Missouri trip explores potential for agroforestry
 |
|
Two van loads of farmers and reseachers |
The Leopold Center’s ecology initiative sponsored a trip in May to the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC). The goal was to achieve a better understanding of the potential role of woody agriculture in the Iowa landscape, and to discuss possible future partnerships for projects that combine agroforestry and production agriculture.
“This approach to agriculture is less familiar in Iowa,” said Jeri Neal, who leads the Center’s ecological systems research program. “We wanted to know answers to all sorts of questions. Can woody agriculture be profitable for landowners? What kinds of pest and production problems do they encounter? What are potential markets?”
The group spent a half-day touring the 650-acre farm and a number of ongoing research plantings. Projects include alley cropping (trees in widely spaced rows with crops in between); silvopasture (grazing forages, animals and trees in one system); windbreaks; floodplain tree tolerance plantings; forest farming (mushrooms, medicines and decorative florals); specialty nut crops; and living terraces.
The afternoon session included more specific research presentations by members of the HARC staff and a general discussion about the challenges of integrating production agriculture and forestry. Staff at the HARC, which started out as a horticulture farm and has become an agroforestry research center, are excited about the opportunity to further integrate forestry and production agriculture.
“We did not come home with a clearly defined project,” Neal said, “but we really liked HARC’s concept of ‘productive conservation.’ We need to include this in our thinking about how we might increase biologic and economic diversification in Iowa agricultural landscapes.”
The entourage included Leopold Center advisory board chair Jim Penney, farmers John Sellers of Corydon (also an advisory board member), Hubert Staggs of Seymour and Ted Dixon of Bloomfield; Steve Gates and Lottie Wilson, Indian Hills Community College; Roger Wolf, Iowa Soybean Association; Richard Schultz, Joe Colletti and Heidi Asbjornsen, ISU’s Natural Resources and Ecology Management; Steve Fales, ISU Agronomy; Tom Sauer, National Soil Tilth Laboratory; Bernie Hoyer, Iowa Department of Natural Resources; and Fred Kirschenmann and Neal from the Leopold Center.
Four short videos about alley cropping, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture and windbreaks can be checked out by contacting the Leopold Center, (515) 294-3711.