Food Forest: An Agricultural Strategy for the Northeast, U.S.A.

Urban Farm DB summary

This paper argues that producing food within a forest ecosystem through careful cultivation of tree crops on hilly, marginal land is a successful and sustainable strategy for conserving soil and nutrients, and holds potential for the northeastern United States, where natural vegetation is predominantly steep, hilly forest unsuited to normal food production. Drawing on forest farming development at the New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, it discusses concepts of ecology, energy use and erosion control in agricultural ecosystems.