By practicing agroforestry — growing trees alongside crops and livestock, for example — farmers can improve soils, produce nutrient-rich foods, and build resilience to climate change. Now, a movement is emerging to bring this approach to the depleted lands of the Corn Belt.
A few points I would like to make:
Soil degradation of corn:soy systems is largely due to tillage. No till is better, but perhaps not as good as agroforestry
Proponents of agroforestry often gloss over the changes required to actually practice it. Where a farmer can use large combines to harvest corn and soy relatively easily, he now has trees interrupting harvest, or its harder to harvest the diverse cropping systems (e.g., food bearing trees). While the benefits of argo forestry are real, so are the challenges.
Soil C sequestration from these systems is most likely temporary, and net neutral, but will reduce input costs
We need to switch away from beef - eat more chikn
Even better, don’t eat chicken either. Chicken still takes up more land simply by requiring land to grow feed. Anything plant-based will be a better solution.