Topics

Getting started in perennial farming

Are you ready to get started in agroforestry? Take a guided walk through questions, considerations, and resources that beginning farmers frequently face when getting started with perennial agriculture.
Staffer slides protective plastic tube around hazelnut sapling as part of agroforestry research at Savanna Institute's Valley Farm, Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Agroforestry Practices

There are many ways to integrate trees into food and farm systems. Explore our resources on alley cropping, forest farming, riparian buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks.

Climate Change

We believe agriculture can be productive for farmers and regenerative for the environment. Farming with trees, called agroforestry, can build climate resilience on farms.

Farm Finances

Planting trees is an investment that can take time to produce returns. It requires long-term access to land and sound financial planning to be successful.

Food Safety

Grazing livestock on farms with fruit and nut trees can add benefits and risks for farmers. We review common sense practices and food safety guidelines to help landowners reduce risk in silvopasture systems.

Social Justice

People who have been systematically denied access to land and resources for farming face additional barriers to getting started in agroforestry. We review the history of farming and raise up resources for equitable agriculture to create equal opportunities for all farmers.

Soil and Water

Trees slow runoff during heavy rains and their deep root systems soak up more water in floods. We break down the benefits for water quality and soil health when farmers plant trees along waterways, on field edges, and in fields.

Public Policy

Smart policy decisions could remove barriers and unlock resources for agroforestry. We review policy recommendations from the community practicing agroforestry.
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Online Courses

Our online agroforestry courses focus on key tree crops and practices, marketing, land access and finances, agroecology, and climate change.