Abstract
In the Midwestern US, both forestry and agriculture advisors have advocated against combining trees and livestock for more than 50 years. This established stance poses a potential barrier to the adoption of silvopasture, an agroforestry practice that integrates grazing with trees. We conducted three focus group interviews in southwestern Wisconsin, two with foresters and agriculture professionals, and one with farmers to assess their attitudes toward silvopasture. Although resource professionals were reluctant to endorse livestock access to woodlands, they were cautiously interested in exploring silvopasture as a means to improve the management of grazing in wooded areas and as a management tool for savanna restoration. Foresters, agricultural professionals, and farmers identified similar potential benefits and concerns associated with silvopasture, and requested better information on establishment, economics, and best management practices for silvopasture in the Midwest. Their questions and concerns provide direction for future silvopasture research and outreach efforts in the Midwest.
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Notes
Total forage production is higher in open pasture, but the microclimate of silvopasture extends the growing season in both spring and fall and may mitigate the impact of heat and dry spells on forage growth.
For example, Iowa provides a property tax exemption for forest land over two acres, provided livestock is excluded, and Minnesota has a Rural Preserve Program that provides use-value taxation for forest next to agricultural land enrolled in the green acres use-value tax program (Iowa DNR nd; Reichenbach and Baughman 2011; Minnesota DNR nd).
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Acknowledgments
We thank Keefe Keeley for helping with the focus groups and for laying the foundation with his interviews of farmers in the Kickapoo Valley. Primary funding for this study was provided by the Kickapoo Valley Reforestation Fund. Additional support came from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture through the Hatch Act (WIS01869) and the Renewable Resources Extension Act.
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Appendix: Focus group questions
Appendix: Focus group questions
Questions for resource professionals
Do you work with or know of farmers and landowners who have trees in their pastures? What kind of management do they do for that? What issues do you see with that management approach?
Do you know or work with farmers and landowners who graze their woods? What kind of management do they do for that? What guidance do you have for them?
Can you think of scenarios where silvopasture would make sense in the Driftless Region?
What do you see as the (one or two) most important constraints or barriers to good silvopasture?
Before we wrap up, do you have a closing question or comment about silvopasture that we have not yet touched on?
Questions for farmers
Looking at these different examples of pasture-tree configurations can you tell me if and how the different types fit into your grazing operation?
Combining grazing with trees introduces additional management issues beyond those of managing open pasture. Can you comment on those issues?
Do you think silvopasture has potential for you and your neighbors?
If you were going to establish silvopasture on your land, what are your guiding management goals and values that it would need to fit into?
We have been focusing on your land. I would like to step back now and hear whether silvopasture fits with your vision of the Kickapoo Valley in general.
Before we wrap up, do you have a closing question or comment about silvopasture that we have not yet touched on?
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Mayerfeld, D., Rickenbach, M. & Rissman, A. Overcoming history: attitudes of resource professionals and farmers toward silvopasture in southwest Wisconsin. Agroforest Syst 90, 723–736 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9954-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9954-7