From left, James Lassoie, chair of the Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Brian Chabot, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, chat before a national agroforestry conference at Cornell on Aug. 3. Robert Barker/University Photography
Calling himself "something of a tree-hugger," U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) addressed a gathering of scientists and foresters attending a national agroforestry conference hosted by Cornell early last week.
"My background, or at least my reputation, puts me on the side of paying more attention to the consequences of production for the land and the environment and of protecting nature," said Hinchey, who serves on the U.S. House of Representatives' Resources Committee and is the ranking member of its Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee.
Hinchey, who represents New York's 26th District, told the group how excited he was to know that many scientific presentations at the conference dealt with land management issues. "It is exciting to see such brilliant people turning back to the past and to old ideas about farming and land management for inspiration," he said. "To me, it seems, you are learning from the earth instead of beating it into submission."
The conference, "Exploring Opportunities for Agroforestry in Changing Rural Landscapes: The Fifth Conference on Agroforestry in North America," was held Aug. 36 and was sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Cornell Agroforestry Working Group, the Association for Temperate Agroforestry, National Agroforestry Center (a partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service) and the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations.
The conference also featured two keynote addresses. Fee Busby, deputy chief for science and technology at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, discussed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Riparian Buffer Zone Initiative and how it affects agroforestry. Rob Myers, past director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and current director of the Jefferson Initiative on Crop Diversification, discussed how to obtain financial support for agroforestry initiatives.
Sessions included economic and environmental benefits of agroforestry, the design and management of a wide variety of agroforestry practices, the current research issues and agroforestry's direction in the future.