Trees: a new crop option for Saskatchewan farms?

Recommending trees as a crop option for Saskatchewan farmers would have been laughable a few years ago. Today, a number of factors have combined to recommend agroforestry as a serious cropping alternative.

With prices for most crops in the doldrums, many farmers are now open to examining a variety of alternatives that promise better incomes. Various specialty crops and livestock, organic farming and ethanol production are among the more promising options. Another involves the use of agricultural land for forest plantations and other land use practices that involve the tree crops.

Agroforestry is of particular interest because of its long-term environmental benefits. In particular, Canada's commitments to combat climate change may provide opportunities for farmers to earn additional income by growing tree crops that act as a carbon sink. Trees provide carbon sinks because they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their tissues. High levels of carbon dioxide are the chief cause of climate change.

Canada has made a commitment to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. One way to do this involves a carbon emissions trading system. This allows a company that is required to reduce its emissions -- such as a coal-fired power plant - to purchase carbon credits. The money is used to subsidize industries that provide carbon sinks, such as agroforestry. The additional income from carbon credits may be sufficient to make tree cropping profitable.

While informal carbon emissions trading is already being practiced by companies such as SaskPower, it is too early to say when or whether a formal system will be adopted and what value will be put on carbon. In the mean time, research has been done on the amount of carbon reduction obtained from various trees and tree cropping systems for the Canadian prairies.

There are other signs that agroforestry can be a profitable venture. Currently, there is a major expansion underway in Saskatchewan's forestry sector. There are questions about the long-term capability of Crown forests to supply all the timber and fibre required for sawmills, paper mills and oriented strand board (OSB) plants. This opens the door for farmers to supply timber from existing private forests, in the near term, and from the planting or afforestation of farmland in the long term.

In Saskatchewan, as many as 700,000 hectares (ha) of forests are on private lands. These are supplemented by another 100,000 ha on Indian lands, 40,000 ha on Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) pastures, and 15,000 ha in private woodlots.

Currently, the Saskatchewan Farm Woodlot Association provides farmers with information on managing woodlots, and carries out advocacy for the industry.

In addition to improving the management of woodlots and converting agricultural land to forests, farmers may want to consider such ventures as co-operative mills and OSB plants to gain the maximum potential from their woodlots and tree farms.

There are a number of forms that agroforestry can take.

Properly designed, shelterbelts can increase crop productivity while contributing to sustainability by decreasing wind erosion.

Tree cropping can also be carried out in conjunction with livestock production. Called silvopastoral management, this system allows livestock to graze among trees planted at a lower density than a normal tree plantation. The trees provide some shelter and shade for the livestock, while providing a carbon sink. Ultimately, the trees can also be harvested.

Other alternatives include a mixture of trees and crops. In one system, grain is grown in "alleys" between rows of trees.

Canada recently fought to include recognition of its forest carbon sinks in international climate change agreements. Instituting programs that create concrete benefits to industries that sequester carbon would be a substantial boon to agroforestry. By proving an income supplement, such a program would reward tree farmers for providing a variety of significant environmental benefits to both current and future generations.

Mark Johnston is a Senior Research Scientist with the Saskatchewan Research Council.