There were 60 of them. They came from all over the state - the northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast and central parts. They devoted two days to learning about agroforestry practices and their potential for income and protection of Missouri's natural resource base.
They were natural resource professionals from the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and University of Missouri Extension. For two intensive days the professional resource advisors came together as teams to explore how agroforestry practices - alleycropping, riparian buffers, windbreaks, silvopastoral systems and forest farming - are designed and how they might apply these practices with landowners in their own communities.
The Advanced Agroforestry Course, organized by Sandra Hodge, coordinator of technology transfer for the University of Missouri center for agroforestry, brought in authorities on design and implementation from many sources. Jim Brandle, University of Nebraska noted expert on windbreaks, presented the philosophy behind the practice and how they are designed. Dick Shultz and Joe Colletti from Iowa State University, both known for their expertise in riparian buffer establishment, covered the variety of issues related to their design. Gene Garrett, director of the University of Missouri center for agroforestry, shared his expertise in alleycropping and silvopastoral management. And Deborah Hill of the University of Kentucky presented the unique potential of forest farming.
The basic economics of agroforestry were explored by Tom Treiman, economist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Larry Harper shared real-life examples of costs and income from his 12 years of production experience at HarperHill Farms near Butler, Mo.
In addition to providing an advanced level of training, another purpose of the course was to identify a cadre of natural resource professionals throughout the state who can form regional teams and offer specialized technical support for each other. Because agroforestry is a combination of forestry and agriculture and involves aspects of conservation, it often requires the expertise of all three agencies represented at the conference.
