixes trees and shrubs into agricultural systems and allows for the simultaneous production of multiple crops and/or products from the same piece of land.

Minnesotans have been using agroforestry practices for over a century. Most Minnesotans know and accept windbreaks and shelterbelts as a common part of their landscape, and both windbreaks and shelterbelts are types of agroforestry practices. However, there are many other land use practices that are not as well known that are also part of agroforestry, including alleycropping, silvopasture, and forest farming.

Agroforestry offers ways to tap into new and profitable product niches, while at the same time improving your land and the environment. Matching woody crops to your own unique conditions can diversify your production and income base, reduce risk, better protect your land, and improve your bottom line. Wood, wildlife, specialty forest products, Christmas trees and products, landscape plants, herbs, nuts, seeds, fresh and dried fruit, and honey are just some of the many alternatives. These niche products can supplement your main sources of income. The combined income and cost savings can make a big difference in a bad crop year and can be the "icing on the cake" in a good one.

The Association for Temperate Agroforestry (AFTA) defines agroforestry as "an intensive land management system that optimizes the benefits from the biological interactions created when trees and/or shrubs are deliberately combined with crops and/or livestock."

Four key characteristics are the essence of agroforestry and are what distinguish it from other farming or forestry practices. The USDA Interagency Working Group on Agroforestry summarizes these as the "four I's", which are:

• trees and or shrubs are intentionally combined with crops and/or livestock

• land use is intensive

• integrated systems are created

• positive interactions are increased and utilized (May 1997, Integrating Agroforestry Into USDA Programs).

Agroforestry is one of several different approaches to economically and environmentally sustainable land use. Its concepts and practices should be integrated appropriately with other land use systems.

Agroforestry in Minnesota

Agroforestry is thriving in Minnesota. Indeed, Minnesota is widely recognized as one of the leaders in advancing agroforestry technologies and systems in the United States. A number of conditions and trends in Minnesota are driving the development and increasing adoption of innovative agroforestry practices and systems. These include: 1) the state's unique geographic location—where forest and prairie meet; 2) its well-developed agriculture and forest-based industries and markets; 3) an impending shortage of aspen from natural forests driving increased demand for wood fiber produced from non-traditional sources; 4) socio-economic changes, particularly in the agricultural sector; 5) environmental concern; 6) policy changes and 7) a growing institutional support for agroforestry within land management agencies and the state's University system.

Agroforestry activities now underway in Minnesota:

• Most all farms in Minnesota utilize at least one agroforestry practice (for example, farmstead windbreaks or groves).

• Many communities have installed community shelterbelts for protection against wind and snow.

• There are now nearly 10,000 acres of hybrid poplar plantations on former agricultural lands in the state, with another 20,000 - 40,000 acres projected to be established over the decade.

• Over 1,000 miles of field windbreaks will be established in MN this year alone under the CRP program;

• The new USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) will establish up to 100,000 acres of forested riparian buffers in the MN River Basin;

• Four thousand snow deposition sites (totaling 1,000 miles) along State and county roads have been identified as critical locations needing living snow fences. An interagency task force is currently seeking ways to establish these plantings, and feasibility studies are underway to identify the potential for producing commercially valuable specialty forest products in living snow fences;

• The USFS is planning a major basic and applied research initiative on forested riparian buffers for agricultural landscapes in the Upper Midwest, and;

• A number of research and demonstration agroforestry plantings (timberbelts, riparian buffers, silvopastoral systems, and forest farming) are being installed around the state in 1998 to test and demonstrate the biophysical interactions and economic potential of various agroforestry practices and systems.

A Vision for Integrated, Sustainable Land Use Systems Using Agroforestry

We have a vision for sustainable land use in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest—one that agroforestry can play a key role in achieving. We envision agricultural landscapes as healthy, diverse, beautiful places where people and communities dependent on a sustained and productive natural resource base prosper. We envision the day when the integration of woody perennials into agricultural systems is seen as the right thing to do, as common sense, and as a way to make a profitable living with less risk while protecting the natural resource base upon which we all depend. Agroforestry provides us with many tools to create more sustainable rural communities, and to make an enduring difference. We hope this guide facilitates agroforesters and potential agroforesters in Minnesota so that the vision is someday a reality.

Identify places where trees and woody crops can be planted Visit and learn from farmers using these techniques Learn about the costs, benefits, markets and production requirements (seedlings, equipment, establishment and maintenance concerns, etc.) Investigate various cost-share and technical assistance programs that support farm forestry and agroforestry practices, such as the: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Forestry Incentive Program (FIP) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

Contents

Next Section: Description of Agroforestry Practices in Minnesota

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