Farmers turn to tree crops to diversify income sources, build resilient landscapes

As interest in agroforestry grows in Northern New York, funding sources decrease

By Mike Lynch

On a cool May morning, a few dozen Katahdin sheep rumbled through open gates into pasture lined by rows of pawpaw and hybrid chestnut trees as farmer Alex Caskey watched from the fencing’s edge. 

Located on a small country road across from the Split Rock Wild Forest in Westport, Barred Owl Brook Farm practices silvopasture, a farming technique that integrates trees with grazing livestock. 

At Wild Work Farm in Keene, vegetables can be seen planted between rows of fruit trees, a method known as alley cropping that is also a safe bet against potential flooding.

“The fruit trees are both a crop that’s more resilient to flooding than annual crops and will protect our soil,” said Wild Work Farm owner Lissa Goldstein, whose 3-acre farm located near the East Branch of the Ausable River was hit hard by flooding in 2019.

In the Adirondacks, farmers are seeking out ways to be more resilient in a changing climate, incorporating trees into their farming operations through what is known as agroforestry. 

In 2022, 1,350 farms in New York state practiced one of the five recognized agroforestry methods, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s census data. That includes 21 farms in Essex County and 17 in Franklin County. 

RELATED READING: What is Agroforestry?

Diversifying farm income with tree crops

At Barred Owl Brook Farm, Caskey planted his first trees in 2020, the same year he bought the property. Much of what he is doing is experimenting to find what works. That includes focusing on developing genetics in both trees and sheep that will thrive in the cold climate of the Adirondacks. 

On the surface, he has a simple system. 

His sheep graze on grass alongside rows of trees he raised in his tree nursery. Eventually, the trees will grow and produce fruits, nuts and shade. The tree crops can be sold, potentially made into a U-pick operation, or become food for the livestock. 

In addition to raising and selling sheep and running a small tree nursery with seedlings and bare root products, Caskey grows willows, black locust, hazelnut and fruit trees including mulberry, honey locust and persimmon. The trees have different values in niche markets. 

Willows can be coppiced, a practice more common in Europe, where trees or shrubs are cut back to ground level periodically to allow for new growth. Willow cuttings, made from stems and branches, can be sold to people looking to create fencing made from living plants. 

Caskey sees a bright future for hazelnut trees, which are prized for hardiness in addition to producing tasty nuts. His hazelnut trees were under water during a flash flood from a nearby creek, and they still produced a crop. 

“A plant that can do that is what we need,” Caskey said.

Caskey mostly leaves existing trees on his property intact. When he has scaled back vegetation, it was done strategically. Walking through a field, he pointed to a native serviceberry tree with white blossoms that he exposed to more sunlight by cutting nearby vegetation. He’s also found wild elderberry bushes that grow on his land. 

He sees himself as a composer, with the field and its trees being his orchestra. 

“Pretty much every open field in this area wants to be forest, and you could see farming as a constant activity of keeping the forest at bay on some level,” he said. 

“Well, let’s lean into that, and let’s let the trees come into the fields, but let’s do it in an organized fashion or with some intentionality, so that we can benefit from the system and still produce food efficiently.”

Carbon sequestration and climate benefits of agroforestry practices

Ultimately, Caskey said one of the main reasons he got into silvopasture is because it is a form of both climate adaptation and mitigation. Trees make the landscape more resilient against extreme weather, as the roots stabilize the soil, reducing erosion during heavy downpours. The branches and leaves provide shade and food for the livestock during the increasingly hot summer months.

“I’ve talked to lots of livestock farmers who are communicating that it’s hotter and dry for longer periods of time for their livestock,” said Meghan Giroux, founding executive director of Interlace Commons, a nonprofit that provides services to support agroforestry. “Their animals are experiencing heat stress. In some cases, they’re either running out of forage or their forage is becoming lignified [woody].”

Giroux, who lives in Vermont, also owns Interlace Agroforestry Farm in Whallonsburg, which she is developing into a demonstration farm.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) sees silvopasture as a natural climate solution when trees are added to the landscape in a manner that fits into the existing ecosystem. Adding them to natural intact grassland, for instance, could upset that balance, causing native birds to go elsewhere.

When done properly, TNC says “agroforestry is potentially the largest single contribution the agricultural sector can make towards climate change, and roughly comparable at a global level to more prominent strategies like reforestation.”

There are variables to consider, such as the local climate and tree species, but the end result is carbon sequestration. According to Joe Fargione, TNC’s science director for North America, “For every 100 trees you plant, 1 to 4 tons of CO2 are sucked out of the atmosphere every year.” 

Steve Gabriel has an agroforestry farm and consulting business in the Finger Lakes and has written two books, “Silvopasture” and “Farming the Woods.” He said trees also help store carbon underground by creating diverse microbial activity and fungal networks. 

Project Drawdown, a nonprofit that analyzes climate mitigation strategies, ranks silvopasture at the top of the list for all agricultural solutions. “Pastures with trees sequester five to 10 times as much carbon as those of the same size that are treeless, while maintaining or increasing productivity and providing a suite of additional benefits,” according to the nonprofit. 

Federal funding challenges and support for sustainable agriculture

Farms slated to receive federal funding through the USDA’s Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program came up short when President Donald Trump’s administration canceled those grants in April. That included $558,000 for up to eight farms in the Adirondacks, in an approved grant to be administered by the nonprofits Adirondack North Country Association and Interlace Commons.

Blue Pepper Farm in Jay makes yogurt from dairy ewes and was one of the farms participating to make its operation more climate resilient. Owner Tyler Eaton said they planned to plant about 400 trees on their property, but that plan has stalled for financial reasons. 

“We have the time and labor and love to go take care of those trees and help them grow

and flourish,” he said. “But that initial investment of purchasing them, planting, installing, and all that stuff is a bit of a barrier toward that project. So we’ll keep our ears open for possible assistance with that funding,” Eaton said.

Caskey had originally been part of the ANCA grant and ultimately pursued funding with The Nature Conservancy and its partners, which secured $60 million in federal funding for a nationwide program called the Expanding Agroforestry Project. 

Giroux is a conservation planner in Vermont who trains its National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to provide agroforestry services to farmers. She is exploring funding options through the NRCS in New York.

“The hope is that I can take those projects, go into the local NRCS office, hand off those materials and see how we might use one of their tree-based [programs] to implement their practices,” she said. 

There are some obstacles to public funding in New York because the state supports only three of the five USDA-recognized agroforestry practices—forest farming, riparian buffers and windbreaks—but not alley cropping and silvopasture like some other states, including Vermont.

Giroux is hoping the interest of these Essex County farms and others will help persuade New York’s NRCS to support silvopasture and alley cropping, a decision made at the state level, based on perceived demand.

“What it actually does is it creates this opportunity for us to talk with the NRCS state office and say, ‘Hey, we got to meet this moment,’” she said. 

She is also considering other NRCS programs that are tree and shrub based, in addition to private funding options. NRCS did not respond to a request for an interview. 

Gabriel, who does consulting work with Essex County farmers, said the setbacks with some federal funding has not stopped his clients from adopting agroforestry methods.

“It may have slowed down the timeline or the ability of them to do it, but there’s certainly still enthusiasm and passion and curiosity amongst the farmers that we’re talking to, and I don’t think that’s going anywhere,” he said.

Photo at top: Alex Caskey of Barred Owl Brook Farm tends trees for his silvopasture system which integrates trees and grazing livestock. Photo by Eric Teed.