Forest Farming: definition

1. Forest Farming: definition • The intentional manipulation of forested lands to produce specific products (e.g., food, medicinal products, others). • Compared to other AFS that introduced trees into agricultural systems, forest farming introduces agricultural or cropping techniques into existing forested systems.

2. Forest Farming in the U.S. • Pre- and early European-settlement times. • Honey, maple syrup, mushrooms, fruits, nuts, berries • Botanicals and medicinal plants • Decorative plants • Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 • Combines of management for timber, water resources, wildlife habitat, and recreation on federal lands. • Non-timber products should also be considered as an important multiple use. • Land ownership issues • East = small land owners • South = large private corporations • NW = public ownership & Native American tribes

3. Harvesting, sustainability, and access Salal, swordfern, beargrass http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/gtr585.pdf

4. Growing conditions for forest products Salal, swordfern, evergreen huckleberry, mushrooms, moss

5. Wildcrafting: medicinal plants • ~ 70 indigenous medicinal plant species commercially harvested in the US • Little data on sustainability of wildcrafting • Future: cultivation • Over 50 official • root drugs in USA • (30 found in forests) • Little research on or production of phytopharmaceuticals in the US (vs. Europe) Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium)

6. American ginseng • Believed to “invigorate, rejuvenate and revitalize the human system” • Requires 70-90% shade • moist, rich, deep-shaded woods • High OM, well-drained soils , heavy leaf mulch • Sugar maple and mixed oak forests, N-facing slopes • Propagation by seed (stratified first; 6-20 mo to sprout) • Min. 5-10 years for good root crop • Cultivated in North America > 100 years, little information (disease control = problem!) • Market value of artificially cultivated ginseng 5-10% of wild roots

7. Ginseng: Survey (Persons 1994) • 800-900 woods-cultivated growers in 20 states (500 ac total) • 3400 “wild-simulated” growers (900 ac) • Average of 1/3 ac per ginseng farmer • Est. 80 lbs per 1/2ac, @ $300/lb = $18,500 • In general: • Wild ginseng: $200-$400/lb • Cultivated ginseng: $15/lb

8. Goldenseal (Hydrastic canadensis) • Used to treat many illnesses, ranging from sore throats to cancer to conjunctivitis (eyes) • Cherokee: local inflammations, a decoction for general debility, dyspepsia, and to improve appetite. • Iroquois: whooping cough, diarrhea, liver disease, fever, sour stomach, flatulence, pneumonia, and, with whiskey, for heart trouble. • Similar growing conditions as ginseng • Can be harvested within 3 years • Easier to propagate than ginseng & fewer disease and pest problems • 1 ac yields ~ 4000 lbs dry roots after 3 yr; @ $30/lb = $12,000/ac • 2009: $100/lb!

9. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) • Used to support and stimulate the immune system; treat colds and influenza • A fibrous root that grows in open woods • Sown from seed, roots ready to dig in 3-4 years

10. Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) • The root is used as an anesthetic, expectorant, diuretic, febrifuge, sedative, stimulant and tonic. • Used in many pharmaceuticals, mixed with other compounds to treat heart problems, dental applications (to inhibit plaque), and to treat migraines. • Bloodroot paste is used externally for skin diseases, warts, and tumors. • For ringworm apply the fluid extract. Bloodroot is said to repel insects. • Grows in cool, moist, rich, shaded deciduous woods • Propagated by seed or cuttings • 3-4 years to obtain a crop

11. False Solomon’s seal (Smilacina racemosa) From the historical literature: • A decoction of the root in wine was considered a suitable beverage for persons with broken bones, 'as it disposes the bones to knit. • 'The roots of Solomon's Seal, stamped while it is fresh and greene and applied, taketh away in one night or two at the most, any bruise, blackeye or blew spots gotten by falls or women's wilfulness in stumbling upin their hastie husband's fists. • The flowers and roots used as snuff are celebrated for their power of inducing sneezing and thereby relieving head affections. They also had a wide vogue as aphrodisiacs, for love philtres and potions.

12. Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) • Mohegan Native American tribe: tea and balm were applied to cuts and wounds, and the tea was ingested to help treat colds and other ailments. Essential oils extracted from witch hazel’s bark, leaves, and twigs to produce astringents and vasoconstrictors. The name “witch hazel” alludes to a historical association between the plant and witches and magic. It has been thought to protect one from witches; the medieval English word wych, meaning “flexible,” may have been correlated and applied to the characteristically flexible witch hazel branches. Modern witches consider witch hazel a magical herb and utilize it in spells to guard against evil influences and to heal broken hearts. Its bark and leaves are also used as astringents in herbal healing baths. Dowsers or water witches use the forked branches of witch hazel to find subterranean water, lost items, or hidden treasures beneath the earth.

13. Gourmet mushrooms • Propagation: cut fresh hardwood logs (3-4’) • Drill inoculation sites through bark • Inoculate with spores (contact with sapwood) • Some species – artificial propagation unknown • Chanterelles, Morels • Shitake – most popular exotic gourmet mushroom • Produced on oak logs – cut when trees dormant • Prefer cool, moist environment (beneath canopy) • First mushrooms appear within 6-12 mo • “Force fruiting” by soaking in water or thumping • Rest for 10 weeks before flushing again • Antitumor and antiviral activity (HIV virus, cancer?) • Fresh wholesale value $5-7/lb (X2 for retail)

14. Apiculture in forest farming • Apiculture = care and management of honeybees for various products and/or pollination services • Common honeybee (Apis mellifera) – imported from Europe & naturalized – more efficient than native bees, but crossbreeding = feral populations. • Trees with attractive nectar/pollin: tulip poplar, basswood, persimmon, black locust, paulownia • Parasites • Disease • Products: • Honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, bee pollen

15. Berries, Wild Fruits, Nuts • Blueberries • Huckleberries • Mayhaws • Cloudberries • Beechnuts • Butternuts • Chestnut • Hazelnut • Shellbark hickory • Pecans • Pinyon nuts • Black walnuts • Recreational value • Prescribed burning • High shade environments

16. Managing for NTFPs • Keep tillage to minimum • Encourage synergistic associations (hydraulic lift with Sugar Maple) • Raised beds (high density plantings) • Monitor for fungal disease (root crops) • Canopy management - light

17. Active management for NTPFs – Silvicultural Practices • Timber stand improvement (TSI) – removing trees or species to foster the production of forest-farmed products. • Can complement TSI for improvement of timber production. • Understanding of relationship between successional dynamics, microclimate conditions, and harvested products important!

18. Three dimensional model for forest farming (vertical, horizontal, belowground) • Canopy: • fruits, nuts • Shrub layer: • currant and berry bushes • Herbaceous layer: • medicinal and/or culinary herbs; perennial vegetables • Ground-cover: • Mushrooms, creeping plants (Rubus spp.) • Vertical layer: • climbing berries, runner beans and vines (trained up trees or fences) • Wildlife: • all forest dimensions (bees, pheasants, deer, other?) • Other products from Red Fern Farm?

19. Complimentary interactions:Maple syrup & Ginseng • Ginseng needs 75-90% shade from a hardwood overstory – coincides with thinning of maple stand for maximum crown development of sap-producing trees • Labor distributed between spring (syrup) and fall (ginseng) • Marketing: ginseng-laced maple syrup (NY)

20. Temperate Agroforestry: Economics • Market: Mushroom harvesting in Pacific NW = 41.1 million (1992) • International markets (1998) • Pecans: $48 million • Foliage: $20 million • Ginseng: $138 million

22. Forest Farming Systems Exercise Your team is assigned the task of advising agroforestry farmers on how to develop a forest farming system for a particular product. The team has decided to prepare a management plan as a guide for interested farmers. To develop this plan, the team needs to answer the following questions: A.) Ginseng and sugar maple; B.) Shitake mushrooms; C.) Bee products • What is the production cycle for the product – from planting to harvest to market? Draw a diagram to showing the cycle. • What are the ecological conditions for maximizing production? Are there • other complementary products that can be produced as part of the system? • 3) What silvicultural treatments (TSI) can be used to enhance production and quality? • What are some of the potential risks and how can they best be managed for? • How economically profitable is the product? What are some of the major considerations for increasing economic value and successful marketing of the product?

23. Forest Farming Timber Mushrooms Berries Herbs Wildlife * Mimic natural forest processes Matsutake Mushroom

25. Defend one of the following statements: • Conventional farmer: Agroforestry systems can never be as productive or economically viable as monocultures. Conventional agriculture is sustainable if managed well. • Agroforestry farmer: Agroforestry systems improve overall economic, ecologic, and social benefits obtained from the land. Polycultures with woody plant species are more sustainable than monocultures.

26. Conventional Farmer • Monocultures have greater yields ($$) • Better economically • Easier and cheaper to manage (economies of scale) • Nutrient cycling easier (management of inputs) – automated • Government programs • Markets more secure (cash crops) • Conservation threats lower • Production time shorter • Greater control of system • Conservation practices = sustainable • Greater yield???? • Cash flow more rapid -

27. Agroforestry Farmer • Multiarchitectural rooting and canopy systems to decrease competition for water, nutrients, and sunlight, while increasing productivity. • Distribute production over time (year). • Distributing risks. • Doesn’t require high external financial inputs (labor intensive) • The need to increase size in order to maintain competitiveness is lower (pay off debts) • Greater intellectual involvement (complexity) • Complementarity and diversity = increased stability/sustainability • Capitalize on natural assets • Higher ratio between biomass removal and income per pound biomass • Higher income/area • Higher income/biomass

28. Ecosystems as analogs for designing and evaluating agroforestry systems • Species interactions • Productivity: land equivalent (ratio) • Stand development – successional processes

29. Species Interactions • Competition • Plants utilize the same resource, the growth of one or both is reduced. • Monocultures – intense competition (genetically similar – same resource requirements) • Threshold – increasing density, production constant • Exceed threshold – add different species

30. Species Interactions • Complementarity • Niche differentiation – plants utilize different growing space or have different resource requirements. • Species mixtures = more complete/efficient resource use = increased productivity • Theory:  Species diversity =  productivity * Empirical evidence lacking (contradictory) • Key: a few species from different life forms

31. Species Interactions • Facilitation • One species directly benefits another growing in a mixture • Nutrient cycling efficiency • Soil structure – water & nutrient retention • Soil moisture status – hydraulic lift • Reduction of loss to pests, pathogens, weeds • Balance: maintain facilitative functions and reduce competition • Example: shade tree-crop interactions (cacao/coffee) • Facilitation: Nutrient cycling – deep layers (soil and litterfall) • Competition: light and nutrient uptake

32. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) • Compares the yield of polycultures with monocultures of each of the component species. • LER = RY(a) + RY (b) … etc. • Example: * Note: LER does not separate out the effects of different interactions (e.g., facilitation, competition) ** LER does not account for other social and economic factors in addition to yield

33. High Nutrients High Moisture Low Nutrients High Moisture High Nutrients Low Moisture Low Nutrients Low Moisture HOMEWORK • Diagram the potential competitive and facilitative interactions for resources (light, moisture, nutrients) in the following agroforestry systems: • Alley cropping • Homegarden • Shade tree-crop system • Silvopastoral system • Forest farming • Windbreaks • Riparian buffers • How might these interactions affect productivity of the agroforestry system compared to monocultures (i.e., the Land Equivalent Ratio)?

34. Agroforestry as an analog of forest ecosystems • Ecology – successional processes • Silviculture – stand development • Theories and models – apply to agroforestry • Four stages of stand development: • Stand initiation • Stem exclusion • Understory reinitiation • Old growth • Agroforestry systems: • Focused on creating a particular stand structure & composition • “Arresting succession” – gain benefits of species interactions

35. Phases of Forest Stand Development

36. Stand Initiation Stage • After a major disturbance removes the canopy vegetation • New trees establish (seedlings, sprouts) • Dominant species: • Shade-intolerant trees and shrubs • Herbaceous plants • Agroforestry examples: • Alley Cropping • Taungya

37. Stem Exclusion Stage • Trees grow to form a closed canopy • Growing space (resources) completely utilized • Reduction of understory vegetation (low light) • Intense competition among canopy trees • Size differentiation • Suppression and mortality • Examples: • Tree gardens: timber, fuelwood, fruit trees • Modified taungya system (land reform) • Walnut, pecan trees – thinning operations • Dry climates: • Competition belowground occurs before “stem exclusion”

38. Stand Structure and Climate Humid Seasonal Dry

39. Understory Re-initiation Stage • Small breaks in canopy = increased light • Decomposition = increased nutrients • Establishment of shade-tolerant trees, shrubs, herbs, vines • Examples: • Shade tree-crop combinations (coffee, cacao, tea, cassava) • Acacia and millet (nutrients, shade) • Facilitative & competitive interactions • Threshold: 800 – 1,000 mm annual rainfall • Shade tolerant vs. intolerant understory species

40. Old Growth Stage • Formation of canopy gaps - old trees die • Establishment of light-demanding species • Development of uneven-aged stand structure, multiple canopy layers • Examples: • Homegardens • Forest farming

43. Evaluating Success of Agroforestry • Crop yield: competitive reduction usually greater than facilitation effects • Complementarity of yield: non-tree and tree products with high value (timber, fruit) • Moderately reduced crop yield compensated by: • High value product from tree component • Long term sustainability of crop yield • Reduced costs of external inputs • Environmental services/quality (financial return?)