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Forest farming is the cultivation of high-value specialty crops under a forest canopy that is intentionally modified or maintained to provide shade levels and habitat that favor growth and enhance production levels. Forest farming encompasses a range of cultivated systems from introducing plants into the understory of a timber stand to modifying forest stands to enhance the marketability and sustainable production of existing plants. Forest farming is a type of agroforestry practice characterized by the "four I's": intentional, integrated, intensive and interactive.〔( Gold, M.A., W.J. Rietveld, H.E. Garrett and R.F. Fisher, 2000. In: H.E. Garrett, W.J. Rietveld, and R.F. Fisher (eds.) ''North American Agroforestry: An Integrated Science and Practice''. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy. As cited at "Forest Farming," Cornell University. )〕 Agroforestry is a land management system that combines trees with crops or livestock, or both, on the same piece of land. It focuses on increasing benefits to the landowner as well as maintaining forest integrity and environmental health. The practice involves cultivating non-timber forest products or niche crops, some of which, such as ginseng or shiitake mushrooms, can have high market value. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are plants, parts of plants, fungi, and other biological materials harvested from within and on the edges of natural, manipulated, or disturbed forests.〔Chamberlain 2009〕 Examples of crops are ginseng, shiitake mushrooms, decorative ferns, and pine straw. Products typically fit into the following categories: edible, medicinal and dietary supplements, floral or decorative, or specialty wood-based products. ==History== Forest farming, though not always by that name, is practiced around the world. For centuries, humans have relied on fruits, nuts, seeds, parts of foliage and pods from trees and shrubs in the forests to feed themselves and their livestock. Over time, certain species have been selected for cultivation near homes or livestock to provide food or medicine. For example, in the southern United States, mulberry trees are used as a feedstock for pigs and often cultivated near pig quarters. In 1929, J. Russell Smith, Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at Columbia University, published "Tree Crops – A Permanent Agriculture" which stated that crop-yielding trees could provide useful substitutes for cereals in animal feeding programs, as well as conserve environmental health.〔Douglas 1984〕 Toyohiko Kagawa read and was heavily influenced by Smith’s publication and began experimental cultivation under trees in Japan during the 1930s. Through forest farming, or three-dimensional forestry, Kagawa addressed problems of soil erosion by persuading many of Japan's upland farmers to plant fodder trees to conserve soil, supply food and feed animals. He combined extensive plantings of walnut trees, harvested the nuts and fed them to the pigs, then sold the pigs as a source of income. When the walnut trees matured, they were sold for timber and more trees were planted so that there was a continuous cycle of economic cropping that provided both short-term and long-term income to the small landowner.〔Douglas 1984〕 The success of these trials prompted similar research in other countries. Unfortunately, World War II disrupted communication and slowed advances in forest farming.〔Douglas 1984〕 In the mid-1950s research resumed in places such as southern Africa. Kagawa was also an inspiration to Robert Hart pioneered forest gardening in temperate climates in the sixties in Shropshire, England. In earlier years, livestock were often considered part of the forest farming system. Now they are typically excluded and agroforestry systems that integrate trees, forages and livestock are referred to as silvopastures. Because forest farming combines ecological stability of natural forests and productive agriculture systems, it is considered to have great potential for regenerating soils, restoring ground water supplies, controlling floods and droughts and cultivating marginal lands.〔Garrett 2009〕 In addition to these benefits for re-establishing productive forests on marginal lands, forest farming is way to add financial value while conserving land that is currently forested, as discussed in the methods section. In more recent years, there has been growing interest in locally grown and organic foods throughout the United States. There has been an increase in farmer’s markets and community-supported agriculture small enterprises. These have also become outlets for NTFPs. In order to stay competitive, many farmers look to add unique crops to their product line. With the quantity and quality of resources developing online that offer tutorials and educational information on how to create and maintain forest farms, forest gardens, how to cultivate specific crops such as shiitake mushrooms and how to successfully market these items, forest farming is expanding as a viable land management practice. Good places to look for research-based resources are the USDA National Agroforestry Center’s (publication section ), the (Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri ), the (Cornell Cooperative Extension ), the (Non-Timber Forest Products website ) by The Virginia Tech Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station and the Top of the Ozarks RC&D in Missouri and the collaborative Forest (Farming community of practice on eXtension.org ), the online presence of the Cooperative Extension System of the US Land Grant Universities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「forest farming」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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