3D vision from Edward, first try.
Why are we starting a forest farm ?
It seems more ecological to reforest deserted areas, instead of cutting forest for agriculture.
But that what’s happen here in Belize, farmers cut forest because that’s all they have got.
Forested areas are seen in Belize as the less valuable land (swamp land excepted), compare to a land cleared of all its vegetation. So farmers being not the richest people, often find a piece of land available for farming, covered by a forest.
forest cleaned by slash and burn
The current method is to clean as much as possible of a square surface next to the access road.
Using the slash and burn method on large area, the biodiversity drop down pretty quick.
This massive destruction embrace as well all the microorganisms of the soil, having a direct impact on the future yields.
Not speaking of all the nutriments release from the system, and you can imagine how much mineral fertilizers one must add to be able to grow food on this land.
When you consider a high productive balanced system, like a forest, not needed input, like fertilizers, you wonder how it is possible that everything grows and sustains itself on such a thin and poor soil.
Because tropical soil are very poor compare to the soils in the north, where nutriments have time to accumulate in meters of soils.
In the tropics, all the nutriments coming from the decomposition are absorbed very quickly by a fast growing vegetation. So in fact the nutriments of a tropical system are not stocked in the soil, but in the trees.
That why a luxurious tropical forest with huge trees is growing on less that a feet of “poor” soil.
And it is why when one burn the tropical forest for agriculture, the crop can’t get nutriments from the soil for more than two years.
Then no choice of adding mineral fertilizers or to move to a next parcel.
The Maya use to do that, move to a next parcel after two years, but as you need to let the forest regrow for 15 years, you need a big piece of land do do that.
We take the same start as most of the farmers here, we are facing a big piece of forest and we want to be able to grow food on it.
Our goal is to develop a model of agriculture that does not harm the forest and actually enhance the biodiversity.
banana trees
The system of the milpa Maya, is a agricultural system in a forested area, completely integrated in the forest. It produce more food for the wildlife than does a forest that has no fruits trees maintain by humans.
Without the milpa wildlife would starve and reduce its population. Semi open area are well exploited by plants, insects and wildlife and no doubt it increase the biodiversity and feed people at the same time.
pineapple
Its sounds like a good collaboration of people working with the nature rather than against it. The surrounding forest is a endless source of benefits for the farmers. Its provide organic matter than can be use to grow the crops, it is a source of mulch, shelters for predator of pest, it provide humidity and rain, windbreak, and balance the all system by being a already balanced system close to the cultures.
Of course trees shade the cultures, but they can be prune, or slash and let decomposed to return in the system. The important is to clean reasonable patches of forest, big enough to have light for the crop, but small enough to keep all the benefits coming from the forest.