Integrating trees and shrubs with farming systems can provide many environmental, social, and economic benefits. Our agroforestry program seeks to help small- and medium-sized farmers and woodland owners explore and adopt agroforestry practices to diversify their revenue and address environmental challenges. Potential practices include:
- Alley cropping—growing rows of trees/shrubs in between rows of crops
- Forest farming—cultivating crops such as tree sap, hickory nuts, shiitake mushrooms, fuel wood, and medicinal plants under a managed tree canopy
- Riparian forest buffers—growing trees/shrubs next to a body of water for conservation purposes
- Silvopasture—grazing livestock on a landscape with trees
- Establishing silvopasture by planting trees
- Establishing silvopasture in existing woodland
- Windbreaks—growing rows of trees/shrubs to slow the wind for the benefit of soils, crops, livestock, wildlife, and people.
This project is a collaboration between researchers and Extension professionals in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Extension portion focuses on connecting farmers with agricultural and natural resource professionals through hands-on learning events like field days and peer-to-peer workshops. We are creating and distributing decision-support tools to help landowners understand the costs and benefits of agroforestry on their land, as well as multimedia case studies to showcase farmers’ experiences with specific practices.
Events
July 2025 – Getting Started with Stewardship
We partnered with Sauk County to host a field day at the Sauk County Farm for new landowners, and anyone getting started with land stewardship in Wisconsin. Landowners connected with peers and conservation professionals to look at conservation in action and discuss ways to achieve their goals for their land.
We are planning additional agroforestry events for farmers, woodland owners, and foresters.
July 2024
We partnered with UW-Stevens Point’s Wisconsin Forestry Center and the Savanna Institute to hold a field day for foresters. Foresters learned about various agroforestry practices that are possible in Wisconsin and received continuing education credits.
October 2023
We held a forest farming field day for woodland owners. Attendees learned about mushroom and maple syrup production, living off the grid, woodland management, and how the NRCS and the DNR can help.
If you have questions about our agroforestry program or would like to stay up to date about future events, contact:
Tony Johnson
Natural Resources Educator
anthony.johnson@wisc.edu
608-386-8900
Our agroforestry program is funded in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Additional support comes from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Page last updated June 2025.