#25 Low cost and highly productive chestnut agroforestry systems with Tom Wahl

We have an extremely practical conversation with Tom Wahl, co-founder of the Red Fern Farm, convincing us he has developed a very functional and economic system. The team there has chosen a variety of rustic crops that need little care, are high in demand, and picked by the customers themselves. Planted on fantastic soil for growing trees and you have a system where all Tom and his team need to do is 'mow the grass'. In the interview we focused on chestnuts, his main crop, looking at why the economics make it a no brainer, and finish off talking about ground cover management and woodchips. We hope you end up as inspired we did. • TABLE OF CONTENTS02:15 - Introduction to a low input farm model13:10 - Tom understanding of agroforestry and imitating a savannah biome17:40 - orchard architecture, spacing and competition between species25:50 - Chestnut production and potential30:30 - Integrating animals in the orchard52:30 - Why is chestnut so interesting economically?59:40 - Thoughts on mechanising chestnut harvest01:02:30 - Characteristics that make a crop profitable01:05:20 - The potential of chestnut as a staple01:09:25 - U-pick as a commercialisation strategy and some more economics01:18:30 - The honey berries experiment01:21:20 - Managing the ground cover and comments on woodchips• RESOURCEShttps://www.redfernfarm.com/Presentation discussed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAf1lUrqSq4https://www.facebook.com/redfernfarm.iowa• GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org• SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry• FOLLOW US on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.