Читать книгу North American Agroforestry - Группа авторов - Страница 25

State (e.g., departments of natural resources, environmental conservation, agriculture, and markets) and federal (e.g., U.S. Forest Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDI Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) agencies are gaining from the development of a domestic agroforestry program. The existing domestic program depends on, and promotes, interagency cooperation and effectiveness, areas always in need of improvement. Agroforestry provides a unique opportunity to foster new approaches to helping the farming and forestry communities with incentive programs, promoting needed rural development (Schoeneberger, Bentrup, & Patel‐Weynand, 2017; USDA, 2019). This is especially important to small, independent farmers and nonindustrial forest landowners. While presently there is a trend toward rapid consolidation of small farms into larger corporate structures, with large and super‐large farms controlling most of the fiber and food production in the country, there is growing recognition and appreciation for the important roles that small farms play in producing not only foodstuff but also a variety of economic, social, and environmental products and services (Schoeneberger et al., 2017). There is also a growing sector of beginning small farmers and immigrants entering rural areas interested in more diverse systems and organic options that adapt well to agroforestry management. This same population is often more open to the labor‐intensive options associated with agroforestry production practices.

A report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms (USDA, 1998) identified policy measures that are needed to enhance and preserve the important values of small farms; they recommended specifically that agroforestry offers small farm operators a means for economic diversification, windbreaks, biological diversity, and habitats for wildlife. The original publication was followed by another that offered specific legislation to support agroforestry (USDA, 2003). The report suggests that the USDA, through its extension, conservation, and forestry services, should make greater efforts to promote and support agroforestry as part of an economic and ecological strategy for a healthy agriculture. Of particular significance in establishing agroforestry policies and programs at the national level was the USDA Agroforestry Strategic Framework (USDA, 2011), which signified a major shift in the USDA’s position on the value of agroforestry in today’s agriculture. The strategic framework created a “road map” for advancing the science, practice, and application of agroforestry, broadening the USDA’s role in agroforestry beyond that of just the National Agroforestry Center. For “buy‐in” purposes, five USDA agencies and two non‐USDA partners (The National Association of Conservation Districts and the National Association of State Foresters) were brought together to develop the framework in collaboration with stakeholders across the United States. In 2019, the USDA updated its Agroforestry Strategic Framework based on current agency needs and priorities, as well as additional input from partners and stakeholders (USDA, 2019). Within the farming and forestry sectors there is a growing trend toward the fragmentation of lands and expanded ownership by a larger group of small landowners, particularly in the eastern part of the country. Agroforestry can enhance the economic viability of owning and managing these units through the production and marketing of comparatively short‐rotation, high‐value specialty items in forest farming practices (e.g., see Chapter 9). Highly visible agroforestry programs that specifically address pressing environmental problems could greatly improve the public’s image of agriculture and forestry as well as the agencies responsible for them. This could have important implications for their political futures.