WHAT THE HECK IS AGROFORESTY? AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?

Here at ASLF we continue to develop our agroforestry program which has been a Board directive over the past year. In a nutshell, agroforestry is the integration of trees and shrubs into an agricultural or productive system with multiple outputs – with food almost always one or more of these. Recently there has been attention given to the benefits of agroforestry in cities. With this in mind, we have prepared a draft agroforestry strategic plan designed to help guide staff with programmatic milestones and proposal preparation. The strategic plan is divided into two subprograms: agroforestry in New York and agroforestry in Ecuador.

In New York we have been focusing primarily on planning and building urban food forests in Syracuse, and we are calling this project the Syracuse Community Food Forest (SCFF). Several new food forests are being planned in publicly-accessible spaces, two of which are owned by ASLF and are located in the Skunk City neighborhood. The City of Syracuse also provided ASLF with almost $500 worth of native fruit and nut bearing trees and shrubs to plant on City-owned property, as part of our SCFF. We will likely be planting these in various City parks. ASLF would like to give a big thanks to the City for supporting urban agroforestry and for providing tree stock!

Regionally, we are also working informally with community members in Wayne County, NY on brainstorming a plan to promote agroforestry to farmers and landowners for the purposes of water resource protection and rural economic revitalization. There are multiple grant opportunities aimed at farmers and as agroforestry gains more public attention, we feel the practice has growing potential for helping farmers to diversify income. The work we are doing in Wayne County is built off relationships developed during a previous NYS Sea Grant we completed last year, when we worked with community members in the Wolcott Creek watershed to identify and prioritize water resource protection projects.

Another exciting development has been our Ecuador program. We are working with the Parish of Cuellaje in Imbabura province to develop a plan for regenerative forestry, restoration, and agroforestry. ASLF Board member Samuel H. Sage resides part-time in Ecuador and is providing assistance with logistics and planning for this project. After we obtain funding the goal is to plant thousands of trees for both sustainable timber harvest as well as agroforestry and habitat restoration.  

Our agroforestry program is growing and we have new developments monthly. Please check our social media and website for updates!