Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Promoting Ecosystem Services By Implementing Agroforestry, Martin L. Emerson

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

A recent proposal to enhance the sustainability of agriculture is agroforestry, the practice of integrating trees into farmland. This technique can be analyzed through the ecosystem services model, which describes the interrelatedness of natural land, managed land, producers, and consumers. Agroforestry could shelter crops from the adverse weather conditions as well as provide habitat for wildlife. On the other hand, implementing agroforestry would also entail the drawback of a substantial upfront cost. Environmental scientists propose that efforts to reinforce ecosystem services could play a significant role in mitigating the effects of global environmental change on agriculture.