How farming in #forests could sustain the planet
While growing crops under the canopy may not feed the world, it can help save forests from the axe.
By Sophie Yeo
Excerpt:
"The practice of incorporating trees into agriculture is known as agroforestry, and it has been practised for thousands of years in a number of variations. Some involve planting trees on existing farmland, while other methods use an existing forest as a living laboratory for growing shade-loving species.
"For instance, the traditional #hedgerows that enclose many English fields are an unremarkable sight for many people, yet they provide many ecological benefits including opportunities for foraging and a habitat for #wildlife like #hedgehogs. Less familiar are methods such as alley cropping, where trees are planted in wide rows with crops grown in between them. The approach practiced at Big River Chestnuts farm is known as forest farming, a technique which involves the intentional cultivation of plants beneath the forest canopy (as opposed to foraging for wild species in an existing forest).
"These methods can avoid many of the pitfalls of our current food system, which has caused a precipitous decline in biodiversity and currently contributes around a third of global emissions. But #ForestFarming also provides an incentive to protect existing forests themselves, by giving them an economic reason to remain standing, rather than being logged or cleared. #ForestFarms are usually associated with high-value species that thrive in a shaded environment, including foodstuffs like shiitake mushrooms, but also herbal and medicinal plants."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-farming-in-forests-could-sustain-the-planet.html
#SolarPunkSunday #FoodForests #Agroecology
Planting trees on 
Read more in the latest edition of the 'Land Use Policy' journal: