
Trees and Crops Could Supplement Livestock
on Small FarmsBy Tara Weaver November 17, 1997Small farms that raise livestock could have a new money-making
option--agroforestry--when livestock prices drop. Agroforestry means
incorporating trees or crops or both into the livestock operation. Scientists with the Agricultural Research
Service in Booneville, Ark., are studying two types of agroforestry. One is
silvopasture--growing trees, cows and grass on the same land. The other, alley
cropping, means growing crops between the tree rows. According to forester Catalino A. Blanche at ARS
Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research
Center, introducing the right tree species into a pasture in the right
manner can eventually improve a farmers income as much as 300 percent.
The extra grazing income would be about $3,400 a year for a 50-cow, 200-acre
pasture. And planting 60 acres of that pasture with trees over a 30-year period
would add another $5,000 a year. With alley cropping, the other type of agroforestry, farmers would plant
crops between the tree rows while waiting for the trees to grow. They could
grow and sell corn, for example, besides raising livestock. The scientists at Booneville are looking at a wide range of alternative
crops to learn which could work best in an agroforestry system. Possibilities,
in addition to corn, include muscadine grapes, herbs, jalapeno peppers and
plants with chemical properties useful in industry and medicine and as dietary
supplements. An in-depth story on Boonevilles agroforestry research appears in the
November issue of Agricultural
Research magazine. The story is also on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov97/tree1197.htm Scientific contact: Catalino A. Blanche, Dale Bumpers Small Farms
Research Center, Booneville, Ark., phone (501) 675-3834, fax (501) 675-2940,
[email protected] U.S. Department of Agriculture | |