New books

Agroforestry—the practice of incorporating trees in agricultural systems and managing them alongside crops and sometimes livestock—is as old as agriculture itself. But the scientific study of agroforestry systems is much younger and quickly growing.

The newly revised and third edition of North American Agroforestry brings the classic reference up to date, incorporating a decade’s worth of advances in a growing sector of alternative, sustainable agriculture.

The first and second editions were compiled and edited by University of Missouri Professor Emeritus H.E. “Gene” Garrett—the founder of the University’s renowned Center of Agroforestry. But the updated third edition includes the expertise of co-editors Shibu Jose (Associate Dean of the Office of Research at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources) and Michael Gold (Associate Director of the Center of Agroforestry at the University of Missouri).

Here, Jose talked with CSA News magazine about the new edition. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

CSA News: When did the idea for a new edition of North American Agroforestry come up and how did you get involved?

Jose: Prior to my position as Associate Dean for Research, I served as the Director of the Center of Agroforestry here at the University of Missouri for seven and a half years. When the opportunity came up to revise this book, which was earlier edited by Gene Garrett (the founding director of our Center of Agroforestry here), I did not hesitate to take it. My colleague Mike Gold and I decided to help him out. That was back in 2017, but when I changed positions, it took a couple of years before we really got started.

CSA News: Well, you really added a lot—there’s seven new chapters in this edition! How did you select new topics?

Jose: The three of us breathe in and breathe out agroforestry, so we are well versed in what’s happening in the discipline. We knew of research advances since the last edition, and we’d been listening to our colleagues about what was missing. I’ve also been the Editor-in-Chief of Agroforestry Systems for the past 14 years, and that’s really helped me see what’s been happening, how the discipline has evolved, and who the thought leaders are for these new topics. Between the three of us, it was easy to come up with topics and find authors to write about them.

CSA News: Which new chapter excites you most?

Jose: One chapter, “Urban Food Forests,” talks about urban agroforestry. That wasn’t even mentioned in the last edition. So you can see how quickly agroforestry has been evolving—urban agroforestry has been one of the most widely growing, accepted agroforestry practices in the world.

CSA News: Who do you hope reads North American Agroforestry?

Jose: This would be a useful book for anyone interested in natural resources, regenerative agriculture, the environment, or ecology. It would be great for landowners and professionals in agriculture and natural resource management. It could also be helpful as a reference for students of agriculture and natural resources, too. In fact, we’ve used this as an agroforestry textbook here and at other institutions.

CSA News: Why is this book important?

Jose: This book is so important because agroforestry is an alternative land management system that offers solutions to many of the sustainability challenges we face today. Although the name is new, the practices are age old. Now we have science that’s helping us understand them better and design modern analogs that make them more productive, but at the same time, environmentally friendly. For example, agroforestry has a tremendous potential to sequester carbon.

Agroforestry has been a way of life for many landowners in the tropics, but now people are realizing the benefits for agroforestry in the temperate parts of the world as well. It’s time that we look into such integrated management systems that are resilient and climate smart as part of multifunctional working landscapes.

We’re seeing a growing appreciation for practices like this—particularly silvopasture—and this book is a reference, a handbook, for people to use.

CSA News: That’s fantastic. To put a nice bow on our conversation, how would you sum up the book in a sentence?

Jose: This is the most up-to-date compendium of all things agroforestry, particularly from a North American perspective.