Plant procurement for agroforestry
| Authors: | Alaina Ring, Katherine MacFarland |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Type: | Miscellaneous |
| Station: | Washington Office |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/NAC-AN-54 |
Abstract
Agroforestry practices, which can include alley cropping, forest farming, hedgerows, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks, utilize a wide array of plant and livestock species. The success of these practices depends in part on the quality, productivity, and availability of the plants that are grown for these systems. While agroforestry implementation is increasing among farmers (Kellerman et al. 2025), accessing appropriate plant materials is a barrier to farmers and land managers implementing agroforestry (Ring and Schattman 2024). Nurseries in the United States already grow a wide array of native and nonnative trees and shrubs that can be used in agroforestry systems, but a variety of challenges facing different niches of the nursery industry can make plants difficult to procure. For example, nurseries that primarily produce native plant species may deal with overburdened seed supply networks, a lack of regionally sourced native seed, and challenges related to collecting and cleaning native seed (Fargione et al. 2021). In other cases, some agroforestry customers may be seeking out clonally propagated plant materials with specific traits (for example, cold hardiness or reliable crop yields) that are adapted to and grown in their local region. Some customers may have difficulty finding large quantities of plant materials with improved genetics that have been thoroughly researched and recommended for production, are regionally sourced, and can be delivered on the desired timeline. Customers may also face challenges with nascent standards around pricing and quality for some species used in agroforestry, especially for species that are sold as roots or are grown and harvested in wild settings (Brainard et al. 2019, Davison et al. 2017). This Agroforestry Note aims to provide information to farmers and land managers who implement agroforestry as well as natural resource professionals, agricultural advisors, and others who provide technical assistance on agroforestry. It is intended as a resource to help guide conversations between suppliers of plant materials and the farmers and land managers who want these plant materials.