Tree Crops, a Permanent Agriculture: Concepts from the Past for a Sustainable Future

Thomas J. Molnar, Peter C. Kahn, Timothy M. Ford, Clarence J. Funk and C. Reed Funk
Additional contact information
Thomas J. Molnar: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University, Foran Hall, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Peter C. Kahn: Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology, Rutgers University, Lipman Hall, 76 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Timothy M. Ford: Pineview Farms, L.L.C. P.O. Box 10, Huntsville, UT 84317, USA
Clarence J. Funk: Improving Perennial Plants for Food and Bioenergy, 711 S State Street, Richmond, UT 84333, USA
C. Reed Funk: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University, Foran Hall, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

Resources, 2013, vol. 2, issue 4, 1-32

Abstract: J. Russell Smith (1874–1966), a professor of geography at Columbia University, witnessed the devastation of soil erosion during his extensive travels. He first published his landmark text, Tree Crops, A Permanent Agriculture in 1929, in which he described the value of tree crops for producing food and animal feed on sloping, marginal, and rocky soils as a sustainable alternative to annual crop agriculture less suited to these lands. A cornerstone of his thesis was using wide germplasm collection and plant breeding to improve this largely underutilized and genetically unexploited group of plants to develop locally adapted, high-yielding cultivars for the many climatic zones of North America. Smith proposed an establishment of “Institutes of Mountain Agriculture” to undertake this work. For a variety of reasons, though, his ideas were not implemented to any great degree. However, our growing population’s increasing demands on natural resources and the associated environmental degradation necessitate that Smith’s ideas be revisited. In this review, his concepts, supported by modern scientific understanding and advances, are discussed and expanded upon to emphasize their largely overlooked potential to enhance world food and energy security and environmental sustainability. The discussion leads us to propose that his “institutes” be established worldwide and with an expanded scope of work.

Keywords: perennial crops; sustainable agriculture; plant breeding; genetic resources; food security; energy security; land restoration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/2/4/457/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/2/4/457/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jresou:v:2:y:2013:i:4:p:457-488:d:29230

Access Statistics for this article

Resources is currently edited by Ms. Donchian Ma

More articles in Resources from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().