Even though agriculture has been one of the major factors behind the loss of tree cover, trees and farming can easily go together. Agroforestry can be practiced by all farmers and in all farming systems, but it is especifically relevant for small-scale farming. The many benefits that trees bring can be specially highlighted during the International Year of Forests that the world is celebrating in 2011.
These benefits are clearly presented in the articles that make up this issue. Following an editorial that asks whether trees and agiculture and compatible, the different articles look at Analogue Forestry in Ecuador, or at the importance of trees in the desert coast of Peru. In the magazine's section on policy guidelines, Miguel Altieri and Clara Nicholls argue in favour of what they call "sistemas agroforestales".
