Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Oswego County will be hosting a free online workshop through Zoom on Wednesday, November 10th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. This workshop will explore some of the different ways the small farms community can develop greater resilience by adopting agroforestry practices. This workshop will give a broad overview of agroforestry with special attention focusing on forest farming and silvopasture. 

Forest Farming is the cultivation of high-value, non-timber forest products under the protection of a forest canopy. Some of the forest products that will be highlighted will be: maple & walnut syrup, rasberries & blackberries, pawpaw, shitake & lions mane mushrooms, nut trees (walnut, hickory, pecan, hazelnut) and medicinal crops like Amercian ginseng, cohosh and goldenseal. Silvopasture is the integration of livestock, forages and trees into existing woodlots or by bringing trees into pasture settings. Grazing livestock under tree cover not only reduces animal heat stress during the summer months, it also allows livestock producers to grow wood or other agricultural products as an additional source of income. Agroforestry practices like forest farming and silvopasture attempt to stack multiple enterprises on the same piece of land. Not only can this increase and diversify farm revenue, it can also lead to greater farm resilience. 

This online workshop is open to all members of the general public, including those interested in learning about agriculture, new/beginning farmers or longstanding agricultural producers looking to make a change or add something new to their farm. Guest speakers will be Professor Emeritus Dr. Kenneth Mudge, from the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University, and Brett Chedozy, Senior Resource Educator in Agriculture and Natural Resources at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schuyler County. To register please to go: reg.cce.cornell.edu/agroforestryworkshop_235

For more information please contact Joshua Vrooman, Agricultural Community Educator for CCE of Oswego County at jwv33@cornell.edu or 315-963-7286 ext. 200.