Instant Insights: Agroforestry Practices

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on the implementation of agroforestry practices. The first chapter reviews the use of integrated crop-livestock systems, with a focus on agroforestry systems. The chapter discusses the potential environmental and economic benefits of agroforestry systems, as well as their contribution to animal health and welfare. The second chapter considers the plantation and management of temperate agroforestry systems which combine timber trees and herbaceous crops. The chapter covers choice of tree species, techniques of tree planting, plantation maintenance and approaches to tree pruning and thinning. The third chapter provides an overview of the implementation of alley cropping in agroforestry systems. The chapter explores the economic and ecological benefits of alley cropping, as well as the challenges and major considerations of implementing these practices within North America. The fourth chapter addresses the challenges and key issues in the sustainable production and use of willow as feedstock for biofuel production in northern temperate regions, including the issues of feedstock quality for biofuel use. The final chapter explores the contribution of agroforestry to meet global strategies to increase biodiversity while sustainably increasing agricultural systems resource efficiency.