Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
51 COLLEGE RD SERVICE BLDG 107
DURHAM,NH 03824
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
New England's predominantly forested landscapes provides many important goods and services, including storing large amounts of carbon, supporting biodiversity and wildlife habitat, and sustaining local economies through timber products, maple syrup production, and recreational opportunities. However, New England faces a critical challenge when it comes to food provisioning: as one of the most heavily forested, densely populated and agriculturally limited regions in the U.S., its nearly 15 million residents rely on food from outside the region to meet approximately 90% of their consumption needs. These conditions threaten the region's capacity to adapt to climate change, and to effectively respond to other major disruptions such as extreme weather events, pandemics, and gaps in the global food supply chain. At the same time, New Englanders have shown growing demand for locally produced, sustainable, and nutritionally healthy foods. Meeting this demand may require converting the region's forests to agriculture, potentially diminishing the many societal benefits that forests provide. Our project addresses this challenge by exploring the potential for agroforestry--the integration of trees with crops and/or livestock--to provide a climate-smart and sustainable strategy for both expanding agricultural production in New England while simultaneously promoting important forest-based goods and services--including climate adaptation and resilience to change.Three agroforestry systems suitable for the New England landscape will be designed and tested as part of this project: silvopasture (combining trees, pasture, and livestock on the same unit of land), multistrata polycultures (integration of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species to produce diverse products), and forest farming (cultivation of herbaceous, shrub, and small tree crops in the forest understory). Research and demonstration sites will be established on 3 university and 12 cooperator farms and supported by ~50 case study sites with existing agroforestry systems. Measurements will be collected to determine the environmental, economic, and social benefits and tradeoffs of each agroforestry system. Extension programs and resources will be developed to train professionals and other interested groups in agroforestry techniques, including the creation of the New England Agroforestry Training Program (NEAT), an Agroforestry Network, an Agroforestry Champion peer-to-peer mentoring program, an Agroforestry Transition Decision-Making Map Tool, and diverse technical assistance programs. Educational programs will be implemented to engage diverse student populations in experiential learning opportunities, including a 4-H program for high school students, a food-forest program for grade 4-8 educators, and internships, courses, and seminars for university students. Recruiting efforts for training and educational opportunities will target underserved communities, with several scholarships offered annually to support their participation. Project outcomes include training over 100 participants in NEAT and over 900 participants in extension programs, leading to more than 200 new agroforestry adopters; engaging at least 40 educators, 80 high school students, and 800 university students in educational programs; and training 6 graduate students and 3 postdocs in agroforestry research and practice. In the long term, we anticipate that this project will contribute to increasing local food production by 15% and annual carbon sequestration by 5M tons, will foster new agroforestry market opportunities, and will enhance New England's capacity to balance food production with the benefits that forests provide.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Theoverarching goalof this project is to develop a climate-smart strategy for expanding agricultural production while enhancing ecosystem services, economic opportunities, and healthy communities in New England via three interconnected objectives: (1) Research to co-develop, implement, and evaluate climate resilient agroforestry systems adapted to New England; (2) Extension to promote training and technical support in agroforestry practices across diverse populations, leading to increased local adoption; and (3)Education to enhance knowledge of agroforestry as a climate-smart strategy for agricultural production in through experiential opportunities. ADAPT's outcomes will contribute to the USDA-SAS long-term goal of promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry and supports the related priorities of (i) mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) fostering market opportunities and socioeconomic well-being, and (ii) enhancing regionally appropriate climate adaptation and resilience.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Co-develop, implement, and evaluate climate resilient agroforestry systems adapted to the New England socio-ecological landscape.Activity 1.1. Study existing agroforestry systems and practitioner knowledge and experience. We will assess the biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics of a network of ~50 Agroforestry Case Study Sites established by innovative early adopters and their paired non-agroforestry reference sites across six New England states. At each agroforestry and reference site, we will conduct a rapid field assessment to understand the key biophysical socioeconomic characteristics, including: (i) field quantification of total stocks of live and dead tree aboveground carbon; (ii) interviews of agroforestry practitioners and non-practitioners using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to understand motivations for adoption, livelihood strategies, experiences with agroforestry and practices, training needs and interests, and perceived barriers and challenges.1.2 Co-design the model agroforestry systems. We will engage all ADAPT collaborators, partners, and cooperators through an adapted Participatory Action-Research (PAR) process to co-design three agroforestry systems:Silvopasture. We consider two trajectories: open-to-silvopasture--planting trees and forage grasses within existing open pastures, and forest-to-silvopasture, selectively removing trees from existing (degraded) forests and planting forages.Polycultures. We will combine knowledge of plant species' traits with Indigenous knowledge and agroforestry practitioners' experience to design polycultures with complementary interactions that enhance productivity and resilience. Polycultures will be established using a standard planting design.Forest farming. We will experiment with two approaches: (i) creating linear forest gaps to establish a microclimate gradient from the forest to the gap; and (ii) enrichment planting of agroforestry crops in the forest understory following silvicultural treatments.1.3 Establish the model agroforestry systems and evaluate the impacts on key ecological and socioeconomic outcomes. The model agroforestry systems will be implemented across a network of sites spanning a range of biophysical and climate conditions throughout New England. University-based research and demonstration 'intensive sites' (UNH, Dartmouth, Yale) will use a standardized design to allow for statistically robust hypothesis testing, while on-farm/on-forest 'extensive sites' will use the same basic design but with greater flexibility to address cooperators' individual needs. Baseline (pre-treatment) data for each agroforestry and reference site will be collected in Year 1, and key response variables will be measured over time to assess system performance.Data analysis. We will compare measured response variables using an ANOVA-based approach in a mixed effects modeling framework. Climate resilience will be quantified as degree of inter- and intra-annual variability in crop yield and biomass production. Changes in carbon storage will be assessed using USDA Forest Service's Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS).1.4. Assess willingness to pay for agroforestry products among diverse consumer groups. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) amounts for agroforestry crops will be assessed using a payment card approach. Participants will be provided with information about the average price of the conventional products, and then asked to identify the amount (from a list of possible amounts) that they would be willing to pay for the agroforestry product. Participants will fill out a survey to collect information on sociodemographic characteristics.Data analysis. We will use one-way ANOVA and regression analysis to test for significant differences and relationships in WTP response.1.5. Integrate ecosystem service and socioeconomic costs and benefits into a trade-off analysis. We will identify optimal trajectories for agroforestry expansion for balancing environmental, social, and economic sustainability with reference to stakeholder identity using Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) software models. We will create a single multi-functionality index to combine the projected changes in each ecosystem service category (biophysical and socioeconomic) predicted by InVEST models for transitions to agroforestry..Data analysis. We will assess tradeoffs and synergies across measured ecosystem services using spider diagrams. The multi-functionality index will be calculated at different thresholdsto construct a spacially explicit web-based Agroforestry Mapping Tooltoidentify where on the landscape changes to agroforestry will yield the most co-benefits relative to different stakeholder prioritiesObjective 2. Promote increased knowledge and adoption of agroforestry practices across diverse populations through training and technical support.Activity 2.1. Create a Northeast Agroforestry Network (NEAN) to serve as a learning community. The network will be broadly advertised andinclude several activities: (i) developing a library of regional agroforestry case studies; (ii) advertising agroforestry outreach and training events, (iii) promote an Agroforestry Champions program whereby experienced agroforestry practitioners serve as mentors.2.2. Develop a Northeast Agroforestry Training (NEAT) professional certification program. NEAT will provide an intensive training opportunity for participants to gain skills and knowledge on temperate agroforestry practices adapted to New England's socioecological landscape. It will be fully operationalin Years 4-5, with an anticipated 40 participants annually.2.3. Incorporate agroforestry capacity building into UNH Extension's current programing. Results from the university and on-farm/forest research on each agroforestry practice will be synthesized into Extension outreach materials and broadly disseminated. UNH Extension will workshops (3/year), farm tours and demonstrations (4/year), and peer-to-peer interactions and technical support. Materials developed by UNH Extension will support outreach activities offered by Yale and Dartmouth.Objective 3. Enhance understanding of agroforestry as a climate-smart strategy for agricultural production in New England through experiential educational opportunities.Activity 3.1. Work with middle school educators (grade 4-8) to establish agroforestry food-forests and nature-based experiences. Grade 4-8 educators (10/year) will participate in a year-long capacity building program to learn about the fundamentals of agroforestry food-forests. Educators will receive instruction in developing experiential-based curricula around establishing and maintaining food-forests with their students.3.2. Build agroforestry knowledge and skills among high school students to support their capacity to contribute to the science and policy of sustainable climate-smart food production. We will develop a 4-H agroforestry career exploration pathway that will include a year-long series of workshops culminating in a one-week intensive summer program for students throughout New England (20 students/year). A smaller group will be recruited each year to become Agroforestry Ambassadors.3.3. Provide experiential learning and professional opportunities for university students. We will offer opportunities for internships and work experiences with agroforestry experts and ADAPT advisors, whereby students gain valuable professional knowledge and skills through hands-on learning. A course in Temperate Agroforestry and a distributed Temperate Agroforestry Graduate Seminar will provide unique experiential learning opportunities to university students.