Assessing the benefits of temperate cropland agroforestry for promoting soil biological health

The health of soils is at stake due to climate change and unsustainable management practices, thus maintaining soil health has become an existential task for humanity. In this chapter, the authors show that cropland agroforestry strongly promotes the biological components of soil health. This includes enhanced population densities and activities of soil microorganisms and fauna, as well as increased diversity of soil fauna under agroforestry systems as compared to open croplands. They argue that land-use change from open cropland to alley cropping and shelterbelt systems provides substantial environmental benefits that outperform those of many sustainable agricultural management practices. Still, sustainable management practices can be applied in the crop component of cropland agroforestry, offering additional benefits. Overall, agroforestry can make major contributions to restoring, improving, and maintaining soil health as well as to the agroecological transition of agriculture. Therefore, agroforestry should be promoted as a priority land-use system.