Silvopastural Agroforestry: a Land Use for the Future

摘要

In silvopastoral agrofoiestry systems sites are managed to provide both timber and livestock products through an intimate mix of pasture and widely spaced trees. In historic times such wood-pasture systems were a relatively common feature of the Scottish landscape and they still remain elsewhere in continental Europe, Agroforestry systems have proved to be successful in countries like New Zealand, and there is an argument that we should be actively promoting them in the UK. Whilst silvopastoral agroforestry systems are biologically complex, they can be relatively straight forward to manage, and may provide significant benefits in terms of diversifying farm incomes without an abrupt loss of current income streams. They have also demonstrated environmental benefits over conventional sheep systems. The aim of this article is to present the evidence for these benefits.