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Abstract Missouri has strong potential for expanded tree nut agroforestry, particularly in regions where perennial systems could improve land-use efficiency, reduce erosion risk, and diversify farm income. Alley cropping offers a flexible framework for integrating tree nuts into existing agricultural systems without displacing current enterprises, thereby helping to defray establishment costs and reduce barriers to perennial transition. In Missouri, these opportunities span multiple scales of production, from large-scale row crop systems to small- and medium-scale specialty crop operations. In this perspective, we examine how tree nut alley cropping can be adapted to these different contexts and argue that greater terminological resolution may improve communication, outreach, and research in the United States. Specifically, we propose the terms silvocropping and silvohorticulture to distinguish alley cropping systems that integrate trees with row crops at larger scales from those that integrate trees with intensively managed specialty crops at smaller scales in a temperate growing region. Using Missouri as a representative temperate region for agroforestry adoption, demonstration, and research, we discuss opportunities for hazelnut based systems; conceptual linkages among complementary resource use, land equivalent ratio (LER), and adoption barriers; and the need for research and technical assistance that account for differences in production scale, species composition, and system development over time. Tree nut alley cropping represents an underused opportunity to advance resilient, multifunctional agriculture in temperate regions of the United States.
Webber et al. (Tue,) studied this question.