Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Nuts: pecans
- Additional Plants: herbs
- Animals: bovine, poultry, goats, sheep
- Miscellaneous: mushrooms
Practices
- Animal Production: animal protection and health, grazing management, mineral supplements, grazing - multispecies, pasture fertility, pasture renovation, preventive practices, range improvement, grazing - rotational, housing, stockpiled forages, stocking rate, watering systems, winter forage
- Crop Production: conservation tillage
- Education and Training: demonstration, display, extension, mentoring, workshop
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, riparian buffers
- Production Systems: agroecosystems
- Soil Management: organic matter, soil analysis, soil quality/health
Abstract:
This project was an initiative of the 1890 Agroforestry Consortium (1890 AC) to train field-level Extension and technical assistant personnel (hereafter field personnel) and lead landowners in agroforestry practices in the Southeastern Region. The 1890 AC was established in 2000 under the aegis of USDA Forest Service to enable collaborative partnerships among 1890 institutions in agroforestry research, teaching, and Extension. Tuskegee University led the project and four other 1890 land-grant universities: Alabama A&M, Alcorn State, Florida A&M, and North Carolina A&T collaborated. Collaborators from all these universities are members of the 1890 AC, and have a common interest to promote agroforestry adoption in the Southeast. Agroforestry is a sustainable land-use system that involves an intentional integration and management of trees, crops, and/or livestock in a single management unit. This system offers diversified income opportunities, promotes sound environment, and creates aesthetically appealing scenery, thereby promoting the sustainability of the whole system. The Southeastern Region has great potential for developing various agroforestry practices because of its suitable environment for growing all components of agroforestry systems. However, the adoption of agroforestry practices is currently negligible because of inadequate research and Extension education. The project goal was to train field personnel and limited resource landowners in agroforestry practices for efficient management of land resources. Project objectives were to 1) develop training curricula on agroforestry practices, and 2) train field personnel and lead landowners on agroforestry practices in the Southeastern Region. Major project activities were to prepare training curricula and conduct hands-on training on agroforestry practices. The curricula were prepared and curricula-based trainers’ trainings on agroforestry practices were conducted at two locations in 2014, and at three locations in 2015. Field personnel and landowners (181) from different states of the Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) participated in the training sessions.
Project objectives:
Objective 1. To develop training curricula on sustainable agroforestry practices in the Southeastern Region. Objective 2. To train field personnel and lead landowners on sustainable agroforestry practices in the Southeastern Region.