Increasing Landscape-ScaleAdoption of Agroforestry Systems in Central Appalachia through Market-Based Incentives

This project seeks to conserve threatened forest ecosystems and regenerate previously mined and mono-cropped land, by creating a transferable economic incentives system that can be used to encourage forest farming and alley cropping adoption among EQIP eligible landowners. Goals: 1) Enhance forestland conservation by increasing the adoption of sustainable and profitable forest farming practices in the forest understory as financial incentive; 2) Explore Alley Cropping (code 311) with medicinal herbs and shrubs as an economically viable conservation practice with market-based incentives for adoption. Objectives include: Conserve 1,800 acres of forestland under forest farming best management practices, including the mitigation of invasive species and biodiversity enhancement; attract $35,000 of additional funding as a financial incentive to support forestland conservation through profitable cultivation of forest botanicals; conduct an economic analysis of forest farmed botanicals to quantify profit potential and break-even price points required from buyers for financially viable operations; establish at least 4 alley cropping demonstration sites trialing economically important medicinal herbs and shrubs, to determine best practices for crop productivity, economic viability, and ecological enhancement.