Oct 17, 2024 By Monika Shea and Kevin Wolz
In 2024, Canopy Farm Management launched Canopy Compass, a web-based, crop suitability mapping and farm analysis tool built to support farmers’ transition to regenerative agriculture, identifying perennial crop possibilities across U.S. farmland. For farmers who want to integrate trees and other perennials into their cropping systems, choosing the right crop for the right landscape is essential. Advice about what trees to plant is one of the most common requests we get at the Savanna Institute and at Canopy Farm Management, two organizations working to scale up tree-based agriculture in the Midwest.
There are many different tree and shrub crops that people are interested in planting in farming systems, and compared to other crops, there is often limited or inconsistent information available about where these woody plants can grow and thrive. People looking to learn more about tree crops often have to do a lot of digging for information, and the planning process for perennial agriculture can be onerous. In an effort to aggregate research and simplify the planning process, we have undertaken an effort to create and share suitability maps for tree and shrub crops.
The Savanna Institute gathered extensive data on each species’ unique environmental requirements from published sources and crop experts, and used publicly available soil and climate data to map potentially suitable land. The Savanna Institute then partnered with Canopy Farm Management to convert this extensive technical data into easy-to-interact-with maps and context-driven reports.
The planning tool launched with information on 20 tree and shrub species commonly used in temperate agroforestry systems in the US, with more to come. The Savanna Institute also created a method for mapping crop suitability that is consistent and replicable for many species and across broad areas. The maps will continue to improve as we learn more about these emerging crops. The Savanna Institute is now studying the impacts of climate change on tree and shrub crop suitability and will incorporate those findings into Canopy Compass once available.
At the Savanna Institute, the main goal with this project is to help make it easier for people to learn about and implement agroforestry. Trees are a long-term investment in a place, and Canopy Compass can help farmers make data-driven decisions to help secure a successful future for their land, contributing to broader catalyzation of more tree crops and perennial farming systems on US farms.
For more information, visit CanopyCompass.com
Looking For Plants?
Canopy’s Nursery offers plant material in your region. Find chestnut, walnut, pecan, hazelnut, heartnut, persimmon, pawpaw, black currant, and elderberry for order in their online store. Not only does Canopy increase the availability of high-quality plant material in the region, it also donates part of its proceeds to Savanna Institute’s nonprofit research and education mission.
Read more about tree crops
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