Susanne Hale defended her Master's thesis on Intensive Silvopasture Systems for temperate regions in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture of the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA).
Intensive Silvopasture Systems (ISS) – integrating livestock, trees, pasture, and woody browse in sustainable ecosystems – are being widely implemented in Colombia. They have been found to provide multiple benefits, including 3-5 times as much milk and meat production per animal, up to ten times higher stocking rates per hectare, and nine times higher carbon sequestration rates per hectare than conventional agricultural methods. ISS has not yet been implemented outside of the tropics, but if an analog ISS system could be developed using species native to temperate climates, the hope is that similar benefits in production and carbon sequestration might be reaped. This paper will highlight a variety of practices from around the world that might be combined to create an effective temperate-region ISS system. These practices include: ISS in Colombia, use of black locust as a browse species, the MENU method of herding in France, browse diversity research, the historic practice of pollarding in Europe, and Hi-sAFe, an agroforestry computer model that may be useful for designing effective ISS systems.
Link to the thesis: here
