The Mid-American Agroforestry Working Group (MAAWG) holds the 2nd Agroforestry Academy on July 21-25, 2014 in Winona, Minnesota. Funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)- Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development grant.
The Academy aims to: 1) Conduct “train the trainer” programs in agroforestry to enable natural resource professionals to provide technical, educational, financial and marketing assistance to landowners, 2) create a cadre of well-trained educators and other professionals who are knowledgeable in the concepts of agroforestry, who actively interface with landowners and who will deliver accurate and meaningful information, and 3) strengthen learning networks comprised of technical advisors and agroforestry practitioners. The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry administers the grant.
The week-long Academy will encompass two full days of workshops, two full days of on-farm visits, one full day to integrate the content into practical on-farm agroforestry designs. Target audience of the Academy will include University Outreach and Extension personnel; Certified Crop Advisors Agriculture and Natural Resource Professionals working with USDA National Resource Conservation Services, Soil and Water Conservation District personnel; Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, Conservation Groups and similar organizations from Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
Workshop topics will include advanced training on the five agroforestry practices (i.e., alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture and windbreaks) including options for bioenergy; marketing, economic, and social dimensions of agroforestry (including rural and community development); environmental services benefits from agroforestry practices (improvements to wildlife habitat, beneficial insects, water quality and soil conservation, reductions in non-point source pollution, carbon sequestration).
Trainers will include University faculty (MO, IA, and MN), USDA National Agroforestry Center staff, NRCS agroforestry specialists, and selected farmer educators and other agroforestry practitioners.
Offered at the University of Missouri in 2013, the first Agroforestry Academy drew 26 natural resource professionals from various organizations. The first Academy participants are now carrying the flag of Agroforestry as production and conservation tool for farmers and landowner