Proving Alley Cropping’s Potential to Mitigate Climate Change & Provide New Income for Farmers

Since 2018, TNC’s Natural Climate Solutions Accelerator Program has awarded $2.55 million dollars – generously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation – to 15 projects in the United States. These projects are helping to kick-start innovative and scalable approaches for reducing emissions and sequestering more carbon in America’s farms, ranches, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.

One such example is the Savanna Institute’s Alley Cropping Partnership Platform Initiative. Alley cropping – planting tree crops in alleys between row crops — has several benefits for farmers, including diversified revenue streams, increased crop yield stability, and more efficient use of land. Alley cropping also improves soil health, increases resilience to pests, and provides habitat for pollinators. In addition to benefits for farmers, alley cropping has the potential to sequester more carbon per acre – a lot of it.

The Savanna Institute’s program will establish alley cropping demonstration projects on four row crop farms by building partnerships between farm managers, tree farmers, crop farmers, landowners, and investors. By strategically placing these farms across the region, the Savanna Institute hopes to inspire other farms to join the fight against climate change and adopt these promising solutions. With technical assistance, support, and effective new partnerships, alley cropping could be adopted on over 50 million acres in the Midwest, where it is projected to be more profitable than conventional row cropping.  If they are able to achieve their goal, they could sequester as much as one billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years.

Learn more about The Nature Conservancy’s Natural Climate Solutions Accelerator Program

Learn more about the Savanna Institute

Learn more about the Savanna Institute’s Alley Cropping Partnership Platform Initiative