Tree Crops (woody plants)

There is an old word saying: “After man the desert”. Tree crops (woody plants) allow us to grow our food in a permanent way, in other words, “Permanent Agriculture” (Permaculture). Every culture that has based it’s food source on annual agriculture has collapsed. Every single one. Perennial woody crops are the base load engines of our regenerative land systems of the future. These permanent producers only need to be established once every couple of decades to every century or three depending on species. Yet they can produce annually while building soil health and requiring little or no fertility inputs. Because perennials are established only once compared to annuals they are able to put more energy into larger seed yields. In Addition, the roots of perennial plants inhabit the deeper layers of the subsoil with each passing year. A landscape covered in perennial plants has the capacity to transform ever more subsoil (mineral soil) into topsoil (organic-matter-rich material). This rooting capacity brings organic matter, water and biological activity into the subsoil.

Most annual crops are one dimensional. This short sighted goal is missing a lot of carbon capture and sun capture. When we harness the power of perennial woody crops we are able to “farm” more deeply the earth beneath thus greatly multiplying the amount of mineral and other resources we are able to draw and utilize. Not surprisingly perennial based systems such as woodland/savannah systems with three dimension crops, from grasses to shrubs to trees and grazing in the understory will capture between three to seven times the amount of solar energy as a field of annual crops. The vertical “farming” capabilities should not be overlooked allowing the system to capture more sunlight therefore more photosynthesis can take place.

Carbon sequestration is so important to restoration of our ecosystems. Carbon is the life blood of the systems. Very little carbon is sequestered through annual production.