Reclaiming Pastureland for Diversified Fruit/Maple Production

View the project final report

• 2003 annual report

Commodities

• Fruits: apples, berries (other)
• Additional Plants: trees
• Animals: bovine, poultry, sheep, swine

Practices

• Animal Production: free-range, grazing - multispecies, pasture fertility, pasture renovation, range improvement, grazing - rotational, housing
• Crop Production: conservation tillage
• Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, community-supported agriculture, cooperatives, marketing management
• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, hedgerows, wildlife, hedges - woody
• Production Systems: permaculture
• Soil Management: green manures, composting, soil quality/health
• Sustainable Communities: partnerships, analysis of personal/family life, social capital, sustainability measures

Clearing overgrown and neglected farmland is often done with heavy machinery, but there are alternatives that have low ecological impact and support biological diversity. The farmer will use ten acres of lapsed farmland to develop silvopasture, alley cropping, and forest farming, as well as leave some land for wildlife corridors. A rotation of pigs, cattle, sheep, poultry, and geese will maintain land once it has been thinned or cleared, and crops will include apples, berries, Christmas trees, and rotational field crops. Outreach will be through farmers’ meetings and pasture walks, and through the agricultural media.