Fiddle Creek Dairies sits atop one of the endless hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. On the first day of spring, farmer Tim Crowhill Sauder looks out over fields in all directions from a sloping meadow. A bright red barn blocks the long horizon. An Amish farmer plows behind a team of horses. It’s an idyllic photo that makes you believe in the natural state of the landscape.
“This was the great Eastern Woodlands,” says Sauder. “I want this place to be a forest.”
Centuries ago, Sauder’s Anabaptist ancestors arrived and, instead of learning from and learning with the indigenous peoples who had already developed the techniques of farming within the forest, took the land, felled the trees and planted the crops. Raised and pastured livestock. Now, Sauder sees the next chapter as both practical action and penance.
“I’m doing it for the future of my children and for the sins of my ancestors,” he says of 3,500 young hybrid willow, honey locust, mulberry, chestnut and persimmon trees. These trees are now slowly growing in 30 neat rows. acres of meadows.
Mr. Sauder’s system, in which his cows graze among trees instead of immediately in full open pasture, is called Silvopasture. And this is he one of several practices that fall under a broader agricultural approach called agroforestry, or tree-based farming.
Agroforestry involves planting trees and shrubs in strips along rivers to prevent nutrient pollution or between rows of maize to prevent soil erosion and provide habitat for wildlife. increase. These practices have long been part of indigenous agriculture and are taking root throughout the country.
Farmers grow crops to prevent soil erosion and provide wildlife habitat (windbreaks and hedgerows), along rivers (riverbank buffers) or between rows of corn (alley crops) to prevent nutrient contamination. Trees and shrubs can be planted in strips. These customs are taking root all over the country.
In California, Rebecca Siemens and Nathanael Siemens graze sheep in a 2,000-tree almond orchard. On his 18-acre property in Wisconsin, the Savannah Institute, the Midwest’s leading agroforestry nonprofit, grows chestnut, elderberry, blackcurrant and black walnut trees between rows of organic soybeans. .
Regardless of the approach, more abundant vegetation, or perennials, that are maintained each year leads to healthier ecosystems that support biodiversity and store carbon. Indigenous cultures around the world, including Native American tribes, have long practiced various forms of agroforestry. And as researchers, policy makers, and governments seek effective ways to build climate resilience on farms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure food supplies, agroforestry We are approaching the Renaissance.
Financing agroforestry as a solution to climate change
Project Drawdown ranks Silvo pasture and alley crops among the top 20 climate change measures. In the latest report released by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s top climate experts conclude that carbon dioxide storage practices are now critical to meeting climate goals. rice field. They found that scaling up agroforestry can make a meaningful contribution to carbon removal while also potentially helping farms adapt to climate risks.
“Farmers are managers of photosynthesis, removing carbon from the atmosphere,” Keef Keely told policy makers, officials and CEOs at the USDA’s biggest annual meeting of the year. It’s one of the oldest and best techniques to do that.”
Keeley, executive director of the Savannah Institute, was invited to speak to highlight the USDA’s Climate Smart Commodities program. The agency awarded $3.1 billion in two grants last fall, including $153 million for projects specifically focused on agroforestry. (Other extensive projects also include elements of agroforestry.)
The Savannah Institute is one of many organizations participating in a $60 million effort coordinated by conservation groups across 29 states. In the Southeast, Tuskegee University is leading two of his projects aimed at helping underserved farmers transition to agroforestry and expanding markets for its products. The Adirondack North Country Association will help women-owned farms in New York measure the benefits of riparian buffers and farmland reforestation, while Caribbean Restoration Community Development will work with small coffee farms in Puerto Rico. .
In recent months, the USDA has begun allocating funds under the Control Inflation Act to designate and allocate climate-smart agriculture, including agroforestry. Then, in late March, Rep. Shelley Pingree (D-Maine) and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) reintroduced the Farm Resilience Act. If included in the next Farm Bill, it would direct the USDA to establish three new regional agroforestry centers. As lawmakers prepare to draft the 2023 Farm Bill, many want to continue expanding funding for climate-smart practices.