An analysis of a silvopastoral system for the marginal land in the Southeast United States

Almost 20 million acres of non-forest cropland in the South can be classified as marginal. Demand projections for forest products call for a 40 percent increase by year 2030. Recent regenerated tree acres lag behind harvested acres. Multiple land use practices combining trees and grazing adjust cash flows forward mitigating negative flow period associated with conventional forest production. Profit opportunities for private, non-industrial landowners can be increased by ranking inputs in order of changes to net present value(NPV). A sensitivity analysis of an agroforestry scenario, including trees, beef cattle, and pasture, allows producers to concentrate management efforts where returns are greatest. Model results show greatest returns to NPV was realized from improvement to Chip-N-Saw income. The least increase in NPV came when the cost of control burns was changed.