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Food Forests Offer an Agricultural Alternative

September 25, 2024  |  biodiversity, climate action, climate change, food forests, food production, food security, food system, greenhouse effect, local agriculture, monocultures, urban farming
Two people work in a garden with tall buildings around them

Food systems intersect with climate change in multiple ways. Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change. Our modern food system produces high levels of CO2 emissions, which accelerate the greenhouse effect, and damage biodiversity through monocultures. Agriculture also suffers heavily from climate change. Crop yields and livestock health are in decline from changing weather patterns like intensifying storms, extreme heat, flooding, and droughts. Further, warmer global temperatures increase the rate of evaporation and boost dependency on irrigation systems. These shifts are devastating for farmers whose ways of life and economic stability are on the line. Many farmers in the U.S. and globally rely on seasonal yields to cover debts and make ends meet, and they are subject to market prices that are out of their control. Declines in the stability of food systems also are detrimental to consumers. Increasing food costs and food scarcity drive poverty and conflict, both around the world and here in the U.S.

two children crouch in the dirt, one of them holding a plant pot

These issues can feel overwhelming. It can be hard to know where to start or how to engage when a problem is as big as the global food system. While there’s no singular perfect solution, it’s important to find actions that can help us make progress, however localized or incremental, towards positive change. One avenue for contributing to a healthy and sustainable local food system is investing in food forests.

Small hands hold a plant and dig in the dirt

Food forests, sometimes called forest gardens, are human-tended plantings of edible trees, shrubs, and crops that mimic natural ecosystems. Food forests have many benefits including boosting biodiversity through a range of plant types, increasing food system efficiency because many different types of food can be produced in a small space through multilayered plantings, and promoting ecosystem services like CO2 absorption, nutrient deposits in the soil, and increased decomposition activity. Food forests typically have seven to eight layers beginning with mushrooms and roots in the soil and extending all the way up to tree canopies. Each layer has a role to play in supporting surrounding plants and producing food.  

A group of teens work together in a garden row

Food forests also can play a vital role in environmental education because they demonstrate a range of ecosystem principles, like organism interdependence, plant reproduction, and natural life cycles of living things. Equally as important, food forests can be grown almost anywhere which means they can be intentionally introduced in communities that struggle with food access. There are food forests on rooftops in New York City, in community parks in South Carolina, and in people’s backyards. Wherever they’re grown, food forests are a great way to produce delicious and healthy food, learn about how nature works, and bring people together.