Deputy Ag Secretary Kathleen Merrigan has unveiled a plan to help farmers, ranchers and woodland owners enhance productivity, profitability and environmental stewardship by using the practice of agroforestry. Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry to create integrated and sustainable land-use systems that take advantage of the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.

The Agroforestry Strategic Framework is built around three simple goals: adoption – increase the use of agroforestry by landowners and communities; science – advance the understanding of and tools for applying agroforestry; and integration – incorporate agroforestry into an all-lands approach to conservation and economic development.

Merrigan says – agroforestry does not sacrifice farmland for forests or forests for farmland. Rather, agroforestry is the marriage of disciplines that, in the end, will protect our natural resources, benefit our communities and allow for the development of other sources of income for farmers, ranchers and woodland owners. Merrigan says – agroforestry can enhance values for any landowner.