About Agroforestry Practices

AFTA defines agroforestry as an intensive land management system that optimizes the benefits from the biological interactions created when trees and/or shrubs are deliberately combined with crops and/or livestock. There are five basic types of agroforestry practices today in the North America: alley cropping, forest farming, riparian buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks along with other practices like urban agroforestry. Within each agroforestry practice, there is a continuum of options available to landowners depending o­n their own goals (e.g., whether to maximize the production of interplanted crops, animal forage, or trees).