An Agroforestry Practice Introduction Most public and private forest lands of North America have been modified to varying degrees from years of human activity. Forest farming practices can be used by private enterprise to grow desirable non-timber forest products on private lands, to supplement family income and to allow biodiversity to reestablish within forests. In forest farming, high-value specialty crops are cultivated under the protection of a forest canopy that has been modified to provide the correct shade level. Crops like ginseng, shiitake mushrooms and decorative ferns are sold for medicinal, culinary or ornamental uses.
Forest farming provides income while high-quality trees are being grown for wood products.
These products fall into four general categories. In forest farming practices, high-value specialty crops are intentionally cultivated under the protection of a forest overstory that has been modified and managed to provide the appropriate microclimate conditions. Typically, these systems are established on private land by thinning an existing forest or woodlot to leave the best crop trees for continued wood production and to create the appropriate conditions for the understory crop to be grown. Then, the understory crop is established and intensively managed to provide short-term income. Systems usually focus on a single SFP plus timber, but can include several products.