The Future of Agroforestry

While I talk about the future of the food system often and what needs to change, I rarely talk about what trends are already happening to push us in the right direction.

Today I’ll give my thoughts on some of the crops that seem to be the future of agroforestry and have a viable place in a long-term food system. But first, let’s define “agroforestry”:

This is a very basic definition, but I want to keep it somewhat vague since there are lots of different versions of what this can mean.

I tend to prefer Mark Shephard’s “Restoration Agriculture” approach since it values perennial crops as staple foods in a system rather than being completely reliant on annuals.

Let’s take a look at what crops have some serious potential!

*Also, this article will be about the United States since that is the food system I’m most familiar with

Fruits

There are two different groups here; fruit crops that have a place as more of a staple food (ones that can be eaten regularly and in large quantities or used as a bulk resource), and fruit crops that can be used mostly for natural medicines (or “nutraceuticals”).

Elderberry

Starting out the list is Elderberry! If you live in the Midwest United States or Europe, you are probably more than familiar with this fruit.

Elderberry has tremendous potential in the US since right now the demand is significantly higher than the supply.

We currently get nearly all of our elderberry imported from Europe (the inferior Sambucus nigra) but the Midwest United States is the perfect place to be growing S. canadensis, the American elderberry!

I see this crop becoming huge in the next decade since it is easy to grow, has a lot of scientific data to back up the health benefits, has an enormous demand behind it, and makes a great understory crop that produces quickly.

Aronia

Aronia is a small shrub that produces black berries that make another incredible nutraceutical.

Extremely high in antioxidants and incredibly prolific, this plant makes a good understory crop for agroforestry systems.

Right now, the challenge is creating market demand. Because of how easy it is to grow and how productive it is, the supply currently outpaces demand. This is a crop that really needs some good marketing to give it a place in the future food system, but it does have a lot of potential.

The main practical uses for these berries are for juicing. These juices can be turned into medicines, syrups, and used as a natural color additive replacement which could be the biggest market use.

Serviceberry

Serviceberry is one that we haven’t touched on yet (trust me, we’ll get to it eventually!) but it has great potential in agroforestry systems.

This is a small berry that grows on trees and tastes sweet and mild (pleasant but different). While it might not make a great primary staple, it makes an excellent supplemental fruit and is one of the earliest to ripen in the season (hence it’s nickname; “juneberry”).

This crop is native to North America and is undergoing some natural breeding work to create cultivars for commercial production. I think it can become huge in the Midwest and could get pretty popular nation-wide.

Haskaps 

Also called “honeyberry” haskaps have tremendous potential to become one of the most popular berry crops in the Northern climates of North America.

These small berries are members of the honeysuckle family but look very much like oblong or bell-shaped blueberries.

The flavor is very good, much like a more nuanced and complex grape-raspberry flavor. The fruit is great fresh, baked, or used any way you’d use blueberries.

I think this has potential because like elderberry and aronia, it has some major health benefits, but it also can produce in 3 years or less with almost no inputs. I like them because they are machine-harvestable and are FAR easier to grow than blueberries.

Nuts

Nuts in my view will make up the bulk of the staples in a perennial system.

The great thing about nuts is that for the most part we already have pretty viable ways to process them on a large scale!

Chestnut

Many of you might be familiar with the old song “…chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” but I bet very few of you have actually tasted one!

The main reason I see chestnuts as becoming massive as a staple is because unlike other nuts, they are very low in fat and high in carbs which makes them perfect for completely replacing grains in most (if not all) applications!

They are much more nutrient dense and like most nuts only have to be planted once in a person’s lifetime which reduces input costs for farmers and is better for the soil. This goes for most tree crops of course!

Hazelnut

Hazelnut is another nut that has massive potential. This nut is very high in oils which makes it excellent for replacing oil crops like corn, canola, or safflower (boo seed oils!)

On top of being oil rich, hazelnuts also offer a high amount of protein, micronutrients, and calories making it a very energy-rich food source.

The oil is good for skincare products as well as cooking and has a high smoke point as well which makes it ideal for high temp cooking.

Heartnut

Heartnut are a species of Japanese walnut that produce far faster than most other nuts.

These have some benefits such as being easy to shell and already having a lot of established cultivars and hybrids.

There are some hybrids between American walnuts and Heartnuts which make them both more well-adapted to the climates in the Midwest, and more disease and pest resistant.

These nuts are very nutrient dense and are a great multi-use nut that can be used for oils, flours, and whole eating!

I see these as being less important and popular than the other two nuts simply because they are lesser known than chestnuts and hazelnuts, but they still could very much have a place.

Multi-use

Mulberry

Mulberry is another one that I’ve written about before that I think actually has a place in a long-term agroforestry-based food system.

Not only are these a productive and nutritious fruit tree, but the leaves are also incredibly nutrient dense containing nearly the same nutrition as alfalfa!

This particular tree has potential as a fruit crop, but I’d argue even more potential as a fodder crop.

These trees grow vigorously, and the fruit and leaves are not only nutritious but are well loved by both humans and animals.

This could make for an awesome supplemental feed crop for a diverse animal operation!

Black Walnut 

While this is a nut, I’ve classed it as a multipurpose crop since the value is both in nuts and timber.

Black walnuts can add more nutritious forage for animals as well as provide shade in pastures and make a great timber crop as supplemental income.

The downside is that you may have to choose either timber or nuts as a focus since they take slightly different management techniques but establishing groves for both uses is definitely possible.

In order for human consumption to happen on a large scale, we do need more market demand. Nut operations require cracking and shelling equipment which can be a big initial investment considering the low market demand at the moment.

Oak

Acorns have potential as a nut crop, but maybe not as much as some of the others quite yet.

These are a crop that really require some breeding efforts to be worth it because of how they need to be processed. Thankfully, there are people working on it but it will take some time to breed varieties that are low enough in tannins.

Acorns can be used for flour and similarly to other nuts, but they definitely hold a lot of potential as fodder crops for animals (pigs in particular tend to love acorns).

On top of nuts, oak trees can be used for hardwood timber although you might have different management techniques depending on which you are focusing on.

American Persimmon

Some of you might be familiar with persimmons, (the kinds you get in the store are typically tropical persimmons like Fuyu or Hachiya) but most of you probably don’t know that there is a native American persimmon!

These often-small fruits are the most nutritionally dense native fruits that grow in North America. The Midwest, parts of the South, and New England areas are ideal for growing them and they happen to have high value timber as well.

American persimmons have a more open canopy which allows understory crops to flourish without being shaded while the trees grow.

They are easy, adaptable to different climates, make good food for animals, and have wood that is useful for some applications such as turning and carving with hand tools.

It is very dense and hard, but it does have some shrinkage issues so may not be good for every application.

I think overall American persimmon presents some great opportunities as an agroforestry crop despite being somewhat niche in its applications.

Black Locust

Black locust is a controversial tree to say the least but has some interesting applications.

In some places it is regarded as a nearly invasive tree (despite being native to North America) but some people love it.

This tree is excellent for fodder with nutritious leaves and pods and also produces a very hardy rot-resistant hardwood for timber (traditionally used for fence posts and utility-type wood products).

Another massive benefit is that it is a nitrogen-fixing tree, and it grows very fast!

I know of a few breeding efforts to keep it from being as invasive while keeping it a highly productive tree which I think will really change the game.

I think it has potential mostly in the timber industry and to double as a fodder crop for livestock in a silvopasture setting.

Vegetables

Ramps

Ramps are a vegetable I’ve written about before and are well-known to most foragers beginner or otherwise!

They’re a leafy green onion with some surprising nutrition and an incredible flavor making it my favorite member of the onion family (which says something because I love onions!)

In recent years there have been a few initiatives to breed more productive strains of ramps for agricultural purposes which would not only add an incredible perennial vegetable to the food system but would add another high profit crop for farmers and save land since they can be cultivated in mature forests, land that would otherwise be cleared for monocropping.

On top of that they produce early in the season compared to many other types of green onions and are fairly cold hardy.

These are already in high demand by chefs around the country, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to see these as a major agroforestry crop in the future once we select strains that have more of the qualities we want.

Perennial Kale

Like it or not, kale in general is a pretty popular leafy vegetable.

Not only is it eaten fresh and cooked but it is in a ton of supplements, health powders, and value-added nutrition products.

It holds some major benefits over other leafy greens in terms of the high number of vitamins and minerals though I don’t see it replacing lettuce any time soon.

Perennial kales have already been developed and are just starting to become popular with homesteaders and gardening influencers which tells me we may see them in larger scale operations at some point since it’s an easy replacement for kale we already grow!

I could see this being a decent addition to an agroforestry system simply because perennial kales tend to be a low-maintenance crop that will produce in the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, and it does very well under a shady canopy.

It also makes a decent crop for livestock forage if you don’t let animals over browse it which could give it a use case for silvopastures as well.

I don’t necessarily see it becoming a massive staple that everyone eats every day, but I think it’s an easy addition that has enough uses that it would be worth replacing our current kales and similar annual greens with.

Nettles

Nettles is a crop that I am perhaps overly optimistic about.

If you’ve read my previous article about nettles you’ll know that I love this plant a lot!

In recent years it has started gaining some momentum in the US both as a vegetable, a medicinal herb, and a fiber crop.

In Europe this has been well-known for a very long time, and it is a fairly known vegetable. To me this says that there is market potential in the US for nettles.

This is another one I could easily see becoming as popular as elderberry in the nutraceutical world and one that the Midwest is perfect for growing an abundance of.

This plant does well in shade and the potential as a fiber crop fascinates me a lot. I personally think it could be a more viable alternative to growing hemp for fiber (although I have admittedly never farmed either on a significant scale)

In order for the fiber aspect to work out, a market needs to be established, and some infrastructure would need to be fine-tuned but I think the perennial nature of the crop plus the minimal input costs compared to hemp, the multiple other outputs (like leaves and seeds) and the better-quality fiber make up for the reduced yields.

Grains

Grains are a massive part of our food system and even though it is totally possible for nuts to take over as the dominant staple, I don’t see that happening completely for a very long time.

That said, there are a number of interesting things going on in the grain industry that could make grain production significantly more sustainable than it is today and make them good options for alley cropping and agroforestry systems.

Kernza

The biggest and most promising perennial grain I know of right now is Kernza.

Kernza is a naturally bred cousin of wheatgrass and is actually a perennial reducing the need for constant replanting- although yields will start to go down after about 3 years so while it is a perennial, there will still be some need for replanting just significantly less.

One of the most important factors that will make or break Kernza as an alternative to annual wheat is the flavor. Does it taste good? By all reports it actually tastes better than wheat flour!

The main challenge at the moment is selecting for larger kernel size for processing to go smoother, but Kernza is already getting a lot of attention from farmers who see the potential of a low-maintenance perennial grain.

If you are interested, you can actually purchase Kernza products right now from various retailers and farms; here’s some Kernza flour from Perennial Pantry

Perennial Sorghum

Sorghum is an ancient grain widely grown in Africa.

The big selling points of perennial sorghum to me are that it can be grown in dryer and warmer climates where growing wheat or corn is more water or resource intensive, and while it can be used for flour and human consumption, the sheer amount of biomass makes it a pretty good ethanol and fodder crop for livestock.

I don’t know enough about it to claim that it can completely replace those industries, but I think it can complement the system and give us another option to diversify our crops, so we aren’t reliant on only one thing.

Breeding efforts have been underway since the early 2000s to make this a more viable staple in the warmer regions of the US.

The lower input requirements alone are totally worth it in my opinion, anything to give the system more resilience!

Native Rice

North America has several native rice species that are great alternatives to regular white rice. This is not the same as “wild rice” that you get from the store, however.

Now hear me out; these are largely annual rice, but there are a few species that happen to be perennials. I think with some crossing it wouldn’t be too hard to select a good perennial rice that’s a viable staple in the US.

Even if that’s not realistic, replacing our imported rice consumption with native American rice will be a good thing overall since we won’t have to buy rice from overseas. It also allows us to use waterlogged land as potential growing sites that would normally not be usable for anything but wild habitat.

Around me people typically drain or dredge wetlands to build yacht marinas, so I think using the same areas for rice production that can also serve as wildlife habitat is an infinitely better use of the space.

There you go!

That’s my analysis of what crops will have a place in the future of agroforestry in the US.

There are plenty of other crops that will be important and many annual crops that of course are here to stay, but these have tremendous potential to be good staples that can replace a significant portion of the annual corn/soy and annual crop reliance, earn farmers more money, and be more stable in fluctuating temperatures.

Do you agree? Disagree? Leave a comment!

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