About the Book
Agroforestry is a land use system that allows for the concurrent production of trees and agricultural crops from the same piece of land. It has a rich history of development and has been practised in some parts of the world for more than 6,000 years. Much recent research into agroforestry has been carried out in the tropics and within the context of developing nations, where land shortages brought about by the rapid growth in population demand that efficient production systems for both wood and food be developed and enhanced. In temperate zones, the awareness of some of the faults inherent within traditional agricultural systems has led to much increased research and practical activity in the development of sustainable farming systems. Agroforestry can play a leading role in this area, particularly in silvopastoral as well as cropping systems, and in promoting soil conservation. This book explores the development of temperate agroforestry and agroforestry systems, concentrating on those areas within the temperate zones where the greatest advances, adoptions and modifications have taken place: North and South America, China, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. The book is the first text to bring together so many examples of temperate agroforestry and is valuable reading for all those working in this area as researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The book is also of importance to students and teachers of agriculture, ecology, environmental studies and forestry in temperate regions.
Table of Contents:
1: Temperate Agroforestry: an overview A M Gordon and S M Newman 2: Agroforestry in North America and its Role in Farming Systems P A Williams and A M Gordon, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, H E Garrett, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA, and L Buck, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA et al. 3: Temperate Agroforestry Systems in New Zealand M F Hawke, New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute, Rotorua, New Zealand and R L Knowles, New Zealand Forest Research Institute, Rotorua, New Zealand 4: Agroforestry Systems in Temperate Australia R W Moore, Department of Conservation and Land Management, Busselton, Western Australia and P R Bird, Pastoral and Veterinary Institute, Hamilton, Victoria 5: Temperate Agroforestry in China Y Wu, Silsoe College, Cranfield University, Bedford, UK and Z Zhu, International Agroforestry Center, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China 6: Temperate Agroforestry: The European Way C Dupraz, INRA - Lepse, Place Viala, Montpellier Cedex 2, France and S M Newman, Biodiversity International, Buckingham, UK 7: Silvopastoral Use of Argentine Patagonian Forests R Somlo et al, INTA Bariloche, Argentina 8: Temperate Agroforestry Systems: Synthesis and Future Directions S M Newman, Biodiversity, Buckingham, UK and A M Gordon, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
About the Author :
Andrew M. Gordon is with the University of Guelph, Canada.
Review :
"This book clearly stimulated me to ponder a number of issues. It is a good review of the current practices and ongoing biological research programs in temperate agroforestry. The European and New Zealand chapters in particular show a depth of understanding and synthesis that is outstanding. . .It also provides an entry into regional literature that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. And, for the temperate zone, it is the only movie playing." --Forest Science
"I found this to be a very good introduction to global temperate agroforestry which, for purposes of this book, was meant to be: 'an approach to land-use that incorporates trees into farming systems, and allows for the production of trees and crops or livestock from the same piece of land' (p 1). The book nicely covers this complex topic for North America, New Zealand, Australia, China, Argentina and Europe. An excellent group of prominent authors contributed to the text, writing on specific regions. The editors then developed a valuable 'synthesis and future directions' contribution to conclude the volume. This will be a very useful book for anyone interested in agroforestry."--The Quarterly Review of Biology
"Eight contributions explore the development of temperate agroforestry and agroforestry systems, concentrating on those areas where the greatest advances of modifications have occurred, namely, North America, China, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, the UK, and continental Europe. Topics include silvopastoral systems, sands control engineering, and forest gazing."--SciTech Book News
"The editors of this book have been major contributors to the recent promotion of agroforestry as a land use suitable to temperate North America, and for that they rightly deserve credit. This book is their effort to globalize this process by expanding their focus to other temporate regions. This book will be most useful as a general reference to information on selected topics in Temperate Zone agroforestry, and as an overview for those new to the field." -- Henry Gholz, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol 102, 2000
