alley cropping

Urban agroforestry is the intentional use of perennial trees and shrubs to improve the sustainability and resilience of urban farms and communities. In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Agroforestry Specialist Katherine Favor sits down with Christopher Marciello of Ecology Artisans — a regenerative landscape and design firm — to talk about urban agroforestry in dryland environments.  

While urban agroforestry can take many forms, there are several design principles to keep in mind, no matter what your system looks like. These include sustainable water harvesting, soil development, habitat development, regionally appropriate plant species, and appropriately scaled food production. Chris and Katherine discuss how these design principles can be applied to create productive and regenerative urban agroforestry systems in arid areas.    

Related ATTRA Resources:  

Agroforestry  

Meet NCAT: Katherine Favor Says Agroforestry Can Plant the Seeds of Sustainability   

Silvopasture 101  

Perspectives on Agroforestry with Rowan Reid. Part 1   

Perspectives on Agroforestry with Rowan Reid. Part 2  

Opportunities in Agroforestry  

Agroforestry: An Overview   

Other Resources:  

Ecology Artisans  

Community Food Forests   

Introduction to Agroforestry  

Olga Romanova and Doctor Lovell – Urban Agriculture Food Safety Considerations  

Sustainable Community Food Landscapes Sharing Successes  

Desert-Adapted Nurse Plants and Agaves in Climate Friendly Perennial Polycultures  

Indoor and Outdoor Forest Gardens  

Southwest Agroforestry Action Network  

Urban Agroforestry and Its Potential Integration into City Planning Efforts  

Contact Katherine Favor via email at katherinef@ncat.org.  

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You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG. Learn about NCAT’s other cutting-edge sustainable agriculture programs.  

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We speak with Evan Marks, founder of the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano (Orange County), CA. Evan is a first-generation farmer who has practiced agroforestry in Nigeria and Ghana. For the past several years, he has devoted himself to fostering agroecological, community-focused agriculture in his own suburban region, in opposition to extractive industrial agriculture that leads to eaters’ disassociation from the land. Today, the Ecology Centers is a model of multigenerational farming that supports a 750-member CSA program (community-supported agriculture), farm education programs, volunteers, and diverse conservation practices. We talk with Evan about water and soil conservation, climate disruption, working with other local farms, bioregional cuisine, and how farming is actually punk! His advice: “Be radical!” Check out the conversation, and follow Fields on Heritage Radio Network for more interviews with urban farmers around the world.

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Producing food requires land. As a result, forests are often razed to make space for crops or animals, creating environmental tradeoffs. But what if there were a middle ground between forest and farmland? In this episode, host Lisa Held explores the concept of agroforestry with Jacob Grace, a program manager at the Savanna Institute based in Madison, Wisconsin. They discuss varied agroforestry practices like alley cropping and silvopasture, potential environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration, and barriers that currently prevent more farmers from adopting the practices.

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