Publication cover.

Current Info Sheet

Can alley cropping support soil health?

Featured Publication

Working Trees Info Sheet — What is alley cropping?

Working Trees Info Sheet highlights the benefits and issues that Alley Cropping can address or provide. It's the latest NAC product with more to come in the future.

Publication cover.

Current Info Sheet

Can alley cropping provide more farming options?

Alley Cropping

Alley Cropping

In alley cropping, an agricultural crop is grown simultaneously with a long-term tree crop to provide annual income while the tree crop matures. Fine hardwoods, like walnut, oak, ash, and pecan, are favored species in alley cropping systems and can potentially provide high-value lumber or veneer logs. Nut crops can be another intermediate product.

Related Publications

Agroforestry Notes

  • Alley Cropping: An Agroforestry Practice

Inside Agroforestry

  • Vol. 19; Issue 2; 2011; Alley Cropping:
  • Winter 2005: Canada
  • Summer / Fall 2003: SARE
  • Winter 2003: 2002 Farm Bill
  • Fall 2001 / Winter 2002: Alley Cropping
  • Spring 2001: Buffers
  • Spring 2000: Status Of Our Nation's Water
  • Winter 1996: Enterprise Development
  • Summer 1995: Sustainable Agriculture
  • Spring 1995: Agroforestry Is National

Working Trees

  • Working Trees For Agriculture
  • Working Trees For Communities
  • Working Trees For Water Quality
  • Working Trees For Wildlife

Working Trees Info Sheets

  • What is alley cropping?
  • Can alley cropping provide more farming options?
  • Can alley cropping support soil health?

Specialty Forest Products

  • Marketing Specialty Forest Products (4 pages)
  • Productive Conservation: Growing Specialty Forest Products In Agroforestry Plantings (4 pages)
  • Edible Woody Landscapes For People And Wildlife (4 pages)
  • Hybrid Hazelnuts: An Agroforesty Opportunity (4 pages)

Additional Brochures

  • National Association Of RC&D Councils (NARC&DC) Report: RC&D Survey Of Agroforestry Practices
  • Agroforestry In The United States: Research And Technology Transfer Needs For The Next Millennium

En Español

  • Árboles Trabajando En Beneficio De La Agricultura

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About Agroforestry

Agroforestry intentionally combines agriculture and forestry to create integrated and sustainable land-use systems. Agroforestry takes advantage of the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock. Agroforestry practices include:

About the NAC

The USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC) had its origins in the 1990 Farm Bill. It began as a Forest Service Research and State & Private Forestry effort in 1992 and expanded into a partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in 1995. It is administered by the Forest Service's, Washington, DC, Office of Research and Development. NAC offices are located in Lincoln, Nebraska.

NAC accelerates the application of agroforestry through a national network of partners. Together, we conduct research, develop technologies and tools, coordinate demonstrations and training, and provide useful information to natural resource professionals.

About Working Trees

The right trees planted in the right places for the right reasons can add value to land-use systems. That's the Working Trees message that helps natural resource professionals, community leaders, and landowners identify with the concept of agroforestry. NAC uses the Working Trees theme to promote the development of sustainable agriculture and communities.

 

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https://www.fs.usda.gov/nac/practices/alleycropping.shtml