Kickstart Agroforestry: A Northeast Primer for Planning and Planting Success

Regenerative Design Group and NOFA/Mass have completed a three-year project funded by a USDA Specialty Crops Grant increasing agroforestry and nut crop production in Massachusetts. As a capstone for the project, RDG published a new online guide called “Kickstart Agroforestry” to assist farmers and growers throughout the Northeast to explore and implement their own agroforestry projects at any scale.

Throughout the grant, RDG worked closely with a peer-to-peer cohort of beginning and experienced agroforestry farmers in Massachusetts to understand the most common challenges and barriers to agroforestry implementation. We compiled some of our best tips and most requested information into a series of ten articles, with numerous links to additional information, organizations, and networks of support for those in the beginning stages of their perennial crop explorations.

Is agroforestry a good fit for my farm? What can we grow on our site? How long will it take to start selling products? Where do we put the trees? Agroforestry practices can be incredibly diverse and nuanced, and it can often be overwhelming to know where to begin. The series takes growers step-by-step — from assessing site suitability and designing a layout, to correctly planting and caring for perennial crops in our northeast climate.

The guide is mainly geared toward those implementing field-based agroforestry to produce perennial crops for humans and livestock, though forest-based and non-food-producing agroforestry systems are also key practices in temperate climate agroforestry. The purpose of the guide is to help growers get organized, inspired, and better connected to the many resources and support networks spreading throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

RDG is excited to help accelerate agroforestry implementation across our region, despite recent funding setbacks and other challenges. Agroforestry and perennial agricultural systems have persisted around the globe for thousands of years because they center the long-term health of our forests, food sources, and communities. Agroforestry invites us to reimagine conventional farm landscapes as places where food is grown not at the expense of the environment but in concert with numerous beneficial relationships that build soil, diversity, nutrition, and resilience over time.

Join us on Thursday, September 4th, 2025 at 7PM for the final event in the series of Expanding Agroforestry “Go Nuts” Community Calls, discussing what we as consumers can do to “make the shift” toward building and supporting more robust agroforestry production and markets. Register in advance here!