On a small patch of land at the Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory, a miniature forest explores the potential of a new food production practice, one that could hold the key to naturally sustainable agriculture.

This small plot is home to the agroforestry project, the newest addition to The Ohio State University Student Farm.

Rachael Birri, a senior at Ohio State majoring in environmental science, established this project to explore the agroforestry’s potential to maximize the use of natural resources in food production.

Agroforestry is a land management system. It relies on biological interactions that occur when multiple species of crops—or crops and livestock—are produced in the same space. The goal of this practice is to improve the resource sustainability of agriculture by mimicking natural plant growth..

Birri’s project aims to do just that. In December 2018, Birri was awarded $7,575 from the Coca-Cola Sustainability Grant to establish her agroforestry project at the Student Farm.

Since 2011, a total of $20,000 has been awarded each year to four or five student projects through the Coca-Cola Sustainability Grant.

“[The grants] are meant to be for student-led projects,” said Carlos Lugo, the Office of Student Life’s sustainability program manager. “It’s for them to explore areas that the college doesn’t cover.”

In the spring of 2019, this grant funded the planting of the agroforestry plot. Students involved with the farm planted strawberries, pawpaw trees, peach trees, cherry trees, peanut plants, elderberry, crimson clover, and much more. Birri took charge of this process, designing the plot to mimic the composition of natural ecosystems.

“One of my favorite things was the planning process,” said Birri. “I really loved drawing up designs, especially since we didn’t want to totally restrict ourselves to the regular row setup, because it was supposed to be more forest-like.”

The variety and type of species selected for the agroforestry project was intentional to build a system that is both polyculture and permaculture.

Polyculture vs Permaculture

Polyculture systems grow multiple species of crops in the same area, utilizing plant relationships to improve natural disease resilience and weed management.

Permaculture systems use perennials, species that only need to be planted once and continue to produce each year. This type of system minimizes the tillage practices often seen in crop production.

“We operate under an agroecology mindset, where more diversity equals better resilience to different things,” said Christopher Ratcliff, the faculty advisor for the Student Farm.

Agroforestry is a field that has been steadily drawing more interest in terms of food production, because it differs so much from traditional field crops. But this difference might not be a bad thing.

Maintaining field crops is energy intensive, since farmers must expend the energy and resources to replant their fields every year. It can also be environmentally invasive—some improper tillage practices have been known to release carbon into the atmosphere—and chemicals used for fertilization and for weed and pest management can end up in unintended places.

A move to agroforestry offers a potential answer to some of these problems. With perennial species, farmers only have to plant once—meaning less money spent on seed, less labor required for planting, and no need for regular tilling.

The diversity produced by planting multiple species together provides natural weed management, fertilization, and disease resilience. As a result, farmers are able to use less fertilizer and weed control products, reducing the amount of chemicals needed in food production.

The promise of a naturally sustainable food production system has many people pointing to agroforestry as the solution, especially for issues with carbon sequestration and climate change.

“I think the benefits could be wide,” said Ratcliff. “I think that agriculture is at the heart of the solution to those problems…[but] there’s still a lot of research to be done on exactly what the effects can be.”

However, implementing this practice on a greater scale may be easier said than done. Cultivating this system takes time, and many of the crops won’t produce in the first year. It’s a very costly endeavor, one that many farmers likely would not be willing or able to risk.

“A lot of farmers have their backs against the wall economically,” said Ratcliff, “so if someone asks them to try something new that’s a large upfront investment but doesn’t have a lot of immediate payback, I think that makes it hard for them to agree to it.”

This transition presents another roadblock. A different practice requires a different skillset and operation process, which takes time to learn.

“It takes a different set of tools and skills for pest management, harvest, planting and all those things. I think that kind of transition can be hard,” said Ratcliff.

Ultimately, this project aims to provide experience with agroforestry to those involved with the Ohio State Student Farm. Although the focus is currently on getting the project started, Ratcliff hopes that formal research will be conducted in the future to explore the potential that agroforestry holds.

“It’s easy to sit here and talk about all the benefits of agroforestry,” said Ratcliff, “but until you try it, you can’t really speak from personal experience.”

Food not bombs

While the benefits of research may be on the horizon, the food grown through this program is making a difference today. Although some of it goes to the employees working at the Student Farm, they can only eat so much.

Produce from the farm is distributed to various food pantries around Columbus to provide people with fresh, organically grown food. Some of it is sold throughout the year at on-campus markets, and some of it is sold at various farmers markets.

There are also plots designated specifically for donations. The Student Farm works with the Columbus chapter of Food Not Bombs, which serves as a food pantry without restrictions on who can come and how much food people can take.

Food Not Bombs started in 1980, and now has chapters all over the world. The group recovers food that would be discarded and then shares it with those in need as a way of protesting war and poverty.

“People are allowed to take whatever they want,” said Birri. “If you want to take a whole crate of onions, you can take a whole crate of onions. And sometimes people do.”

Much of the food provided by Food Not Bombs is salvaged from grocery stores and other places, so the fresh produce donated from the Student Farm is a welcome change.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to donate to [Food Not Bombs], and to be able to have more fresh produce present there,” said Birri.

Donating to Food Not Bombs gives students at the farm a chance to see people benefitting from their research. Only time will tell if people across the country will also be able relish the food provided to them through this kind of all-natural sustainability.