Agroforestry is the future of national security

Submitted by T-A-Wycoff t3_z6melo in Futurology

Agroforest are not only more sustainable then standard crops, they are also more secure, and nutritionally diverse.

Agroforests can minimize many natural disasters, and provide cover from home man made destruction. They provide homes for wildlife, food for life, and more jobs for people.

An agroforest can stand up to neglect better then annual crops, and can provide food for small communities and large cities alike.

Groups like Birdhouse.farm are advocating in rural areas to replace some annual crops with perenial agroforestry crops.

Thank you for taking the time to read this I appreciate any interest in the topic, feel free to ask me any questions you have about agroforestry!

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stenops t1_iy2e0fw wrote

I don't understand why big forestry businesses like Weyerhauser and others don't make GMO trees that grow faster with more lignin. The technology to do this already exists. We could have forests grow 4 times faster, it would benefit every industry that relies on wood products, AND it would capture carbon from the atmosphere much faster.

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sssasenhora t1_iy3ff2y wrote

Politics, that's why. There is a lot of technology out there to diminish environmental impacts by a LOT. Years old technology. Like managing beef cattle farms the right way here in Brazil you could use 10 times less area. The area we use today for beef cattle is the size of Amazon and Acre together (Brazilian states).

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy2wcio wrote

They actually do look up hybrid poplar and arbavorial green giant

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lurninandlurkin t1_iy2or47 wrote

I just spent a holiday at a friend's house in Thailand and all through the region, the Thai government has planted acres and acres of Australian hardwoods as a long term investment of an ever depleting resource.

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy2wamr wrote

Hmm I try to plant native trees, but one crop I grow for its high value alone is goji berry

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lurninandlurkin t1_iy2wf2g wrote

I just thought it was funny how in Aus we plant fast growing softwoods while the place I visited in Thailand had planted Australian timbers.

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy2wqgz wrote

I bet it grows fast their, are the soft woods hybrid poplar?

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lurninandlurkin t1_iy2x47c wrote

It didn't seem to be growing fast but they have the trees close together so it is straight and not many knots (limited branches down low). The pine in Qld Aus seems to be slash pine Caribbean pine, or a hybrid of the two.

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy2xu6b wrote

I am really interested in wattel trees, I think they have a potential to be a big cash crop

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ta137885532266888 t1_iy3cg16 wrote

Iā€™m a farmer in the Midwest, how are these going to provide food?

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy4irmc wrote

Ally Cropping provides about 75% as much grain as a standard field with other harvests available at other times of the year, an agroforest has lots of small harvests that provide food in the long term for small communities.

The forest provides habitat for edible wildlife, and fungus that store up calories over time

The other thing is that a mature forest produces a larger harvest the an annual field becuse of the larger photosynthetic surface. The trees are big and tall they catch more light from less space and create a matrix to grow food. Kinda like a tent compared to a sky scrapper.

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iproblyrong t1_iy3h7cy wrote

Can you point to some data that shows that they can feed the world population?

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OliverSparrow t1_iydq6eq wrote

What is the difference between agroforestry and plain old forestry? OPs statement is simply wrong: you can't eat trees - I assume that fruticulture is not agrowhatnet - aand forests do burn, and burn pretty frequently is extensive and allowed to mature.

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iye4e5a wrote

Quite to the contrary the poster of this comment is very wrong you can in fact eat many trees you can eat the inner bark of many trees you can eat the leafs and early seed pods of many trees many trees produce grain and calories at the same rate of barley or rye.

This is before any improvement work is done.

There are fruit trees that produce large amounts of sugars good for flavoring and cooking, there are trees that produce edible seeds like beech walnut acorn hackberry and many more, there are trees that produce edible leaves like mulberry, redbub, and cedar.

Bigger plants make more energy more energy means more food.

Even wood can be turned into a sustainable source of protein and fat by using it to feed fungi or insects.

Also fire doesn't kill forests that are cared for properly, every forest type protects itself in different ways, if you trees burn or die it is simply becuse you used the wrong type of trees

Classic farming is something that you can only put a little effort in because the system is small, with agroforestry you can continue to get sustainable sources of food through the whole year at only the cost of effort šŸ‘Œ

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Ok-Heat1513 t1_iy2tgqz wrote

Dude I love the environment but you sound a bit biased.

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T-A-Wycoff OP t1_iy2w4ke wrote

Well what can house more people tents or skyscrapers?

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Ok-Heat1513 t1_iy2wvi4 wrote

3D printed locally sourced material based homes, like how they are planning to build on mars?

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