PBR’s Bamboo Agroforestry & Agriculture Program aims to revitalize damaged landscapes, create new employment and economic opportunities, and support seasonal supplies food and resources for sustainable communities.
Utilizing intensive agroforestry best-practices, our program designs, implements and manages the integrated production of 20-element guilds of “crops” across seasonal, 12-month schedules of cultivation, harvesting and market fulfillment.
PBR engages lands and nearby communities that have been adversely affected by previous land-use activities to collaboratively revitalize sustainable social, economic and ecological activity. In this way, PBR pays equal attention to the health and welfare of local communities and economies, and ecosystems to which they are interdependent.
In short, our program is designed for replicable lots from 1-acre to 25-acres or more (depending on site conditions and farmer / community preferences), and comprised of elements representing five sectors of seasonally-appropriate agroforestry activity:
- Foods: vegetables and herbs, orchard fruits & nuts, berries, mushrooms, seasonal greens
- Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP): bamboo, honey, ginseng, flowers, seeds
- Non-edible Resources: compost products, mulches, figured wood
- Livestock: aquaculture, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, worms
- Education: tours and training programs, appropriate technology demonstrations
Avoiding the social, economic and ecological pitfalls of plantation-style “cash crop” forestry and agriculture, our program demonstrates a robust, integrated, poly-crop design which honors and enlists ecosystems and biodiversity services. By doing so, new employment and rich educational opportunities are formed to meet regional community and economic trends and provide quality resources for sustainable living.
PBR can support undergraduate and graduate students who wish to complete course work and field internships via sustainable farmstead programs across seasonal cultivation, harvest, distribution and market fulfillment activities.
For more information about the Bamboo Agroforestry and Agriculture Program, or related volunteer and internship opportunities, contact Dr. Jonathan Scherch.
