The economics and ecology of alley cropping in the mid-western United States
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Our research involved examining the effects of alley cropping on insect biodiversity, crop yields, and small farm economics. We have investigated two alley cropping practices: a summer crop of alfalfa with black walnut and a winter crop rotation of canola and wheat with heartnut. We compared both practices at two alley widths to conventionally grown crops to determine which arrangement of crop and tree species produced the greatest return while providing the maximum ecological benefits. In the first practice with alfalfa, we found that alfalfa weevil mortality was significantly higher in alley cropped alfalfa compared to monocropped alfalfa, and that arthropod diversity was greater in alley cropped crops compared to conventionally grown crops. Alfalfa yield from wider alleyways was not significantly different from monocropped alfalfa. In the second practice with canola and wheat, alley cropping winter crops provided less competition with trees for water, nutrients and light while providing many of the same benefits found in the alfalfa-walnut system. Wheat yield was greater in monoculture than in wide or narrow alleyways, and greater in wide alleyways than in narrow alleyways the first rotation but not the second. All wheat treatments in both years produced economically significant returns. Canola yields were not significantly different between the alley cropped and monocropped treatments the first rotation. All canola treatments produced significant economic returns. Insect numbers in canola followed a similar pattern as those found in the alfalfa walnut practice, with more predators and greater diversity in the alley crops compared to the conventional crops. Our data suggest growing winter crops with nut trees can be a viable agronomic practice that provides ecological benefits as well.