>Ed B. said in reply to Dick Carlstein: > >Excellent post. Now you also have my attention on the fogger. I'll look at > >the archives. > > > >Thanks > >I fully agree, and find Dick's perceptions to be acutely sensible. A >fogger just got added to my to-do list. Dick, I am not familiar with >your word "agroafforestation". Please define. >-- >...Warren Rekow
Good way to grow biofuels. Good way to grow anything. Agroforestry resources below. Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ http://journeytoforever.org/farm_tree.html Farming with trees "Agroforestry is possibly the most self-sustaining and ecologically sound of any agricultural system." -- Dr. Franklin W. Martin, "Agroforestry Principles", ECHO Technical Note, 1992 Agroforestry Agroforestry integrates trees with farming, such as lines of trees with crops growing between them (alley cropping), hedgerows, living fences, windbreaks, pasture trees, woodlots, and many other farming patterns. There's nothing new about it -- it only seems new because modern industrialized farming ("commodity extraction" rather than farming) has veered so far from true farming practises. The heavy machines and single-crop production lines are tree-unfriendly. Previously, many traditional farming systems all over the world integrated trees with crops and livestock, and many continue to do so. The traditional European mixed farm with its crop and livestock rotations over the land was alive with trees, in hedgerows, pastures and woodlots, lining lanes, around homesteads. Such farms are still to be found in many parts of Europe. Now agroforestry is perhaps the fastest growing sector of the sustainable farming movement, in both the developed countries and the Third World. Agroforestry increases biodiversity, supports wildlife, provides firewood, fertilizer, forage, food and more, improves the soil, improves the water, benefits the farmers, benefits everyone. Overstory #7: Agroforestry (free on-line journal focusing on trees and crops in agroforestry) -- "Agroforestry: A way of farming that can work for everyone" "There is growing concern throughout the world about the loss of species diversity. Much of the destruction has taken place to make room for human agriculture, particularly pastures, plantations, and other monocultures. Agroforestry systems increase species diversity within farming systems, providing for human needs while supporting wildlife, soil microorganisms, rural communities, farmers, economic interests, watersheds, clean air concerns, biodiversity, and more." Online: http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory7.html agroforester.com -- Resource for Tropical Forestry and Agroforestry, based in Hawaii -- Publishes the Overstory free email journal for agroforesters, gardeners and others. Back issues online. Forest management plans, agroforestry plans, tree seedlings, tree seeds and plant inoculants (mycorrhiza and rhizobium), training and education workshops. Free publications: Nitrogen Fixing Tree Start-up Guide, Guide to Orchard Alley Cropping, Multipurpose Windbreaks, Multipurpose Palms, Forest Technology Bulletins, Sheet Mulching, more. Agroforestry links. Site search. http://www.agroforester.com/ "Agroforestry Principles" by Dr. Franklin W. Martin & Scott Sherman, 1992, ECHO Technical Note -- "Agroforestry is the production of trees and of non-tree crops or animals on the same piece of land. This system of land management is possibly the most self-sustaining and ecologically sound of any agricultural system. Agroforestry systems make maximum use of the land. Every part of the land is considered suitable for plants that are useful. Agroforestry is designed to produce a range of benefits including food, feed, fuels, often fibers, and usually renewed soil fertility. It takes advantage of trees for many uses, to hold the soil, to increase fertility through nitrogen fixation, or through bringing minerals from deep in the soil and depositing them by leaf-fall, to provide shade, construction materials, foods and fuel." Online (Acrobat file): http://www.echonet.org/tropicalag/technotes/Agrofore.PDF "Multipurpose Trees", Chapter 4 of "Amaranth to Zai Holes: ideas for growing food under difficult conditions" by ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization). An updated compilation of 15 years of the quarterly technical bulletin ECHO Development Notes in book form, online version -- a treasurehouse of practical information for and from the field. This chapter covers Trees in agricultural systems, Multipurpose trees, Fruit and nut species, Working with trees. Excellent resource. http://www.echonet.org/tropicalag/aztext/azch4.htm Association for Temperate Agroforestry -- "Agroforestry practises are intentional combinations of trees with crops and/or livestock which involve intensive management of the interactions between the components as an integrated agroecosystem." Alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffer strips, silvopasture and forest farming. Agroforestry articles online, links and resources. Publishes the Temperate Agroforester quarterly newsletter -- articles about agroforestry research, demonstration, education, public policy, and government programs, news, events, new publications, Internet resources, networking. Back issue index of articles, order online. http://web.missouri.edu/~afta/ "Agroforestry", Agrodok No. 16, Agrodok Publications, Agromisa Foundation, 1994, ISBN 90-72746-54-6 Useful guide to agroforestry, offering a variety of options for improving land use. For both humid and arid tropical areas. Describes five methods of agroforestry tree management: living fences, shelterbelts, alley cropping, improved fallow, home gardens. A chapter on extension gives an idea of the farmer's role and provides support for the design and planning of extension activities. Extensive discussion of the practical implications of agroforestry. Bibliography, glossary and address list of relevant research stations, list of over 300 tree species, per continent, with scientific, English, French and Spanish names. Order from Agromisa: http://www.antenna.nl/~agromisa/agrodok/ad10.html "Agroforestry Overview" -- One of the excellent Technical Notes from Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) in the US. "Agroforestry is a farming system that integrates annual crops and/or livestock with long-term tree crops. The resulting biological interactions provide multiple benefits, including diversified income sources, increased biological production, better water quality, and improved habitat for both wildlife and humans. Farmers adopt agroforestry practises for two reasons. They want to increase their economic stability and they want to improve their management of natural resources under their care." Clear and thorough treatment, good references, resources and links. Online: http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/agroforestry.html FACT Net was an international network of community groups, development workers, tree breeders, researchers, students, and farmers, with 2,000 partners in 100 countries devoted to the use of multipurpose trees to improve the soil, protect the environment, and enhance the well-being of farm families and other land users. Originally the Nitrogen Fixing Tree Association (NFTA), which provided the skills and resources necessary to use nitrogen fixing trees for sustainable agriculture and environmental protection to thousands of people worldwide. FACT Net closed in 1999 after nearly 20 years, the web site is maintained as an on-line resource and for ordering FACT Net publications. FACT Net News online (up to September 1999), large online collection of FACT sheets on multipurpose trees, research reports, field manuals, seed sources, resources and links, Agroforestry Practises Slide Show (20 slides, with explanatory notes). http://www.winrock.org/forestry/factnet.htm USDA National Agroforestry Center -- A partnership of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the USDA Natural Resources Conversation Service to promote agroforestry development. Technology Transfer & Applications, Research & Development, International Technology Exchange. Publications, information and resources. http://www.unl.edu/nac/ "About Agroforestry" has sets of links to useful fact sheets, how-to's, references and agroforestry resources in the US (temperate agroforestry): Windbreaks, Riparian Forest Buffers, Alley Cropping, Silvopasture, Forest Farming, Special Applications. http://www.unl.edu/nac/agroforestry.html "Forest Farming: Towards a solution to problems of world hunger and conservation" by J. Sholto Douglas & Robert de J. Hart, Rodale Press, 1978, Intermediate Technology Publications, 1984, ISBN 0946688303 The integration of tree and other farming establishes a sounder ecological balance and greater productivity of food and materials for clothing, fuel and shelter. Only 8-10% of the world's surface is currently used for food production, but planting of crop-yielding trees could raise that figure to 75%. The book suggests planting and cropping methods and a range of potentially useful trees. Foreword by Fritz Schumacher ("Small is Beautiful"). From IT Publications: http://www.developmentbookshop.com/ book.phtml?isbn=0946688303 From ECHO's global bookstore: http://echonet.org/shopsite_sc/store/html/product42.html "Live Fences" by Stefan D. Cherry & Erick C.M. Fernandes, Dept. of Soil, Crop & Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University -- Resource-poor food crop farmers can't afford barbed wire for fences, and more and more farmers are using trees and shrubs to form dense, often thorny, hedges to protect their crops. These live fences control the movement of animals and people, and provide many extra benefits you don't get from barbed wire: fuelwood, fodder and food, wind breaks, soil enrichment and more, depending on the species. Online: http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/livefence.html See also Live Fences, Overstory #38 (free on-line journal focusing on trees and crops in agroforestry) http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory38.html "The Living Fence -- Its Role on the Small Farm" by Dr. Franklin W. Martin, 1991, ECHO Technical Note -- Small farms need fences, and fences of living poles reduce costs, last much longer and have many benefits. They are widely used in a wide range of ecological situations, from very dry to rain forest conditions. Suitable plant materials are available for almost all ecological conditions. Other benefits: firewood, fertilizer, feed, food, fibers, shade, construction materials, medicines, windbreaks. Includes tables of species suitable for living fences. Online (Acrobat file): http://www.echonet.org/tropicalag/technotes/LivingFe.PDF Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
