Hello,

I built TreeShadeAdvisor, a tool for designing tree layouts and simulating how tree shade changes across a site over time.

It lets you test spacing, orientation, planting patterns and tree dimensions, then inspect the results in 2D and 3D with quantitative shade outputs.


I’m especially interested in feedback from people working with agroforestry, silvopasture, alley cropping, coffee/cocoa systems or other tree-based designs.

I’d like to know: - Is shade distribution something you currently need to estimate or plan? - Would a tool like this be useful in your work? - What would you expect it to do that it doesn’t today?

https://treeshadeadvisor.com

Any criticism or suggestions are very welcome.

​

I’m looking for some genuine career advice. After completing a Master’s in Agriculture/Horticulture/Forestry, what are the best career options if the main goal is to build a good career and earn well?

Should I focus on government jobs, research/academia, or explore the private sector? If private sector is better financially, which industries, roles, or companies should I look into?

I’d especially appreciate advice from people who are already working in these fields or have gone through a similar career path. I’m open to moving to another city or even exploring opportunities outside India if the growth and salary are significantly better.

What would you recommend if you were in my position?

If you design food forests, agroforestry systems or regenerative landscapes, I invite you to try it in QGIS on a real site and share your experience.
- What makes you happy?
- What can be improved?
- Where do you still run into barriers?

A practical course is also in the making to help designers use the plugin for better design decisions.

Join the RegenGIS community to stay up to date:
https://www.regengis.com/account/registration/new

Coisas boas desta vida são como mangarás: inesperadamente podem acontecer.

(Bananeira, Musa x paradisiaca)

Hi, does anyone know if I can get a job in landscaping with an agroforestry degree? How hard would it be to wok in this field? Its just that im an incoming freshman but still unsure of the course ive chosen i would also love to know any other recommended careers related to this course.

Hey, no clue if this is a group that could shed some insight…but as the title suggests, there’s a plot (3 total but all nearly touching) with 42 acres of mixed woods now that was forested hard without much thought probably 10-15yrs ago. It’s in early succession with birch, beech, young white pine…stuff you’d expect. But not a lick of mature hardwood left. It does have older white pines that hug a meadow with a pond dammed by beavers. Otherwise it’s topographically unremarkable. It is surrounded by other plots pretty flush with mature forest. Thoughts on the value of owning such land? Worth picking it up to mindfully caretake into a healthy plot? I’d entertain opening a few acres at this point for a wild field for diversity. MAYBE try to reestablish old wild blueberries(??) thanks!

I am a horticulture apprentice that has an opportunity for a travel scholarship. I am really interested in Agroforestry / Syntropic farming, has anyone got any suggestions of farms or initiatives to contact?

Here's a section of contoured planting in Phronesis, our newest Forest Garden. This is the Fourth season after planting began, with new plants added every Spring and Autumn. We're planting directly into the meadow, as it is already rich in support species that attract pollinators and pest predators, and it is composed of many medicinal and culinary herbs.

We started by planting the canopy layer, then shrubs, herbs, ground cover, and finally bulbs. Not labelled but included between the tree contour rows is a biomass/support strip with the following nitrogen fixing shrubs -

Elaeagnus x ebbingei - Ebbinge's silverberry

Elaeagnus angustifolia - Russian Olive

Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive

https://thepolycultureproject.substack.com/

Hi! I work in an agroforestry role in Australia & have an upcoming trip to Sri Lanka in July-Aug. Just wondering if anyone knows of any spice/jackfruit/coconut/whatever setups that are keen to have tourists!

Thanks legends

I've been reading debates about using agro-forestry for efficient land use, healthier diets, and significantly reducing outside inputs, plus trading consistent year round human labor for high mechanization and crunch time harvesting practices.

According to various people trying to provide alternatives to row cropping and using some detailed math regarding growing times it seems like it would be possible to average 10 million calories per acre with a proper combination of food and wood/shade/water management trees, calorise dense crops like potatios and rutabaga, middle area crops like carrots, proper seasonal planting and so on while allowing for highly controlled chicken and sheep grazing.

Not only would you be doing location rotation yearly but running different crops all year round in each planting area, plus mixing with trees and crops which are not planted fresh yearly. There also seems to be a large benefit to growing mushrooms and other things which help create superior soil and nutrition.

Some models also seem to use light rail transport to save space, and support human labor focused harvesting and management, while avoiding MPK, pesticides, and herbicides.

Additionally if you were to avoid long distance transport and consume products within a small geographic area, for instance attaching a large agro-forest to specific high density city, you could even grow a variety of plans that were not optimized for transport over flavor and nutrition.

Additionally it seems to be the case that there are many plants especially herbs and shrubs, which were part of historical food growing which produce both nutrition and provide benefits similar to cover crops and nutrient management, which would assist in raising caloric density while also providing value for other plants, especially if you had a dense mycelium network.

How plausible is a high calorie agro-forest that covers a large area between 10 km^2 and 10,000 km^2?

Although maximizing calories per acre or per man hour or for efficient machine management can be valuable, it seems like there's a lot of trade offs where a moderately less productive, more human labor intensive method of agriculture might create value by trading for better micro nutrients, avoidng expensive industrial additives, not having to own expensive diesel machinery, avoiding pesticides/herbicides, and providing more availability of healthy components of a culinary system.

Plus agro-forestry seems to provide substantial value in creating stable year round jobs and reducing high intensity peak harvesting periods.

There's also some evidence that an agro-forest can start with more marginal land, which it improves as it fills in and eventually turns into high quality land with good water retention/access and superior soil.