Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
AGROFORESTRY SESSION
(12:00-2:30pm)
Facilitators:
• Diomy Zamora, University of MN
• Michele Schoeneberger, US Forest Service
USDA FS/NRCS National Agroforestry Center (NE)
• Jeri Neal, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (IA)
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Agroforestry is……
……the intentional mixing of
agricultural and forestry elements
to help build productive, healthy &
resilient operations and landscapes.
………depending on the practice, it
incorporates the other GLBW CLCs:
Perennial Forage & Grazing
Perennial Biomass
Cover Crops
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
Alley Cropping
Riparian Forest Buffers
Silvopasture
Windbreaks
Forest Farming
Special Applications
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
BARRIERS:
• Lacks institutional support
• Current rules effectively eliminate agroforestry practices from
consideration for govt subsidies and cost-share programs
• Limited knowledge of agroforestry among agency personnel
• Often relegated to a number of disconnected, disperse and
independent practitioners which limits impact at landscape level
NEED: To move agroforestry into the mainstream as (1) a set of
practices w/ viable markets & rural enterprises driving adoption, and (2)
a system integrated at a landscape level with other sustainable land-use
options.
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
SUGGESTIONS
1. Improve agroforestry connections to other
CLC strategies (and watersheds) through
GLBW
a. Annual meeting like this one or
different model to enhance interaction.
b. Start collecting tools in central location
for easier incorporation of agroforestry (i.e.,
targeting tools for riparian buffers for
multiple purposes)
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
c. List out ‘issues’ w/in Farm Bill that are
creating adoption ‘dis-incentives’ to
WQ/watershed improvement project.
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
2. Addressing misconceptions/misperceptions
of agroforestry w/in agencies, landowner
groups & nat. resource providers –
DEVELOPING A COMMON UNDERSTANDING
a. Tool: Visualization Catalog of
Agroforestry Practices for different regions
w/in GLBW
b. COMMON LANGUAGE/DEFINITIONS
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
3. TRAINING & EDUCATION:
a. SARE proposal: Agroforestry Academy
(Gold-MO)
--If not funded, turn to Agroforestry Framework
Executive Steering Team
b. Tying into national-level forestry & crop
certification programs (SAF/Tri-Societies) so that
agroforestry webinars can inform all that
interact w/ landowner (CCA, Farm Managers).
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa
Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG)
Green Lands Blue Waters Partnership – 2012 Conference – Ames, Iowa