This advisory council meeting was the first in which CSTAF collaborators reported findings from their research projects. Because of the long-term nature of these studies, the first two years of research normally do not yield results.

One project, conducted by UF researchers Vimala Nair and Don Graetz, involves monitoring the movement of nitrogen and phosphorus from organic and inorganic fertilizers in an alley-cropping system. Reducing excess amounts of these elements from groundwater is an important environmental goal in the Southeast. Preliminary results show that alley-cropping systems have lower nitrate-nitrogen concentrations throughout a soil profile compared to a monoculture of cotton after a year of fertilizer application. This finding suggests that agroforestry systems are effective in removing nitrate-nitrogen and would reduce nutrient losses from farmland.

Evidence also shows that a silvopastoral system will remove more nutrients, both soluble reactive phosphorus and nitrate-nitrogen, than a regular pasture.

Another project reporting early results documents the economic benefits of the environmental aspects of agroforestry systems. The research, by Janaki Alavalapati, Ram Shrestha and Andrew Stainback, examined landowners’ reaction to a tax on phosphorous runoff and to payments for increasing carbon sequestration.

A combination of the two policies could make silvopasture practices financially attractive, the research shows.

The project also found that residents living in the Lake Okeechobee watershed would be willing to pay between about $30 and $71 per household per year for five years for limiting phosphorous runoff, sequestering atmospheric carbon and improving wildlife habitat – all benefits associated with silvopasture.