The Rural Voice, 1987-05, Page 171986) — for several years. He has
developed and promoted this idea on
his farm and among academics until it
is beginning to have enough momen-
tum to become a significant part of
agricultural policy in Ontario.
An agro-forestry group has been
established within the Department of
Environmental Biology at the Uni-
versity of Guelph, headed by Dr.
Andrew Gordon. This group is moni-
toring a plantation of walnut trees
inter -planted with com that was esta-
blished at Dixon's farm in 1986. It is
also working on a riparian (stream
bank) erosion -control project in
Waterloo County on the Nith River.
Dr. Gordon says that more study
sites are required to test inter -cropping
strategies. The project is new, he add-
ed, and more funding is needed to con-
tinue and expand the reseach.
Dixon dismisses the traditional
method of reforestation whereby trees
are planted close together to force them
to grow to a greater limb -free height
and are thinned later. This, he says,
causes a slower growth rate. It is also
wasteful, inefficient, and cumbersome
to work with. He maintains that trees
should be planted far enough apart that
thinning is unnecessary, but pruning
is needed. He says pruning is not a
major chore and the wide spacings
make it easy to work the plantation
with machinery and grow regular agri-
cultural crops while the trees continue
to mature.
This March, a support group of
researchers, landowners, and agriculture
and forestry extension personnel met at
Guelph to review their budding pro-
ject. Dixon announced that a $30,000
trust fund had been established to reim-
burse annually the future owner of his
farm for maintenance of the plantation
for the next 30 years. At the same
time, access to the site is guaranteed
for the university researchers.
The budget for the Dixon project is
promising:
25 trees/acre planted on 40 -foot centres
40 acres = 1,000 trees
Estimated 40 years to achieve a bole
diameter of 24 inches = 400 board
feet per tree @ $2.00 per board foot =
$800 per tree or $12,000 per acre or
$300 per acre per year.
According to experience in the
U.S., there is a potential market for
the nut meats and even the shells.
As a postscript to this budget, it is
interesting that the direct production
costs of the corn crop that was grown
on this site, which is top-quality corn
land, exceeded the return by $295.
A major snag in the agro-forestry
concept is the 40 to 50 -year wait for a
pay -out. Dixon has an answer to this
objection. He postulates that since
agro-forestry offers many secondary
benefits to society, a farmer could en-
ter into a government program where-
by in return for maintaining a planta-
tion his pay -out could be pro -rated
over the years the trees are maturing.
Will agro-forestry become a signif-
icant part of agriculture's future? Giv-
en determined visionaries like Andrew
Dixon, enthusiastic researchers, the
demand for altemate agricultural crops
and mere timber products, and the need
for an improved environment, it just
might. Perhaps pines and peanuts will
be the salvation of the tobacco
growers, or perhaps the future holds
mixed crops not of barley and oats, or
even the legendary corn and pumpkins,
but walnuts and wheat, pine trees and
potatoes, or even oak trees and onions.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Andrew M. Gordon
Department of Environmental Biology
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W00
OWEN SOUND MNR PROJECT
REFORESTS 500 ACRES A YEAR
Though not quite "agro-forestry,"
as a reforestation program it's more
management -intensive than most. It's
being carried out by the Owen Sound
office of the Ministry of Natural
Resources (MNR) on crown land, and
more frequently on private land under
the Woodlot Improvement Act.
In fact, each year the Owen Sound
district of the MNR achieves a net
increase of 500 acres of reforested land
through its tree -planting program.
John Lambie, ministry spokes-
man, says staff had been following the
usual practice of planting coniferous
varieties when they realized that the
area is a hardwood -growing region.
Why not, they thought, try to foster
a quicker regeneration of the valuable
hardwood species.
Many areas in the region, Lambie
adds, should never have been cleared
in the first place. The ministry's tree -
plantings are on marginal, abandoned,
or non-agricultural land.
Hardwoods generally require a
better site than conifers, thriving best.
on loamy, well -drained soil. They are
less tolerant of weed and grass compe-
tition than evergreens, and it is neces-
sary to use management techniques
such as cultivation and herbicide appli-
cations for the first five or six years.
And rabbits, mice, and woodchucks
like the tender shoots and bark.
Some of the varieties being plant-
ed are white ash, walnut, maple, and
black cherry.
One of the earliest plantations
was established in 1977 on crown
land. It is located west of Highway
6 south of Chatsworth on Lot 13,
Concession 2 of Sullivan Town-
ship. The trees are mostly white
ash, with some black cherry,
poplar, and pine.
The work is still somewhat exper-
imental, Lambie notes, especially in
terms of determining which herbicides
perform best in relation to the toler-
ance of various species.
Landowners interested in partici-
pating in the tree -planting program
should contact the MNR office in
Owen Sound early, as the program
is so popular that it is booked up as
much as two years in advance.OMG
MAY 1987 15