Agriculture has a significant potential for adaptation to global climate change that began in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It depends not only on the intensity of agricultural production in a given area, but also on the resources of the environment in which the industry operates. In recent years, in agrarian-developed countries the attention of scientists has been directed to agroforestry together with agroecological water management, including the formation of landscapes conducive to water retention, in order to adapt agricultural production to the effects of climate change.
Agroforestry systems
Agroforestry includes five systems of varying degrees of intensity that are combined to protect soil, livestock, crops, and homes from extreme weather, while improving water and soil quality and the nutritional value of food.
Windbreaks include one or more rows of trees or shrubs to control erosion and protect wind-sensitive crops, especially during times of increased drought or other extreme weather conditions.
Border Tree Planting. This can include hedgerows, buffer strips and protective tree belts. Hedgerows reduce soil erosion, restrict the movement of animals and people, and provide habitat for insectivorous birds. Protective forest belts reduce the speed of winds, so that strong wind gusts are much less likely to dry and fell crops, which in turn leads to higher yields.
Growing crops in the shade under the crown of trees. Almost always these crops are shade-tolerant or the crown of trees lets in sufficient light. A common example is shade-grown coffee. This practice reduces weeding costs and increases the quality and flavor of the coffee.
Alley cropping. This involves alternating rows of frequently planted trees or shrubs with crops. The trees are usually pruned before the crops are planted. Leaves are spread over the area to provide nutrients to the plants.
Benefits of synergies in agroforestry systems
The main objective of agroforestry is to obtain agricultural production from the entire area where trees or shrubs are integrated with farming or livestock production, i.e. from the area of planted trees and shrubs as well as from the grassland and cropland cultivated between them.
Trees and shrubs can serve as feedstock for the production of biomass for energy purposes or high quality wood. There are also many alternative uses for woody biomass, for example as a compost additive, animal bedding or as a by-product of fruit production. Cultivation and animal feeding practices used in agroforestry also have significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Agroforestry systems increase the resilience of agricultural ecosystems to high rainfall and temperature variations. In other words, they increase the stability of field crop yields during wet and dry periods. This is due to several facts.
Trees of certain species, planted in strips in the appropriate place and direction, perform a wind-protective function. The semi-permeable structure of tree crowns inhibits air currents through energy-loss vortices. This creates a ground zone covering the plant growth level, which is characterized by higher air humidity relative to the level above.
Trees restrict air movement in the field, which reduces evaporation from plants and soil, and at the same time increase the humidity of the air above the field, protecting against evaporation of water vapor from the soil into the atmosphere. As a result, yields of crops located in the greatest zone of tree cover influence are increased. More favorable microclimatic conditions can also extend the growing season of field crops.
The recommended distance of windbreaks from each other is at least 12-18 times the calculated height of plantations and depends on soil moisture capacity, local climatic conditions and precipitation.
