Plant The Trees

How are we paying for trees? How are you paying for trees?
At the end of the day, there is no free lunch. We’re either paying with our time, or paying with our wallet.
We’re going to explore both sides of that coin, and hopefully leave you with a better understanding of funding agroforestry in the United States. If you’re not in the US, you’ll still get a lot out of this episode.
Link for how to work with us: https://www.propagateag.com/technical-assistance

Farmland is often considered marginal because it’s rocky, steep, or because the soils are too shallow. But in much of the northeast and midwest, farmland is “sub prime” or less productive because it’s wet or poorly drained. Not wetland, but damp farmland that’s harder to access until it’s dry in mid summer. The question here is: what tree crops work for this soil? Chestnuts don’t like clay, or wet feet. But yellowbud or bitternut hickory is a great fit, and this tree produces high quality culinary oil for cooking, baking, salads, and bread. It tastes really good.
Jesse Marksohn is a pioneer of growing hickory trees for oil, and he might be the best person in the United States to speak on the topic. Carya cordiformis is hardy from Northern Florida to Northern Minnesota, so the range is huge, and so is the value proposition for ecosystems and farms.

Global perspectives on forest-driven economies. It’s easy to confine ourselves and our thinking to our own countries, states, and bioregions. But we all live on one planet, and the integrity of our rural economies and our ecosystems reaches beyond the borders of our nation states. Today we’re joined by İsmail Belen and Marton Németh. İsmail is from the country of Türkiye (Turkey), and he is the Chair of the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Inspector General of The Turkish Forest Service. Márton Németh leads Silvanus Forestry, from the country of Hungary. Silvanus specializes in improved tree genetics for industrial roundwood, namely shipmast black locust.
Here we dive into forests in Turkey, and how trees create rural livelihoods and increase ecosystem function in a mediterranean climate that’s been farmed for a very long time.
What role do non-native pioneer trees play?
When does honey production from forests create more value than wood?
How does black locust reduce erosion and improve marginal soils?
How does Turkey steward $4b toward forestry?
Monoculture forestry vs. multi-species multi-yield plantations?
Chestnuts as non timber forest products?
We’re going to talk about it all in plain English, even though we speak a combined seven languages.
There’s a lot of good info in this episode.

Byron and I first encountered syntropic agroforestry in the same way. There was a stunning documentary released in 2014 called Life in Syntropy. It profiled farms in Brazil utilizing planned ecological succession to grow food and restore the vibrant, verdant Atlantic Rainforest.
Now we both incorporate the processes and practices of syntropy into our work, Byron to a much greater extent than I do. We always look to adapt the principles to different people and landscapes around the world.
We ask questions such as: On the continuum from ecological reforestation with a bit of food along the way, to productive agriculture that increases biodiversity and grows its own biomass, what is the optimum trajectory given the wills and desires of a land manager?
We dive into ease of management, and communicating complex agroforestry tactics to a diverse audience.
Have questions about planting trees on your land? Visit propagateag.com/contact-us to talk to someone from our team!

Julie Richards stewards the operations of Ohio Chestnuts and Wintergreen Tree Farm. 200+ acres of chestnuts produce great food for real people, while improving water quality in the streams and creeks that flow into Lake Erie.
Julie grew up with chestnuts, and came back to the family farm not just because chestnuts are really satisfying crop to work with, and not just because she had the opportunity, but because it was a really good financial and logistical decision for her and her family.
Here we’ll dive into not just chestnut genetics, but chestnut markets and how to sell the crop.
Please join us for an informative, nuanced conversation with Julie Richards.
Have questions about planting trees on your land? Visit propagateag.com/contact-us to talk to someone from our team!