If you’re involved in the world of trees and horticulture, you may have heard the word ‘food forest’ tossed around recently. Many areas of the country, including 134 locations in New Jersey, are considered ‘food deserts’ – places where at least 30% of the population is one mile or more away from a supermarket or place to purchase fresh food. Food forests have become increasingly popular as a solution to food deserts and insecurity, and come with a slew of environmental benefits as well. So, what exactly is a food forest? Read on to find out!
Food isn’t generally what comes to mind when one thinks about a forest, but it is possible! Food forests are quite similar to regular forests, but species are chosen specifically for their ability to produce edible food. This is not an orchard, where fruit trees are planted in neat rows, nor a garden filled with various vegetable plants and berry bushes. A food forest mimics an actual forest, which generally has seven different layers: forest floor, herbaceous, shrubs, understory, canopy, and emergent. The illustration below is commonly used to show the types of plants present in each layer in a food forest.
You may be wondering why a forest, and not an orchard or community garden? Surely these are great ways to help bring fresh food to communities that lack access to it. While gardens and orchards are wonderful options and should certainly be created, there is one main difference that sets them apart from food forests – maintenance. Regular forests thrive when there is nobody to care for them, and they are allowed to grow naturally. Food forests are designed to require little human intervention outside of harvesting food. They are relatively self-sustaining, not requiring weeding or the application of pesticides and herbicides. Instead of trying to control nature, as is done with traditional agriculture, food forests simply let nature run its course!
Traditional agriculture comes with an array of environmental problems that food forests avoid. Runoff of sediment, fertilizers, and pesticides from farmland is a major source of pollution in our waterways, an issue which is virtually non-existent in food forests. Soil is degraded and eroded over time as it is tilled, requiring the constant clearing of new, fertile lands. Soil quality only improves over time in a food forest, as organic matter is left on the forest floor to decompose and add its nutrients to the soil. Farmland also requires large amounts of water, while food forests can generally survive on rainfall alone once the forest establishes itself after several years. The variety in plants avoids the common problem of monocultures, which are standard in traditional agriculture and leave farms susceptible to losing an entire season of production if a pest or disease should appear that affects their sole crop. Plant diversity is also better for pollinators and wildlife, as they have a wider selection of food sources to choose from.
Since food forests incorporate so many layers and a high density of plants, they are able to produce relatively large quantities of food with little space. This can be particularly important in urban areas where space is limited, and food deserts common. Since multiple types of food are being grown, harvest occurs throughout the year, as opposed to only one or two months with single crops. One of the most important aspects of food forests, however, is how it involves the local community. Food forests are not being utilized on a large scale, they are created by residents in small lots, meant to feed the immediate community. This not only helps to bring fresh, healthy food to communities that need it most, but helps to bring together residents as they work to plant and harvest the foods. It offers residents an opportunity to get outside and feel the pride of growing their own food, something often inaccessible to urban residents. Food forests also bring all of the benefits of regular plants and trees, such as improved air and water quality, reduced stormwater runoff, cooling effects, and wildlife. While food forests are certainly not a panacea for food deserts, they certainly have a role to play in food security, and have fantastic social and environmental benefits as well. If your town has a community green space or empty lots available for adoption, see if the space would be good for a food forest – given the choice between an empty lot and a forest you can eat, we know what we’d choose!