Agroforestry: Mapping the way with GIS

Excerpt

Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create diverse, profitable, and sustainable land-use systems (Rietveld, 1995). Agroforestry practices include alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks-each of which meets environmental, social, and economic needs (Gold et al., 2000). Environmentally, agroforestry practices can reduce erosion, improve water infiltration and quality, moderate microclimates, enhance nutrient cycling, and provide wildlife habitat (Allen, 1995; Sanchez, 1995). Socially, partnerships that implement publicly owned agroforestry projects like community shelterbelts may revitalize communities (Josiah et al., 1999). And Rattan Lal of Ohio State University (2000) recently cited agroforestry as one of the future technological innovations needed to meet food demands for a growing global population.

Economically, agroforestry practices reduce production costs by lowering the need for chemical, water, energy, and labor inputs while potentially increasing overall agricultural output (Lassoie and Buck, 2000: Olson et al., 2000) One of the strongest financial incentives for landowners is growing and selling specialty products (Rietveld and Francis, 2000) like ginseng, mushrooms, and black walnut for lumber, nuts, and hulls. Species used in agroforestry applications allow landowners to diversify the marketable products derived from a given tract of land, improving overall profitability and economic stability. Through careful …