Agroforestry

Embedding agroforestry in the web of life

Agroforestry blends agriculture and trees, and commonly includes practices like alley cropping, forest farming, silvopasture, riparian forest buffers, and windbreaks. The term agroforestry has grown popular in certain parts of the country, however, it is not as commonly used in New Mexico, despite the fact that agroforestry is more woven into the culture here than many of us realize – from food forests to cattle grazing in public forests, to graziers running their livestock under pecan trees, to trees grown along river banks for stabilization and to prevent cattle overgrazing riparian areas, the practices exist around us.

This page features resources developed through the Southwest Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project. The materials aim to teach about about Indigenous-led agroforestry systems in the Southwest, and help you assess if it makes sense to implement some of these concepts on your land. We also hope these materials help broaden the definition of agroforestry and embed it within frameworks like Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous lifeways. Making this connection helps all of us see how agroforestry needs to be place-based and specific to the cultural and ecological context where it is being practiced. When we focus on stewarding the land for ecological health, community care, and Indigenous sovereignty, practices like agroforestry are more readily realized.

The agroforestry resources below were made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, National Agroforestry Center, under the authority of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978.

Thank you to all of our partners: Trees, Water & People, Southwest Agroforestry Action Network, Victoria Atencio, Alicia Thompson, Treston Chee, Dr. James Allen and Northern Arizona University, Jessica Brothers, Denise Garcia and Juniper Language LLC, Rosa Soriano, Rene Romero and more! And thank you to our case study participants: Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, Tewa Women United, and Santa Ana Native Plants Nursery.

Questions? Comments? Email education@quiviracoalition.org.

Written Resources

This is a synthesis of Indigenous-led agroforestry, and agroforestry more generally, historically and currently in the Southwest, including examples and techniques. It is one part of a collaborative project that has been conducted by Indigenous land stewards who have contributed in the roles of consultants, writers, researchers, and filmmakers. The main author is K. Alicia Thompson with support from Quivira Coalition, Trees, Water & People and the Southwest Agroforestry Action Network.

Una traducción al español está disponible aquí.

Leah Potter-Weight, Quivira’s education and outreach project manager, wrote about the Southwestern Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project for the Green Fire Times. Read the piece, which starts on page 23.

Video Resources

Videos produced by Treston Chee as part of Southwest Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project:

One of the project’s case study participants is Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute which nurtures healthy communities through practices based on Indigenous ways of knowing. Watch this video to learn more about Flowering Tree’s 30 year old food forest from co-founder Roxanne Swentzell.

Another of the project’s case study participants is Santa Ana Native Plants Nursery at Santa Ana Pueblo. The nursery specializes in the native and drought tolerant plants of the Colorado Plateau and Desert Southwest. Watch this video to learn how their nursery supports agroforestry and grows culturally important native plants.

One more case study participant is Tewa Women United and their Healing Foods Oasis. “The Healing Foods Oasis is part of our vision to end all forms of violence against women, girls, and our Mother Earth. It’s facilitating our reconnection to the plants, water, air, and all the elements.” – Beata Tsosie-Peña, founder of the Española Healing Foods Oasis. Learn more about the Healing Foods Oasis and how agroforestry is woven in and a piece of their holistic vision for healing.

Recent presentations on agroforesty:

Project teammember Alicia Thompson speaks about Indigenous agroforestry in the Southwest, historically and currently. And the connection between agroforestry, traditional ecological knowledge, and other forms of Indigenous land stewardship at this recorded talk at REGENERATE 2023.

Project teammember James Calabaza shares about the SW Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project at the SWANN 2023 conference. He discusses important learnings from the project, traditional ecological knowledge, the importance of thoughtful relationship development with Tribal-led groups, and more.

This presentation is an introduction and virtual walkthrough of the Espanola Healing Foods Oasis, a 1.5-acre ethno-botanic public demonstration, research, and edible food garden in Espanola, New Mexico. Emerging from what was a weedy, erosive slope between the Espanola City Hall and Valdez Park, an adjoining city municipal park, the EHFO is a home to edible and medicinal plants of cultural and ecological significance.

Hear from members of the Southwest Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project, Alicia Thompson and Leah Potter-Weight, in their presentation at the Perennial Farm Gathering in 2023. The Perennial Farm Gathering is a conference put on by the Savanna Institute.

Podcast Resources

Roxanne Swentzell turned a small piece of bare, dry earth into a garden/forest that produced enough food and wood to maintain a family of four. She founded the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, which teaches how to understand and live on the land and allow it to flourish. Hear an interview with her on the Down to Earth podcast.