Made in the Shade - Using Silvopasture Research and On-farm Demonstrations to Advance These Sustainable Agroforestry Systems

Made in the Shade - Using Silvopasture Research and On-farm Demonstrations to Advance These Sustainable Agroforestry Systems

Summary

The “Made in the shade” project continues to make strides in promoting sustainable silvopasture systems. A survey of minority land owners’ knowledge of these systems is underway. Research progress is showing how light management in silvopastures is likely to affect forage botanical composition, nutritive value, and yield of complex cool season forage mixtures, with many positive benefits seen in a moderate shade range (between 25 and 50%).

After waiting to get trees thinned from existing pine and hardwood stands, additional research on forage establishment in response to soil amendments and nutrient status will begin this year. Sheep grazing behavior, thermoregulation, and gain have produced interesting results relative to the value of hardwood silvopasture systems.  Even where forage production is reduced, our evidence indicates that the microclimatic conditions can support similar of levels of animal output as open pasture systems – with the added benefit of having trees – when shading is not excessive. Economic evaluations of these systems are in the early stages due to some turnover in project leadership. Along with developing demonstration sites, we have held on-farm field days, developed NRCS’ joint employee development (JED) training, and used demonstration sites for labs and teaching. This has provided us with many audiences and many forms of outreach, allowing us to expand our efforts more broadly, which has been very effective as a means of getting out the silvopasture message.  As we have noted in the past, having interactions with students, particularly those going back to the farm, may be one of our most significant interactions with clientele who can and will push these systems forward. Having them hear from actual producers who have implemented these systems is particularly effective.

We are still working to develop app software that will allow us to put these systems before more people and on their farms and we have developed several extension publications to describe what silvopastures are and how one might go about creating these systems.

Objectives/Performance Targets

EVALUATION

By June 2015 – Update review team

The review team provided feedback to the initial proposal but by oversight we did not update them on our progress through spring 2014. Our plan is to provide the review team with this annual report and to seek their feedback for the remaining year of the study.

OBJECTIVE 1–SURVEY RESEARCH (COMER, FIKE, MUNSELL)

Obj. 1.5: Survey minority landowners – Through project time span

Survey has been modified and is being used with landowners

OBJECTIVE 2–SILVOPASTURE ESTABLISHMENT STUDIES (TEUTSCH, FIKE)

Obj. 2.3, 2.4: Create plot studies for forage establishment; harvest and analyze samples– Spring / Summer 2015-2016.

This work is in progress and on time after initial delay due to timber harvest constraints in 2014.

OBJECTIVE 3 – ANIMAL PERFORMANCE (FIKE)

Obj. 3.1, 3.2: Quantify forage response and animal behavior in silvopasture –Summer 2014/2015

OBJECTIVE 4–EVALUATE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SILVOPASTURES (FREY now COMER, FIKE)

Obj 4.1: Gather production data and costs for silvopasture establishment–2015, 2016

Data for silvopasture economics is in initial stages of collection. Analyses are to follow.

OBJECTIVE 5: DEMONSTRATE AND ENCOURAGE ADOPTION OF SILVOPASTURES (FIKE and colleagues)

Obj. 5.1: Arrange silvopasture field days at research sites and on-farm––2015, 2016

Field days have been (and will be held) at well managed sites used to engage producer and TSP communities.

OBJECTIVE 6: DEVELOP WEB BASED DELIVERY TOOLS (FIKE with colleagues)

Obj. 6.1 Create budget spreadsheets–2015 and 2016

Obj. 6.2: Develop and deliver extension articles–2015 and 2016

Obj. 6.3: Create app to demonstrate trees and shade on production sites–Spring 2015)

Accomplishments/Milestones

OBJECTIVE 1–SURVEY RESEARCH

Obj. 1.5: Survey minority landowners – Through project time span

Completing the survey revisions for delivery to minority landowners was completed in 2015 despite changes in project leadership at VSU.  The survey is being delivered by agents in VSU’s Small Farm Outreach Program. We anticipate about 6 responses per county in a 10-county region of Virginia and have about half that number to date. Data will be processed as we gather all the surveys.

OBJECTIVE 2–SILVOPASTURE ESTABLISHMENT STUDIES (TEUTSCH, FIKE)

Obj. 2.3, 2.4: Create plot studies for forage establishment; harvest and analyze samples– Spring / Summer 2015-2016.

This work is in progress and on time after an initial delay due to timber harvest constraints in 2014.

A small plot study was established in 2015 to consider forage species and mixture complexity in relationship to shade level. The responses of botanical composition, forage productivity and nutritive value to varied light levels are being investigated by Mercier (graduate student) at the Southern Piedmont AREC and provide some sense of the targets for tree canopy (and light) management in silvopastures .  Initial data on forage yield and nutritive value were collected in summer 2015 and presented in several venues, including at the American Forage and Grassland Council meetings in January 2016 and suggest that light levels somewhere between 50 and 75% of full sun (or 25 to 50% shade) is appropriate in the piedmont region with respect to forage yield. Fewer weeds also were observed in the lower light environment. Open-grown forages may be more nutritious early in the summer season, but shaded forages were more nutritious during late summer.  Work is ongoing, and part of these efforts will investigate the role that shade plays on alkaloids in the fescue component of these stands.  In addition to nutritional studies, Mercier is beginning research on fertility inputs and their effect on microbial parameters, surface residue turnover, and  the establishment and production of forage mixtures within thinned hardwood and pine silvopasture sites.

OBJECTIVE 3 – ANIMAL PERFORMANCE (FIKE)

Obj. 3.1, 3.2: Quantify forage response and animal behavior in silvopasture –Summer 2014/2015

A comparison of animal performance and behavior in silvopasture systems with animals in open pastures continues and this research will be conducted for a third grazing season (2016) beyond the original planning window (through 2015).    We have some very interesting data on forage availability, nutritional value, grazing behavior, and shade use.  To date, it appears that forage declines in a black walnut silvopasture are offset by greater animal comfort (as measured by lower body temperatures) and reduced standing (which is a typical response to heat stress) such that animal output in this system is equal to open pastures – and it also produces trees. Performance in the honeylocust system has been greater than in the open pastures; forage yields were similar to open pasture systems, but nutritive value was a bit better, likely due to changes in forage botanical composition. Along with the changes in temperature and behavior, we saw preliminary evidence that animals in silvopastures had lower incidence of internal parasites and we are working with a colleague at another university to see if tannins in the browse in the silvopastures might play a role in our observations. Further, we ran a brief, 6-week study this fall because the honeylocust trees were full of pods. Unfortunately our sheep were naïve and it took a few weeks for them to learn to eat the pods.  Gains over time didn’t differ among the three systems but in the last measurement period lambs in the honeylocust system gained about 0.5 lb/d, which was more than double the gains of the other systems.

This project in particular has afforded opportunity to work with several undergraduate students and to use the field site as a laboratory for classes taught at Virginia Tech. We have leveraged SARE’s support to obtain support for undergraduate students the past two summers. This research also has been presented in several local and national forums, including the Crop Science Society meetings and the American Forage and Grassland Council meetings. It also has also allowed us to reach high school students in a governor’s school program and to teach students both about silvopastures and about applications of technology in research.

OBJECTIVE 4–EVALUATE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SILVOPASTURES (FREY, now FIKE)

Obj 4.1: Gather production data and costs for silvopasture establishment–2015, 2016

Data for silvopasture economics is in initial stages of collection, with analyses to follow. We anticipated being further along in the process, but our speed and capacity for getting the work done has been challenged by the lost of FREY (a forest economist) to the US Forest Service. Changes in project leadership at VSU took us some time to work through but are on a stable footing. Because of available economics expertise with pasture systems at Virginia Tech and interest among some agricultural economist students (one of whom worked on the project in OBJECTIVE 3), we plan to have undergraduates help generate some simple budgets and analyses (NPV/IRR). Although FREY is no longer on the project, we anticipate working with him to help finalize this portion of the grant. One change we anticipate is that we will start with a pine-based budget model because the data from within hardwood systems, particularly for wood volume, value, and price is more limited in availability. We hope to make substantial progress on this effort this spring.

OBJECTIVE 5: DEMONSTRATE AND ENCOURAGE ADOPTION OF SILVOPASTURES (FIKE and colleagues)

Obj. 5.1: Arrange silvopasture field days at research sites and on-farm––2015, 2016

Field days have been (and will be held) at well-managed sites used to engage producer and TSP communities.  Site visits as part of a regional tour were held at two producers’ farms – Repass (planted trees), and Nappier (thinned stands).  Each of these tours had about 30 producer participants. A JED training for NRCS specialists has been planned for another farm (Holsinger; planted trees) in May 2016 and we are beginning to plan for more in other parts of the state later in the year.  We also have extended information on our producer collaborators to a national audience.  The National Agroforestry Center requested articles on producers who have adopted silvopastures for their “Agroforestry Notes” publication, and we have developed brief articles on Nappier and Holsinger. In addition, team member Adam Downing (Area Forester with VA Cooperative Extension) has provided a short vignette of his insights on silvopasture from a forester’s perspective.

Over 125 people attended our summer field day at the Shenandoah Valley AREC where we demonstrated and discussed our initial efforts to create silvopastures in a degraded woodlot. Information on the progress at this site was published in the field day proceedings and can be found at http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/shenandoah-valley/research/field-day/documentation/2015FDP.pdf  Grazing on this site will begin in 2016 as part of a preliminary exploration of appropriate forage management and animal performance in thinned stands used to create silvopastures.

This past year we again invited silvopasture practitioners to come and speak to the Ag Tech course regarding their rational and efforts for establishing silvopastures. This has been an effective way to spread word of silvopasture’s potential, and several students have expressed plans to put these systems in place when they return to their farms. 

The twelve-acre silvopasture demonstration site at the Catawba Sustainability Center, in Catawba, VA, continues to grow and develop. Team members met with VA Department of Forestry (DOF) members and JB Daniel, the state NRCS grassland agronomist this spring.  Both DOF and NRCS are looking at the site as a place to demonstrate different tree establishment methods along with silvopastures and other agroforestry management practices.  This site was again visited by students of Virginia Tech’s Ag Technology class, and we talked about different types of silvopastures and trees species and demonstrated some establishment methods and management practices. In addition, water and fencing infrastructure are being put in place and we anticipate having animals on the site for demonstration and research in the coming years.

We noted last year that a lack of funding (anticipated from VA Dept. of Forestry) had delayed our planned establishment of silvopastures at Clermont Farm, a state historic property in Berryville, VA, in the northern piedmont. We anticipated planting trees in 2016, but this now has been deferred until 2017. After meeting and clearing the archeological concerns over turning soil in historic battlefields, our planned establishment had to be postponed because the area for planting was deemed part of the site’s “historic viewshed” as designated by the State Department of Historic Resources. Although Virginia  DHR is not opposed to silvopastures, per se, it wants to see what these systems will look like before allowing trees to be planted in a prominent part of the farm. That has meant we will need to prepare a new site for planting next year. This effort is in progress – and the up side is that it will allow us to demonstrate and test some additional silvopasture treatments. EQIP funds also will be used to help develop the site’s infrastructure and pay for the tree planting.  One of the nice attributes of this site is that it is allowing us to develop a collaboration with a researcher who specializes in American chestnut trees. We hope that demonstrating a chestnut-based silvopasture will be part of the basis for re-establishing this majestic tree in the southern Appalachians.

Team members MUNSELL and FIKE also are working to prepare for the biennial meeting of the Association for Temperate Agroforestry (ATAF). This meeting will be held in Blacksburg, VA, next year. Hosting ATAF’s conference will allow us to showcase silvopasture research and demonstration sites such as Catawba as well as innovative producers implementing these systems.

OBJECTIVE 6: DEVELOP WEB BASED DELIVERY TOOLS (FIKE with colleagues)

Obj. 6.1: Create budget spreadsheets–2015 and 2016

Obj. 6.2: Develop and deliver extension articles–2015 and 2016

Obj. 6.3: Create app to demonstrate trees and shade on production sites–Spring 2015)

Budget sheet creation will rely on successful completion of OBJECTIVE 4 as discussed above. Once completed, these sheets will be placed on extension websites for easy access and availability.

Along with an existing silvopasture website that we maintain, we have generated two extension publications on silvopastures, and a third will go to review shortly. The first publication, “Defining Silvopastures: Integrating Tree Production With Forage-Livestock Systems for Economic, Environmental, and Aesthetic Outcomes”, gives a general overview of the benefits and challenges to implementing these systems and will be available online soon (and is linked here CSES-146_P6). The second, “Creating Silvopastures: Some Considerations When Thinning Existing Timber Stands”, is in the final rounds of editing before going to print.  A third publication, Creating Silvopastures: Some considerations when planting trees into pastures” has been prepared and will go to review soon.

Efforts to create an app that can grow a silvopasture on farm through a tablet or other devices are ongoing. The budget planned for this likely underestimated the real time required to build meaningful models that can be used across different computer platforms. Thus, SFORZA and his crew are being very careful to work as efficiently and judiciously as possible. However, the ability to model plant growth and look at the effects of factors such as site conditions, tree species, spacing, and management is gaining increasing interest for the Center for Geospatial Information Technology and their group is now beginning to think of ways to advance these efforts beyond simple apps in time. E.g., the use of “gamification” techniques where citizen scientists can “play” games that help inform the models are part of the future of these efforts.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Interest in silvopastures continues to grow as we work with landowners, extension personnel, and technical service providers.  We are getting our results out to producer and scientific communities.

Below is a list of presentations (some with abstracts) that have been given in the past year. In addition, nearly a dozen presentations in the US and Europe are planned for the coming reporting year.  We are very grateful for SARE’s support, which is helping us make significant progress in discovering and disseminating information about these sustainable production systems.

The following abstracts were presented during

Tucker L, Pent G, and Fike JH. Lamb behavior drives growth in silvopasture systems. Virginia Tech Undergraduate Research Conference on February 26, 2016.

Pent G, Fike JH. Sheep performance, grazing behavior, and body temperature in silvopasture systems. Paper presented at the annual Virginia Tech Graduate Student Assembly Research Symposium & Exposition, Blacksburg, VA. March 2016.

Pent G, Fike JH. Sheep performance, grazing behavior, and body temperature in silvopasture systems. Poster presented at the VT CSES Student Research Symposium, Blacksburg, VA. February 2016.

Pent G, Fike JH. Sheep performance, grazing behavior, and body temperature in silvopasture systems. AFGC Proceedings. Paper presented at the meeting of the AFGC, Baton Rouge, LA.

Pent G, Fike JH. Sheep performance, grazing behavior, and body temperature in silvopasture systems. Poster presented at the annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Minneapolis, MN. November 2015.

Pent G, Fike JH, Wilk A, Scherer H. Graduate extension scholars: Learning the skills of silvopastoralism. Poster presented at the annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Minneapolis, MN. November 2015.

Pent G, Fike JH, Marks D, Pugh JS, Scherer H, Wiley S. Shade for cows: What does it take to convert a woodlot into a silvopasture? Manuscript in preparation. 2015.

Pent G, Fike JH. Sheep performance and body temperature in open pastures and silvopasture systems. Poster presented at the VT CSES Student Research Symposium, Blacksburg, VA. February 2015.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH. Impact of shade on forage mixtures for silvopastures. Oral presentation at: Virginia Tech’s Agroforestry Convergence, Blacksburg, VA. 8 April, 2016.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH. Impact of shade on the yield, nutritive value, and botanical composition of forage mixtures for silvopastures. Oral presentation at: Virginia Tech’s Forage Crop Ecology Class, Blacksburg, VA. 29 March, 2015.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH. Impact of shade on the yield, nutritive value, and botanical composition of forage mixtures for silvopastures. Oral presentation at: Virginia Tech’s Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences Seminar, Blacksburg, VA. 25 February, 2015.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH  Quick KK. Impact of shade on the yield, nutritive value, and botanical composition of forage mixtures for silvopastures. Poster session presented at: Virginia Tech’s Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences/Horticulture Graduate Research Symposium, Blacksburg, VA. 5 February, 2015.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH  Quick KK. Impact of shade on the yield, nutritive value, and botanical composition of forage mixtures for silvopastures. Poster session presented at: American Forage and Grassland Council Poster Presentation, Baton Rouge, LA. 11 January, 2016.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH  Quick KK, Munsell JF, Daniel JB, Adams M, Downing, AK, Fisher KJ, Campbell BT, Shireman NT. Approaches to silvopasture establishment: time zero system ecology. Poster session presented at: Virginia Tech Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences Graduate Research Symposium, Blacksburg, VA. 6 February, 2015.

Mercier KM, Teutsch CD, Fike JH  Quick KK, Munsell JF, Daniel JB, Adams M, Downing, AK, Fisher KJ, Campbell BT, Shireman NT. Approaches to silvopasture establishment: time zero system ecology. Poster session presented at: American Forage and Grassland Council, St. Louis, MO. 13 January, 2015.

Collaborators: