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METHODS article

Front. For. Glob. Change
Sec. People and Forests
Volume 7 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2024.1424174
This article is part of the Research Topic Agroforestry for biodiversity and ecosystem services View all 6 articles

Implementing a Sustainable Integrated Agroforestry System for the Cultivation of Ilex paraguariensis

Provisionally accepted
Luis R. Comolli Luis R. Comolli 1,2*Esteban Schegg Esteban Schegg 3Cristian Infuleski Cristian Infuleski 2Nestor Munareto Nestor Munareto 4Hugo Fassola Hugo Fassola 5Alejandra Von Wallis Alejandra Von Wallis 5Nardia M. Bulfe Nardia M. Bulfe 6Paola González Paola González 5Sara R. Barth Sara R. Barth 5Maria E. Gauchat Maria E. Gauchat 5Fabio Wyss Fabio Wyss 7
  • 1 Independent researcher, Basel, CA, Switzerland
  • 2 Productores Yerba Mate SCL” (https://www.pipore.com.ar/), Santo Pipo, Argentina
  • 3 Instituto Linea Cuchilla (ILC), Misiones, Argentina (https://ilc.edu.ar/), Ruiz de Montoya, Argentina
  • 4 Ministerio del Agro y la Producción, Misiones, Argentina (https://inta.gob.ar/personas/munaretto.nestor), Posadas, Argentina
  • 5 Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Montecarlo, Misiones, Argentina (https://inta.gob.ar/montecarlo), Montecarlo, Argentina
  • 6 Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Montecarlo, Misiones, Argentina
  • 7 Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Centro Regional Misiones (https://inta.gob.ar/personas/wyss.victor), Posadas, Argentina

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In this work, we advocate agroforestry as a sustainable agricultural method that leverages biodiversity and ecosystem services, simultaneously tackling the problems of adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and of land restoration for sustainable agriculture across scales. While the rise of industrial agriculture has been instrumental in addressing the food demands of an expanding global population, enhancing food quality, yield, productivity, and efficiency, we must now reckon with the consequences. This advancement, which prioritizes simplification, specialization, and external inputs, has escalated detrimental externalities including deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, pollution, and an increase in greenhouse gases, contributing significantly to global warming and to exacerbated environmental crises. These demand urgent attention. In response, various agricultural methodologies such as organic, biodynamic, ecological, and biological farming have emerged, attempting to propose alternatives. However, these methods have yet to significantly alter the trajectory of mainstream agriculture. For over two decades, we have devoted our efforts to developing and refining a multispecies integrated agroforestry system for the sustainable cultivation of Ilex paraguariensis, "yerba mate", in the subtropical north-east of Argentina. With "integrated" we mean that the trees are planted within the I. paraguariensis distribution, not between alleys as in "alley cropping" or "hedgrow intercropping". The experimental work we present here was designed and implemented to enable data comparisons across consociations of multiple species of trees, at a relevant experimental scale. We achieve soil preservation and restoration, productivity comparable to or exceeding monocultures, and a significant increase in resiliency, particularly evidenced during the extreme climate events of spring and summer 2021 and 2022. These results underscore agroforestry's potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

    Keywords: agroforestry, Multispecies, sustainability, restoration, Biodiversity, adaptation, mitigation

    Received: 27 Apr 2024; Accepted: 16 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Comolli, Schegg, Infuleski, Munareto, Fassola, Von Wallis, Bulfe, González, Barth, Gauchat and Wyss. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Luis R. Comolli, Independent researcher, Basel, 94708, CA, Switzerland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.