What is shade agriculture?

Question

What is shade agriculture?

Answer 1

Another type of farming practiced in rain forests is called "shade agriculture." In this type of farming, many of the original rain forest trees are left to provide shade for shade-loving crops like coffee or chocolate. When the farm is abandoned, the forest grows back very quickly, because much of it was left unharmed in the first place. After this type of farming, forests can grow back as quickly as 20 years.

Other types of farming can be much worse for forest regrowth. Intensive agricultural systems use lots of chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers. The pesticides kill a lot of the living organisms in the area, and pesticides and fertilizers wash into the surrounding areas. In banana plantations, pesticides are used on the plants and in the soil to kill pest animals. However, these pesticides also kill other animals as well, and weaken the health of the ecosystem. Banana plantations also use irrigation ditches and underground pipes for transporting water, changing the water balance of the land. After a banana plantation, or other intensive agricultural system, is abandoned, it can take a great deal of time for a forest to regrow-- possibly even centuries.

Answer 2

www.wikipedia.org-shade agriculture

Answer 3

A fair number of crops enjoy lower light levels. Fiddleheads, the fun little fern sprouts that are found in spring are one. Many/ most salad greens do well in low light especially in heat that causes them to bolt. Spinach varieties like shade. Cool weather crops are very shade tolerant for the most part though they prefer the warming sun in the early season coolness. By shade gardening them, you will get a crop in the heat of the season. The list of ornament's is quite an extensive one. From broad leaf evergreens like the family of Rhododendron to the Ilex, ferns, Hosta, Hydrangea, and many of the forest needled evergreens have great shade tolerance. Shade gardening is all about shade tolerance and manipulation there of.