Agroforestry Farm Tour Held at Raising Cane Ranch
/This year our agroforestry farm tour participants needed sunscreen. Last year they needed umbrellas. One doesn’t have to wonder why farming can be so challenging. The climate and weather is ever-changing, and working the land is one of the best scientific experiments out there.
Returning to Raising Cane Ranch for the second year yielded a new crop of 28 attendees curious to see alley cropping and other agroforestry practices in action. (Read about the 2021 tour here.) We hosted a panel including Carrie Brausieck, Resource Planner with Snohomish Conservation District; Mark Batcheler, WSU PhD student; and Nick and Melissa Pate, owners of Raising Cane Ranch. Kari Quaas, Community Engagement Project Manager, moderated the panel and gave participants the opportunity to hear from both the practitioner/farmer’s and the research/planner’s perspectives. Both sides expressed the benefits of an agroforestry system and also shared the challenges, reminding participants that agroforestry systems require time, patience, and experimentation.
We thank Nick and Melissa for hosting us and sharing the touring duties!
Raising Cane Ranch produces a variety of organic fruits and nuts using agroforestry practices. You can read about their food forest here.
Thanks to our funders for supporting this work:
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31523 through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number FW21-374. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
