Agroforestry Management Effects on Plant Productivity Vectors within a Humid–Temperate Hardwood Alley-cropping System

Abstract

Economic analyses have shown that combining hardwood trees and agricultural crops into alley-cropping systems has the potential to increase the profitability of plantation forestry in the humid temperate midwestern USA (Williams and Gordon, 1992; Benjamin et al. 2000). Traditionally in this region, trees and agronomic crops are grown separately in monocultural systems. Management prescriptions for the combined systems (reviewed by Gordon and Newman, 1997) are still being evaluated because most established agroforestry systems in the region are only 10–30 years old (40–80 years of tree growth required between tree harvests for timber and veneer production).