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Agroforestry Research and Development in Canada: The Way Forward

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Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use

Part of the book series: Advances in Agroforestry ((ADAG,volume 9))

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the history and current status of agroforestry research and practices across Canada and provide recommendations as “the way forward.” Each of the five regions (the Atlantic Region, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and British Columbia) has unique climates, soils, landforms, and natural resource management systems. The influence of these factors has resulted in different agroforestry practices and approaches to their application in each region. For example, the riparian buffer systems are promoted for the Atlantic Region; tree-based intercropping and windbreak systems in Quebec, Ontario, and in the Prairies; and silvopastoral systems in British Columbia. European settlement, beginning in the late 1700s, initiated the conversion of much of eastern Canada from native forest into agricultural land. As farming practices modernized across the country, new environmental problems (e.g., soil erosion and loss of wildlife habitat) and new socioeconomic issues (e.g., loss of income diversity) emerged. Recently, Canadian citizens have become increasingly concerned with potential ecological impacts of agricultural production, and the policy has moved toward fostering stewardship initiatives that address not only environmental goods and services but also climate change issues with a special emphasis on carbon sequestration. Agroforestry is perceived to be able to provide benefits in these areas; however, the problems and their potential solutions are different in different regions. Each region faces a unique set of challenges and constraints related to lack of knowledge, high initial capital and labor costs, farm operational issues, resource tenure, lack of niche markets, and lack of incentives.

The two principal authors are listed first; other authors are listed in alphabetical order and do not reflect the level of contribution to this chapter.

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Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Dr. Kumudinie Kariyapperuma, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1, for her contribution toward the final review of this book chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Naresh V. Thevathasan & Andrew M. Gordon

  2. Département Biologie, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

    Robert Bradley

  3. Montreal Botanical Garden, Institut de Recherche en Biologie végétale, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Alain Cogliastro

  4. Sustainable Agriculture Management Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Kamloops, BC, Canada

    Percy Folkard, Francis Njenga & Lisa Zabek

  5. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Robert Grant

  6. Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Indian Head, SK, Canada

    John Kort

  7. Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kamloops, BC, Canada

    Lavona Liggins

  8. Département de Phytologie, Universite de Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada

    Alain Olivier

  9. Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada

    Chris Pharo

  10. AgForInsight.com, Quesnel, BC, Canada

    George Powell

  11. Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Quebec, QC, Canada

    David Rivest

  12. Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Tom Schiks

  13. Sustainable Agriculture Management Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Abbotsford, BC, Canada

    David Trotter

  14. Centre for Northern Agroforestry and Afforestation, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Ken Van Rees

  15. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Joann Whalen

Authors
  1. Naresh V. Thevathasan
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  2. Andrew M. Gordon
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  3. Robert Bradley
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  4. Alain Cogliastro
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  5. Percy Folkard
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  6. Robert Grant
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  7. John Kort
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  8. Lavona Liggins
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  9. Francis Njenga
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  10. Alain Olivier
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  11. Chris Pharo
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  12. George Powell
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  13. David Rivest
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  14. Tom Schiks
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  15. David Trotter
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  16. Ken Van Rees
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  17. Joann Whalen
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  18. Lisa Zabek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naresh V. Thevathasan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sch. of Forest Resources and Conservatio, University of Florida, 118 Newins-Zielgler Hall, Box 110410, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    P.K. Ramachandran Nair

  2. ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre), P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Dennis Garrity

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Thevathasan, N.V. et al. (2012). Agroforestry Research and Development in Canada: The Way Forward. In: Nair, P., Garrity, D. (eds) Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use. Advances in Agroforestry, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4676-3_15

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