Exploring the potential of food forestry to assist in ecological restoration in North America and beyond

Abstract

Food forests-edible, perennial, polyculture systems-are of increasing interest in North America and the United Kingdom, as reflected in projects ranging from urban food initiatives to integrated conservation and restoration planning. To examine emerging food forestry (FF) against the backdrop of ecological restoration (ER), we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight experts each from the fields of FF and ER in conjunction with observations of food forests in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Using content analysis, our study builds a FF model that encompasses the underlying goals of emerging FF-forest function; diversity of yields; education and culture sharing; healthy habitats for people and other species; and sustainability. We argue that FF has potential as an urban restoration tool in terms of enhancing the multifunctionality of heterogeneous landscapes undergoing significant changes. This will require meaningful consideration of ethical issues (e.g. commodification of nature), landscape contexts, ecological integrity, integration of historical knowledge, and resilience for interdependent, dynamic social and ecological systems. Moreover, systematic, long-term monitoring of different types of food forests will be crucial in order to mindfully apply FF in ER. This research provides one of the first in-depth analyses of how emerging FF might contribute to restoration in the time of the Anthropocene, especially outside traditional tropic regions where most FF has been practiced.

Agroforestry Standards for Regenerative Agriculture

“…Agroforestry practices also have the potential to repair degraded and deforested land [49][50][51] and restore or enhance the multifunctionality of landscapes [52,53]. Agroforestry can significantly improve ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity conservation on degraded agricultural land and deforested areas [54,55].…”

Editorial - Urban Food Forestry: Current state and future perspectives

“…They point out that the different functional attributes of "urban food forestry" (which according to the definition of Clark and Nicholas, 2013, also includes individual food trees and shrubs), "food forestry" (i.e. a multi-storey, perennial, polycultural food system, Park et al, 2018), and "agroforestry" (the deliberate integration of trees with agricultural crops or livestock either simultaneously or sequentially on the same unit of land, Nair, 1993) must be taken into account when planning, designing and managing schemes for food production in urban sites, as well as when assessing ecosystem services provided by edible vegetation.…”

Agroforestry Standards for Regenerative Agriculture

“…Additionally, agroforestry practices have the potential to repair degraded and deforested land [34][35][36] and restore or enhance the multifunctionality of landscapes [37][38]. Agroforestry can significantly improve ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity conservation on degraded agricultural land and deforested areas [39][40].…”