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Hello Visitor,
Welcome to the March, 2015 edition of the Temperate Agroforester. The newsletter welcomes contributions for future issues and input or feedback about anything that you read in this issue.
John Kort, Editor - Temperate Agroforester
Events
2015 (14th) North American Agroforestry Conference (NAAC)
March 20 |
Abstract Submission Deadline |
April 10 |
Early Registration Deadline |
May 15 |
Regular Registration Deadline |
May 30 |
Pre-Conference Agroforestry Field Tour |
May 31 |
Pre-Conference Advanced Agroforestry Training Workshops |
June 1-3 |
Conference |
Other
April 11. Agroforestry Workshop. Laurie, Missouri. The workshop will include Mushroom Culture; Pine Straw Production; Tree Nut Production; Timber Stand Improvement; Warm-Season Grass Establishment & Management; Wildlife Habitat Management; Alley Cropping Management; Forest Farming Practices.
July 12-17. World Congress on Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forest Systems & 3rd International Symposium on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems - “Towards sustainable intensification.” Brasilia, Brazil. The programme includes the following presentations: “Agroforestry systems that work in the tropics and temperate regions”; “Successful smallholder agroforestry systems in Central America”; “Smallholder silvopastoral systems”. The deadline for abstracts submission is 13 April 2015.
July 20-24. The 3rd Agroforestry Academy – The University of Missouri Center For Agroforestry. Columbia, Missouri. The week-long training includes classroom workshops, on-farm visits and practical agroforestry planning and design, led by experienced trainers.
Membership
Are you a member of AFTA? If not consider joining by clicking here. Your membership gives you access to member-only articles and pages, discounts on conference registration, and helps support AFTA's mission to promote agroforestry.
Contents
* Member-only
John Kort
AFTA members should be excitedly anticipating a great three-day conference in Ames, Iowa this summer. See the website below for details.
extension.iastate.edu/forestry/
The conference title is “Agroforestry as a Catalyst for On-Farm Conservation and Diversification” and it will take place at the Holiday Inn Conference Center at the Iowa State University campus. The website also lists other nearby accommodation options.
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Jesse Randall
Call for Abstracts for Oral and Poster Presentations
On behalf of the Association for Temperate Agroforestry (www.aftaweb.org), we invite interested persons to submit abstracts for the 14th North American Agroforestry Conference via email to: agroforestry2015@gmail.com. Deadline to submit your abstract is March 20th 2015.
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A. Olivier
Climate change is expected to affect crop yields in Quebec. A project underway at Laval University has been studying the impacts of tree-based intercropping on biodiversity, hydrology, microclimate and root distribution, as well as yield and profitability, as a way of adapting to climate change.
The research sites include different crops growing between rows of hybrid poplar or red oak. Over two years, the research group measured crop biomass, tree growth, root distribution, light, soil biochemistry, microbial resilience, density of soil microarthropods, and soil water content. The value of ecosystem services was also quantified, and an agroforestry model simulating these systems for different climatic scenarios was calibrated.
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Naresh Thevathasan and Andrew M. Gordon
In Canada, it has been estimated that 90% of the biomass available for biofuels is lignocellulosic. Within this context, the viability of the biofuel / biomass industry will depend on an uninterrupted supply of feedstock for the conversion of lignocellulose to biofuel or for direct combustion to derive heat and/or electricity. Therefore, long-term research trials are essential in various eco-regions, especially those with marginal soils (Canada Land Inventory classes 3 and 4). These trials provide an opportunity to determine the productivity and sustainability of woody biomass under various conditions.
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John Kort
Forester Craig Stange at the Plant Materials Center in Bismarck, North Dakota continues his good work with tree and shrub species for the northern Great Plains. Below are a few highlights detailed in the Center’s recently released 2014 Progress Report of Activities. Besides the species discussed here, the PMC has also been focusing on working with partners on the development of commercial Aronia orchards.
Other species (Scots pine, spruce, hackberry, birch, oak, chokecherry, etc.) are also evaluated. For details, contact Craig at: craig.stange@nd.usda.gov.
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John Kort
Thanks to Gary Bentrup and Rich Straight at the USDA National Agroforestry Center for this “heads up” about a January 23 post by former Senator Richard Lugar and Connie Veillette called “Agroforestry: Our Bet for Beating Hunger and Malnutrition.”
Although the article is focused on the value of agroforestry in reducing hunger and malnutrition in developing countries, there are some strong points made of interest to AFTA members. I have excerpted directly from the article:
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Genevieve Laroche
In two regional focus groups about intercropping in Québec, local stakeholders expressed interest in intercropping systems, especially if they included nut and fruit production - a totally surprising result, as this has not yet been promoted in the province.
What would be the ideal agroforestry intercropping system for your region? That is the question researchers from Université Laval asked farmers, local authorities, land managers, agricultural experts and forest specialists. The two regions were Charlevoix-Est, where extensive agriculture is the norm, and St-Hyacinthe, the most intensive agricultural region in Québec. Each stakeholder subgroup (the farmers, the land managers, etc.) was asked to reach consensus for each of seven system determinants objective, site, row spacing, species, crops, financial support and tree production. The results were then shared with all participants.
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John Kort
The European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF) has been active on many fronts. Although policies, regulations and programs in North America are, in many cases, substantially different from those in the various European member countries and the European Union, especially under the Common Agricultural Policy, AFTA members will be interested to read, not only about the EURAF initiatives, but also about the various member countries.
The EURAF website offers hours of interesting reading at: http://www.agroforestry.eu and highlights local initiatives, public events and practices in all Europe’s diversity, from the dry Mediterranean climates of Greece, Italy and Spain, to northerly regions such as Sweden and Scotland.
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