Meet some Midwestern agrarians, some of whom come from conventional farming families, who are using their land to reestablish the connection between trees, animals, and food production.

Wendy Johnson’s ‘natural savannah’

Wendy Johnson and her husband, Johnny Rafkin, own Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, in Charles City, Iowa. They farm on 130 acres of the land on which her father and grandfather had raised hogs. Johnson felt called back to the land in 2010 after living in California for 18 years. She and Rafkin had a goal of adding diversity and value to her family’s farm through organic agriculture, but they found few organic farmers in the area at the time and none that were implementing agroforestry.

Johnson found support through Practical Farmers of Iowa, a group dedicated to building resilient farms and communities. In 2014, she and Rafkin started transitioning to organic. A small sheep herd that was on the property from when her parents farmed the land was integrated into organic crop rotation. “They were a rough crew of sheep!” Johnson laughs. “They ate grains that couldn’t be sold.”

The Joia Food & Fiber Farm farmstead pictured with sheep, sheepdogs, and cattle grazing. (Photos courtesy of Wendy Johnson)

The sheep were getting sick from eating too much grain, so Johnson worked to reestablish a natural savanna, a mixed woodland and grassland ecosystem that had once been prevalent on Iowa’s landscape but was destroyed by grazing and row crops. Her sheep are now grass-fed, healthier and need little medical intervention, she says. Johnson added trees to grazing land to create silvopastures, enhanced existing windbreaks and planted a micro-orchard with fruit and nut trees.

Extreme rain events in 2016 and 2018 stressed field tile drainage systems on her neighboring farms, causing a creek on her property to flood. This motivated Johnson to take further action to mitigate climate change-related weather events. Through assistance from a Savanna Institute agroforestry planner, Johnson added cool-season perennial grasses to the organic crops and riparian buffers along the banks of the creek. She planted native species of hardwoods and softwoods, including willow and poplar. The deep root systems help prevent soil erosion and stormwater runoff.

Wendy Johnson (left) in the newly planted silvopasture with nine different varieties of native hardwood trees, many nut-bearing. John Rafkin (right) planting cedars on the farm’s enhanced windbreak project. (Photos courtesy of Wendy Johnson)

To date, Johnson has planted 6,000 trees on 20 acres of their fields, with plans to double the number of trees. She’s optimistic about the future of agroforestry and hopes to see more Farm Bill funding directed toward conservation efforts rather than commodities programs.

She believes agroforestry will attract the next generation of farmers and produce offshoot opportunities such as nurseries to grow tree stock. “Agroforestry has a sense of meaning, a sense of community, and it helps the environment by working with nature. It allows us to be creative again, which I think we’ve lost in agriculture,” she says.

Tucker Gretebeck and Eric Weninger’s flooding fix

Farmers Tucker Gretebeck of All Seasons Farms and Eric Weninger of Embark Maple Energy are neighboring farmers in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, a unique topographical area covering parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. It was never covered by glaciers during the last ice age and thus lacks “drift” of silt, sand and rock. With carved river valleys, forests and cold-water trout streams, the region has attracted nature enthusiasts, foodies and agrotourism.

Gretebeck owns All Seasons Farms with his wife, Becky. They have a dairy herd and grow pumpkins. They offer agrotourism events such as fall wagon tours and pizza on the farm. They’re a member of the Organic Valley cooperative of organic farmers founded in La Farge, Wis. in 1988.

Weninger owns Embark Maple Energy along with his wife, Bree Breckel. They produce maple syrup, along with a line of culinary nutritional energy products called Maple Energy, on 160 acres of predominantly sugar maple trees. Like Gretebeck, Weninger offers farm events, with adventurous and educational themes.

Eric Weninger and Bree Breckel of Embark Maple. (Photo courtesy Eric Weninger)

Both Gretebeck and Weninger view agroforestry as an answer to the dramatic increase in the intensity, duration and frequency of climate change-driven extreme rain events that have caused recurring flooding and, in 2018, the failure of flood protection dams in nearby Coon Creek. Both farmers are board members of the Coon Creek Community Watershed Council (CCCWC), a group that formed in response to the flooding. The waterway is a tributary of the Mississippi River.

The CCCWC plans are still in the works, but Weninger says recommended agricultural practice changes include more tree plantings that can retain water onto the hillsides. The Savanna Institute has been identified as a potential partner due to its past work and research.

Tucker Gretebeck planting trees on All Season Farm.

“The intense flooding was a driver that influenced me to implement agroforestry,” says Gretebeck. In addition to organic practices including composting and perennial cover crops, he added a silvopasture for his grass-fed cattle. This helps sequester carbon, improves soil and water infiltration, adds comfort for the animals and improves their milk quality.

Gretebeck worked with the Savanna Institute and Bob Micheel of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help finance the planting of 1,200 trees that included honey locust, black walnut and a poplar hybrid on his property.

[RELATED: Agroforestry Deepens Roots with New Demonstration Farm Network]

Over at Embark, Weninger says he will plant trees such as native oak species and shrubs this spring to filter more water into the ground. “The deep root systems of large trees and shrubs help hold soil in place,” he explains.

Maple syrup could be considered one of the original crops of forest farming. Weninger enjoys working with generations of sugar maple trees, some more than 250 years old. “That reinforces how the activities that you’re doing in a forest can have both generational and real-time impacts.”

He adds that the indigenous Ho-Chunk Nation was among the first to go into these forests to harvest maple sap. “We really learned from their traditions and are continuing something that’s been done for millennia. That time component adds a lot of depth working in and with the forest.”

Wil Crombie’s forested fowl

Filmmaker, photographer and farmer Wil Crombie, along with his wife, Carly, and sister-in-law, Corrissa Peterson, own and operate Organic Compound, near Northfield, Minn, where they raise Freedom Ranger broiler chickens. Their farm is located on the homestead where Crombie was raised. His mother’s family were dairy farmers, and the land had consisted of pasture and row crop fields.

“We’re lucky to have experienced generational changes. The approaches that my grandfather took to manage the land, and the way my parents turned a portion of it into a homestead, allowed me to watch it go from pasture to forest,” says Crombie. “My generation is removing invasive plants and using agroforestry to bring the pasture back as silvopasture.”

It’s a family affair: Wil and Carly Crombie (middle, right) with sister-in-law Corrissa Peterson (left). (Photo courtesy of Wil Crombie)

Starting in 2014, Crombie transitioned 40 acres of row crop land on his 60-acre parcel. His mentor, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, owns Salvatierra Farms. Together, they formed Tree-Range Farms, a brand of meat chickens raised on silvopasture.

In 2016, Crombie, his wife and Peterson planted 20,000 hazelnut trees for their silvopastures and additional acreage. They added oak, sugar maple, basswood, lilac and elderberry and established alley crops of asparagus, along with a windbreak and a riparian buffer along a waterway.

The farming trio chose hazelnuts and elderberries upon recommendation from elders in their area, and by Crombie’s mentors, Mark Shepard and Terry Durham. “We’re fortunate to have these people helping to facilitate this large-scale regenerative agriculture transition towards agroforestry,” says Crombie.

Chicken, originally jungle fowl, thrive in forested environments. Elderberry, becoming popular as a hedgerow crop, provides both farm income and ecological benefits. (Photos courtesy of Wil Crombie)

Manure from the fowl helps fertilize the silvopastures and fields, and the chickens help with pest control by eating insects and grubs. “It’s a symbiotic relationship, and they benefit from shade and protection from the trees—they’re originally jungle fowl, so they deserve to be in a forested environment,” says Crombie.

Crombie is optimistic that agroforestry will go a long way in restoring land but also rural communities. “Agroforestry has the potential to get more people active and into nature,” he says. “Agroforestry is family farming, and agriculture is a family and community-based, hands-on activity. It’s an exciting opportunity to revive our rural communities.”

The post On the Ground with the Midwest Farmers Going All-In On Agroforestry appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Climate Change Resource Center recognizes agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural practices, as a promising option to weave productivity and profitability into sustainable and resilient farming systems. Over the past decade, USDA initiatives have created multiple partnerships among nonprofits and universities throughout the country, including SI in the Upper Midwest, University of Missouri in the Lower Midwest, Propagate in the Northeast and Tuskegee University in the Southeast, to meet a growing interest in agroforestry.

Transitioning from traditional agricultural methods to agroforestry often requires a shift in mindset and education. Building out an agroforestry demonstration farm network offers more hands-on educational opportunities and tours for farmers and growers to see what agroforestry looks like, how trees fit into farming landscapes, why they enhance conservation and how they can be economically viable.

An aerial view of the silvopastures at Fiddle Creek Dairy in Lancaster County, PA. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

The SI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Spring Green, Wis. and Champaign, Ill. It was founded in 2013 in the Champaign-Urbana area by a group of researchers, students and farmers that were interested in exploring how perennial agriculture and agroforestry could benefit Midwestern farmlands.

The organization focuses on Illinois and Wisconsin but also does support work in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana. Its technical service program pairs farmers one-on-one with an agroforestry expert to help plan and design plantings.

[RELATED: On the Ground with the Midwest Farmers Going All-In On Agroforestry]

The SI focuses on agroforestry practices supported by the USDA. Those include alley cropping, which involves integrating trees or shrubs within annual agricultural or horticultural crops; silvopasture, in which trees are integrated into livestock production for pasture and animal health; and forest farming, which is the cultivation of crops such as mushrooms, medicinal plants or maple syrup under a forest canopy.

In addition, USDA-supported agroforestry practices include efforts to mitigate soil erosion and protect waterways. Riparian forest techniques place trees on the edges of waterways and cropland to protect waterways and prevent erosion. Windbreaks involve planting trees along edges of fields to keep soil in place, enhance crop production and protect motorists on adjacent roadways from snowdrifts and fierce winds.

Demonstrating what works

For many farmers, seeing is believing. That’s one of the reasons why Adams is enthusiastic about SI’s new statewide agroforestry demonstration farm network that will launch in Wisconsin this spring. On the demonstration sites, farmers can see examples of successful integration of trees on farms. 

The effort is through an ongoing partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a branch of the USDA. The NRCS will invest $1.4 million toward agroforestry demonstration and educational opportunities across Wisconsin, with a goal of increasing the number of landowners planting trees and other perennials on their farmland. The new agroforestry demonstration sites in Wisconsin are the third project in which SI has partnered with the NRCS. Previous projects include technical assistance programs for farmers and training NRCS staff to offer in-house agroforestry service providers.

Wisconsin’s demonstration sites program will serve three main objectives: highlighting farmers that are adopting agroforestry, allowing individuals and other farmers to engage in educational opportunities; providing peer-to-peer thesis for education and support of farmers doing agroforestry; and offering opportunity for these farms to be part of a research network.

Kaitie Adams is director of demonstration and on-farm education for the Savanna Institute. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

Adams says SI has already received several inquiries from farmers interested in participating in the program. Those include multi-generation family farms or beginning farmers that are adopting agroforestry or farmers transitioning from annual production to perennial production.

“Wisconsin producers have always been innovative and open to exploring ways to diversify their agriculture systems, provide their products to new markets and be good stewards of the land,” says Josh Odekirk, acting state conservationist for the Wisconsin NRCS. “Agroforestry is a sustainable land management approach that can be integrated into existing traditional crop and livestock systems. Savanna Institute is an ideal partner to help implement this work.”

Odekirk adds that Wisconsin NRCS has new funding through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to implement climate-smart conservation practices that benefit conservation and a producer’s bottom line. “Agroforestry conservation practices are eligible for standard Farm Bill funding as well as IRA funding in both the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program.”

For the fiscal year 2024, Odekirk says Wisconsin received more than $41 million in IRA funding over and above their standard Farm Bill funding.

Removing barriers to an original form of agriculture

Adams calls agroforestry one of the original forms of agriculture that’s been utilized around the world. The types of trees and shrubs integrated into agroforestry depend on the type of farm, its crops and its needs.

Savanna Institute and the NRCS focuses on trees and perennial crops that are native or native-adjacent to the area. Windbreaks might integrate native conifers and evergreens, along with hardwoods such as hazelnut, chestnuts, berry fruits and shrub fruit.

Due to Wisconsin’s proud history of dairy production, silvopasture is becoming a common agroforestry practice used in the state, says Adams, and Wisconsin’s rich abundance of woodlands also lends to forest farming.

Silvopasture integrates trees into livestock production for pasture and animal health. (Photo courtesy Savanna Institute)

The new agroforestry demonstration farm network in Wisconsin will help to remove barriers to implementing agroforestry practices, says Adams. Shifting from annual crops to perennial crop production—particularly with trees, which often outlive the person that plants them—requires a shift in mindset and skillset.

“The cost of planting 500 trees is very different [from] the cost of 500 annual plants. But the great thing about perennials is that you make that big investment once, and then it pays off over time, rather than having to do the same costs year after year,” says Adams.

Partnering with NRCS gives farmers access to programs that can help cost-share and provide technical assistance to get trees in the ground. Adams notes they also pay farmers for offering education, research and outreach.

Blooming ecological success

Maggie Taylor of Delight Flower Farm, a commercial cut-flower farm in Champaign, Ill., has always been ecologically minded. As her business grew from a small plot in a backyard garden to the five-acre farm she purchased in 2019, Taylor tapped into USDA cost-share contracts that reward conservation practices. 

Owning her own property opened possibilities of investing in more perennial plants and permanent infrastructure to grow the business. Through Adams, Taylor had worked with SI to create a plan for integrating trees and shrubs on her property. “I had primarily done cut flowers as annual crops or grew in a greenhouse, so I didn’t have a lot of experience or knowledge of perennials. Savanna Institute was a great resource for me.”

Maggie Taylor shows perennial agriculture methods to curious gatherers. (Photos courtesy of Maggie Taylor)

Taylor uses alley cropping, through which she mixes perennial crops such as holly with her annuals. She harvests the holly during winter to sell as holiday greenery. She also plants coralberry, red osier dogwood and elderberry. These plantings help sequester carbon, protect the soil’s ecosystem and create habitat for birds, insects and small wildlife.

Taylor also installed windbreaks, planting two rows of white pine, interplanted with red cedar, blue spruce and Colorado spruce. An interior row of the property consists of witch hazel and coralberry. These lower shrubs provide wildlife habitat, along with sellable products such as holly and berries.

“Twenty years ago, there was a buzz about people replacing standard American lawns with raised beds to reduce environmental impacts of lawn chemicals,” says Taylor. “Agroforestry is a level above that conversation with the same intentionality, planting trees for the benefit of the property owner, the environment and the ecosystem as a whole.”

Learn more about agroforestry

Want to expand your knowledge of agroforestry? Savanna Institute’s online course series includes topics such as Agroforestry Foundations, Social Justice and Agroforestry, Perennial Crops and Practices in Agroforestry, Managing Agroforestry Systems in a Changing Climate,and Land Access and Finances in Agroforestry. Some classes are free, while others are $40.

Savanna Institute’s website also includes downloadable publications, including its book Perennial Pathways: Planting Tree Crops. Its apprenticeship program pairs people in the Midwest interested in agroforestry to work with mentors to gain hands-on experience. The organization also hosts a yearly perennial farm gathering, workshops, events and the podcast Perennial AF.

Have a question about planting trees? Ask your question in the comments—we’ll have an expert agroforester from the Savanna Institute answer reader questions in a future story.

The post Agroforestry Deepens Roots with New Demonstration Farm Network appeared first on Modern Farmer.