A general classification of agroforestry practice

Present classification schemes confuse agroforestry practices, where trees are intimately associated with agricultural components at a field scale, wi th the whole farm and forest systems of which they form a part. In fact, it is common for farming systems to involve the integration of several reason ably discrete agroforestry practices, on different types of land. The purpo se of a general classification is to identify different types of agroforest ry and to group those that are similar, thereby facilitating communication and the organized storage of information. A new scheme is proposed that use s the 'practice' rather than the 'system' as the unit of classification. Th is allows an efficient grouping of practices that have a similar underlying ecology and prospects for management. A two stage definition of agroforest ry is proposed that distinguishes an interdisciplinary approach to land use from a set of integrated land use practices. Four levels of organization a re recognized through analysis of the role of trees in agricultural landsca pes: the land use system, categories of land use within systems, discrete g roups of components (trees, crops, animals) managed together, and functiona lly connected groups of such discrete practices in time and space. Preceden ts for this form of analysis are found in the literature and it conforms wi th generally accepted methods of systems analysis. Classification of major types of agroforestry practice proceeds primarily according to the componen ts involved and the predominant usage of land. A secondary scheme further c lassifies these in terms of the arrangement, density and diversity of the t ree components involved.