The Rural Voice, 2000-11, Page 16�Ox
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12 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Agroforestry is the new buzz word
This October was the first time I
attended an Agroforestry Convention.
Agroforestry is a hot topic in BC,
especially in the coastal forest areas.
Agroforestry is a land -use system
that blends crops and livestock with
forestry. This is
sometimes called
the use and
production of
non -lumber
products from
the forest.
The speakers
and delegates
came to the
conference from
all over the
province and
beyond, to
partake in the
three days of
lectures,
presentations, exhibits, tours and
networking. It was a sold -out success.
We were told how to make money
out of the forest flora as greenery,
medicinals, nutraceuticals, foods and
even as attractions for ecotourism.
There were special talks on wild
mushrooms, how to increase growth
and how to wildcraft. (That is a term
used for those who go out and pick
the product wild from the public
forest lands.) It was suggested that
there are over 200 plant species that
can be wildcrafted from the west
coast forests.
For some people the use of
wildcrafting is a form of second
income, for others it is more focused,
and in that case annual incomes in
just two months can exceed $30,000
in a good year.
One of the most unattractive plants
in the west coast forests is devil's
club. This is a plant that grows to
about five meters and has spikes and
spines all over its stems and leaves. It
is also poisonous. This plant is
harvested for its roots which have
medicinal properties. These roots we
were told, can fetch as much as $30 -
$40 a pound. The estimated
wildcrafting harvesting of this
dangerous crop is around 5,000 lbs. a
year in BC.
Although certain government
policies are detrimental to
agroforestry in terms of land use, and
tax applications, it is an area that is
attracting greater attention from the
local provincial government who are
spending time and effort to promote
this work option.
The BC Minister of Agriculture
attended the conference and gave the
keynote address and noted the use of
agroforestry in strengthening the rural
economy and thus stemming the flow
of people from the lands to the cities.
He was also quite blunt about the
current relationships between the
Ministries of Agriculture and
Forestry, and called for policies that
were jointly compatible and not
competitive.
In the educational field the
University of British Columbia has
just initiated courses within its
forestry faculty on agroforestry, and
the province has established a field
specialist in agroforestry.
In the U.S. the University of
Missouri has a Centre for
Agroforestry at Columbia, so does
Washington State University. The
USDA has a national Agroforestry
Centre with its western location at
Spokane in the State of Washington.
With all this activity in this area
south of the border, the University of
Guelph might do well to look at this
topic as a new aggressive area to
promote and educate with better
communications and knowledge for
rural communities.
In New Zealand one of the
applications of this blending of
scientific disciplines is in the use
of income producing trees/shrubs
in the eight -foot hedge rows. Don't
just leave hedgerows to the weeds.
Use it they say, for income purposes
as they do with horticulture greenery,
medicinal berries or even hybrid
poplars for pulp. All of these,
when well-managed, produce
income, not weeds. This practice
also promoted biodiversity and can
be made to improve soil and
moisture condition on the
surrounding land.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.