Tree Crops

What Hacker News says

1. gdubsFeb 2021
   One form of vertical farming that does save space is Agroforestry, in which traditional crops are grown in a system with trees. Plants have various solar requirements — some are shade tolerant. This means you can have crops, shrubs, trees, all occupying an area of land. This was first explored in the book Tree Crops: A permanent Agriculture, in the 1930s. If you lookup closely at that subtitle, you’ll see the roots of the word Permaculture.
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2. gdubsJul 2020
   The book that got me into this was Mark Shepard's 'Restoration Agriculture". [1] His "New Forest Farm" in WI has been making use of these ideas for some time now. [2]

   Shepard got his inspiration from Permaculture [3] and the books, "Tree Crops", [4] and "The One Straw Revolution". [5]

   1: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16441733-restoration-agr...

   2: https://newforestfarm.us

   3: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/381988.Permaculture

   4: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714112.Tree_Crops

   5: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/976905.The_One_Straw_Rev...

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3. gdubsJul 2019
   One of the best books I’ve ever read on this subject is “Tree Crops”, Smith, 1929. Soil erosion is his main focus and he quotes FDR who says that a nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.

   The subtitle of the book, A Permanent Agriculture, inspired Permaculture — a niche but growing group of farmers who look towards perennial crops with their deep root systems, and less fickle needs for inputs and maintenance. Because these plants are permanent, tilling is all but eliminated.

   The green revolution with its world-changing chemicals born out of the world wars led to a boom in yields, and has fed the world for the past century. But with our changing climate, and the obvious destructiveness of industrial farming (runoff, land use change and deforestation, emissions from tilling, emissions from chemical production and transportation), it’s pretty clear we need a new model.

   If you look at my post history, I recently linked to The Carbon Farming Solution — it’s fascinating and phenomenally well sourced. There’s an active push to develop perennials to replace many of our staple crops. This is, er, fertile ground for research.

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4. mitchbobMay 2019
   Classic book on tree crops for permaculture: Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Crops-Permanent-Agriculture-Frie...
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5. gdubsJan 2019
   “Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture”, by Russel Smith (1929) is an excellent, well sourced book on the subject. The title also hints at the origin of the term “permaculture”, popularized by Bill Mollison.

   There’s a lot of solid scientific evidence out there for soil repair as carbon sequestration; in fact the appendix of the IPCC report that shook the world last year lists soil repair as one of the top things we can do to address climate change.

   1: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714112.Tree_Crops

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6. mountaintimefrmSep 2022
   No mention of nuts in the article, nor in the comments here, which is truly sad. It's like people have forgotten that nuts exist, as they are so often left out the discussion around meat vs plants vs fake meats WRT fats and proteins. Nuts are incredibly nutritious, high in fat and protein that is arguably of better quality than animal fats and proteins, and many nut trees can live for hundreds of years while producing thousands of pounds of nuts every year. Some nut species can live for thousands of years if they are managed correctly (there are still living hazelnuts in Italy that were planted by the Romans). Deeply tap-rooted species like walnuts and hickories don't require supplemental watering once established. I can't find it at the moment but last year I read a study of energy flows for North American tree crops, and the ERoEI of Shagbark Hickory was rated at 55,000.

   Going forward, anytime there is discussion of energy or efficiency of plant vs animal agriculture vs fake meat, etc, if tree crops aren't factored into the discussion then that provides an opportunity to quote No Country for Old Men: "You don't know what you're talking about, do you?" Leaving out that there is the option of growing a tree that produces a cow's weight worth of fats and proteins every year, with little to no inputs, in perpetuity, is a crime of omission.

   Just to compare some approximate numbers, 100g of hazelnut contains 17.0g of carbs, 13.7g protein, and 60.8g fat. Walnuts contain 9.9g, 26.1g, and 65.2g, respectively. Whereas 100g of beef contains 0g carbs, 35g protein, and 10g fat. And 100 grams of black beans contains 25g carbs, 9g protein, 0.5g fat.

   Further reading -- Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture, by J. Russell Smith

   Further viewing -- "Nuts as Staple Foods" a presentation by Osker Brown: https://youtu.be/CJpitVC4mzs

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