Agroforestry is the low hanging fruit of regenerative agriculture. Agroforestry community benefits include economic opportunities, food security, nutrition and climate change resilience.
Agroforestry is a method of growing food and trees together. There are many terms for Agroforestry including silvopasture, food forests, permaculture, agroecology and syntropic. Traditional indigenous practices such as the Mayan Food Forest provide us insights into ancient methods that are highly relevant today. In particular, syntropic farming is designed with different layers of trees and plants that create shade and moisture to reduce water needs, increase the health of soil, and plants that act as organic fertilisers to avoid harmful chemicals. The trees provide wood for building, firewood, and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, acting as a means to combat climate change. Vegetables are incorporated for feeding families and selling at farmers markets. Areas that are recovering from forest fires find agroforestry as a great way to heal the ecosystem and provide rapid regeneration.
Agroforestry Regeneration Communities (ARC) realised that it is time to pick up Nature’s emergency call and started the nonprofit organisation in 2021, a group of environmentalists old and young that plants ‘food forests.’, their members with years of experience and compassion for Mother Earth and its dwellers.
ARC acts for a “better world today by supporting regenerative farming practices”. The organisation works in Guatemala and East Africa, partnering with small scale farmers, to practise regenerative agriculture, permaculture, agroforestry, and syntropic forestry.
ARC prioritises more women’s participation in the process, for their equal development. It does not just care about sustainable agriculture, but rather the growth and empowerment of the small farmers, who produce over 60% of the world’s food. Changing climatic conditions, degrading soil, increasing use of chemicals, population growth and reduction in farmlands etc are making it difficult for small farmers to compete with big farm-business owners and industries with machines, chemical growth inducers, and their unhealthy cultivation practices. Coming together with ARC, farmers are producing healthy food for all, without the use of unhealthy farming practices.
Development without uprooting a Farmer’s Life
Many farmers are moving to cities from their native lands to create a new life without having to risk it. Water shortage and creeping deserts often force the poor farmers to move to cities for finding stable employment, an unwelcome burden on the cities as well as the farmers. ARC has enabled the farmers to stay back within their kin and community by taking income opportunities and their profits to a higher level.
ARC provides training and necessary connections between the farmers and new technology for economic upliftment. In addition to that, the organisation provides food-producing, native and nitrogen-fixing trees too. Plants that are good for soil fertility, like cassava, ginger, turmeric, and pineapple are chosen for cultivation, providing year-round produce. Expensive agrochemicals are not used, which ensures the safety of farmers and the earth. When associated with ARC, they do not have to wait for annual harvests either. With ARC’s provision of resources for small-scale farmers, the picture of sustainable cultivation is changing.
As important as avoiding harmful chemicals, one must not forget the grave effects of mono-crop farming, which is usually meant for owners with huge areas of land. It lessens the diversity in the fields and diets of the people who consume the food grown in the rural region. It decreases soil fertility, also damaging the health of the consumers as their nutritional needs are not met. The organisation discourages this type of farming that is not beneficial for middle-class communities.
Allies at work – The natives
Agroforestry Regeneration Communities has partnered with several agroforestry practitioners based in East Africa and Guatemala. They share a similar vision and goal, working from the ground level. Combined with their ancient indigenous methods, they prove their relevance even today by the success of regenerative farming- 800 food forests and 200,000 trees have been planted by them in the first year itself.
Refarmers, Permaculture Paradise, Contour Lines are some of them. Supported by the communities and passionately grown by driven individuals, these allies focus on helping the farmers become independent, fight climate change, and restore damaged lands. Another partner, Regenerative Holistic Resource Center works towards giving orphaned children education and reliable sustainable farms, on top of safe homes and a supportive, resilient community. Their teamwork has created forests (of food) out of barren lands.
Spreading knowledge as they spread Food-Forests
At ARC, they believe that more and more should know about this sustainable, organic, and healthy form of agriculture and the care needed for these crops. In an attempt to popularise this, they have organised several workshops and webinars that have greatly helped their cause. Through their website, they also pave the way for beginners seeking information about agroforestry and regenerative farming, along with accepting donations for the same. They promote and practise permaculture, ideal for a better, nourished and well-fed world, and syntropic farming for equitable distribution of resources in every location.
If you are also looking for guidance in sustainable farming practices, do join their first webinar on agroforestry on January 25. Hope you enjoy and learn from the esteemed speakers!
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