1 / 22

Alley Cropping

Alley Cropping. An Agroforestry Practice. This presentation was developed by the USDA National Agroforestry Center. Presentation Objectives. Define alley cropping Describe the benefits Explain the basic design considerations Identify potential crops and species. What is Agroforestry?.

september-alvarado
Download Presentation

Alley Cropping

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Alley Cropping An Agroforestry Practice This presentation was developed by the USDA National Agroforestry Center

  2. Presentation Objectives Define alley cropping Describe the benefits Explain the basic design considerations Identify potential crops and species Alley Cropping

  3. What is Agroforestry? …theintentional combining of agriculture and working trees to create sustainable farming systems. Riparian buffer Forest farming Alley cropping Silvopasture Windbreaks Alley Cropping

  4. What is Alley Cropping? … the planting of trees or shrubs in two or more sets of single or multiple rows with agronomic, horticultural, or forage crops cultivated in the alleys between the rows of woody plants. Poplar and wheat Alley Cropping

  5. Alley Cropping is not….. Corn with two pecans Alley Cropping

  6. Why use Alley Cropping? Improves crop or forage quality and quantity by enhancing microclimate Improves crop diversity, and economic returns Increases net carbon storage in the soil and vegetation Improves utilization and recycling of soil nutrients Decreases off site movement of nutrients or chemicals Provides or enhances wildlife habitat Alley Cropping

  7. Benefits Improves crop or forage quality and quantity by enhancing microclimate • Improves the microenvironment to increase crop yields • Protects alleyway crops from physical damage from winds or from soil particles blown into the plant tissue which bruises or degrades quality Black walnut with hay Alley Cropping

  8. Benefits Improve Crop Diversity, and Economic Returns • Allows production of annual crops for needed cash flow while at the same time growing longer term woody investments. • Allows two annual crops to be grown on the same acreage such as a forage or row crop and nut or fruit crops • Allows crop diversity which reduces risk Taro Elderberry Alley Cropping

  9. Benefits Increases net carbon storage in the soil and vegetation • Roots, crop residue, leaves and forage add to soil carbon • Tree component adds to total potential carbon stored on site through long term sequestration in the above ground and below ground biomass Alley Cropping

  10. Benefits Improves utilization and recycling of soil nutrients • Tree roots are generally deeper than crop roots • Nutrients and chemicals that pass through crop root zone are intercepted by trees • Nutrients are utilized by the trees and recycled back to the soil surface by leaf drop Alley Cropping

  11. Benefits Decreases off site movement of nutrients or chemicals - surface • Trees planted on contour trap sediment and residue along with attached nutrients and chemicals • Infiltration increases in tree rows decreasing overland flow and associated movement of soluble nutrients and chemicals off site Alley Cropping

  12. Benefits Decreases off site movement of nutrients or chemicals - subsurface • Tree roots are generally deeper than crop roots • Nutrients and chemicals that pass through crop root zone are intercepted by the woody plants • Nutrients are utilized by the woody plants and recycled back to the soil surface Alley Cropping

  13. Benefits Provides or enhances wildlife habitat • Provides food and cover through a diversity of plants • Creates vertical habitat structure • Improves pollinator foraging and nesting habitat • Builds travel corridors for wildlife movement to connect to other food, cover, or water resources Alley Cropping

  14. Alley Cropping - Issues Involves intensive management May remove land from annual production, depending on the tree crop May complicate herbicide application Requires marketing infrastructure for woody plant products Coffee under macadamia trees Alley Cropping

  15. Design Considerations Light requirement for the crop or forage to be grown in the alley way Root Competition between crops Type and size of the equipment being used Alley Cropping

  16. Tree or Shrub Criteria for Alley Cropping Marketable Yields annual or periodic commercial product (wood, nuts or fruit) Appropriate shade for the alley crop Minimal roots at soil surface Adapted to site and soils Foliage residue does not interfere with alley crop Growth requirements complement alley crop Alley Cropping

  17. Potential Trees Walnut Pecan Chestnut Pine Poplar Tropical: Coffee Coconut Palm Leucaena Eucalyptus Papaya Pine Coffee Walnut Leucaena Alley Cropping

  18. Potential Shrubs Hazelnut/filbert, (nuts) Willow, dogwood (decorative florals) Chokecherry, highbush cranberry, currant, elderberry, saskatoon, gooseberry, sugar apple, pomegranate (fruits) Hazelnut Willow Sugar apple Saskatoon Pomegranate Alley Cropping

  19. Potential Alley Way Crops Row/cereal crops (corn, soybeans, milo, wheat) Forage crops (legumes, grasses) Specialty crops (vegetables, fruits, flowers, medicinals) Biomass (energy, feedstock) Pecans and hay Biomass alley crop Alley Cropping

  20. For Additional Information Where is there more information on alley cropping? A number of web sites are available to provide more detailed information on alley cropping systems. Here are a few : • USDA National Agroforestry Centerhttp://www.unl.edu/nac/alleycropping.htm • The Center for Agroforestryhttp://www.centerforagroforestry.org/practices/ac.php • Association for Temperate Agroforestryhttp://www.aftaweb.org/alley_cropping.php • The Overstoryhttp://agroforestry.net/overstory/osprev.html Alley Cropping

  21. Summary – Alley Cropping Increased crop production Enhanced economic diversification Improved crop protection Better nutrient utilization Improved soil and water quality Coconuts and beans Lettuce intercrop followed with pumpkins Pine and cotton Alley Cropping

  22. Acknowledgements This presentation was developed by the USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC), Lincoln NE. NAC is a USDA partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. A partnership of: NationalAgroforestryCenter • "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). • To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).  USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer." Alley Cropping

More Related