"First of all a new point of view is needed, namely that farming should fit the land…I see a million hills green with crop-yielding trees and a million neat farm homes snuggled in the hills … and so a vast work is proposed. It is nothing less than the deliberate creation of a whole new set of crop trees and then to make a new agriculture based upon the use of these new crop trees."
- J. Russell Smith, father of temperate-zone agroforestry and author of "Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture."

Dear Friends of UMCA,

We are delighted to share the Center's 2005 review of research and technology transfer efforts with you. As you will see as you read through the Highlights, our activities continue to yield results that are directly applicable to Missouri forest and farm landowners and natural resource professionals.

Farming should fit the land ...
During the past eight years, our Center for Agroforestry has been hard at work trying to realize the challenges set forth by J. Russell Smith back in 1929. The Center for Agroforestry does not wish to reinvent the successes of modern agriculture, but to broaden the ways in which we view and practice agriculture for the benefit of the family farm and society as a whole. Agroforestry, as a form of agriculture, is more than just the sum of its parts - trees, crops and livestock. Through proper design and application, agroforestry practices can achieve increased productivity and profit while also enhancing resource stewardship and land conservation.

Our Center, in cooperation with our many research partners, is developing the scientific understanding to explain and further improve agroforestry practices. When properly integrated, our research tells us trees will protect crops and improve crop yield. Trees will shelter livestock - and they will reduce animal stress and improve weight gain. Concurrently, nutrients applied to crops benefit tree growth. Through these carefully designed interactions, farming practices will indeed fit the land.

And so a vast work is proposed ...
Sharing in the vision of J. Russell Smith, we diligently strive to improve upon our crop trees. A great deal of time and strategic effort is invested to develop improved cultivars of our native pecan and black walnut trees, and to introduce Chinese chestnut as a new option for Missouri landowners. In fact, when it comes to northern pecan, eastern black walnut and Chinese chestnut improvement, the Center has the most significant research and technology transfer program in the U.S.A.

We ended 2005 on a high note with the completion of the 2nd edition of our Agroforestry Training Manual. This manual represents the State of the Art in agroforestry, incorporating all we have learned during the past three decades of research and putting it into practice for the benefit of the family farm. We are certainly at the forefront of a new agriculture, and we invite you to join our efforts as we continue this "vast work" of developing farming that fits Missouri's land.

Sincerely,
Gene

Gene Garrett