I'm editing a new series for Mongabay.com on agroforestry--a global phenomenon with 1 billion + acres under cultivation, here's the latest in the series I just published about farmers who are developing multi-tier ag with everything from bananas and betel nut trees bordering rice paddies to mitigate effects of their climate warmed state of W. Bengal, India:
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/agroforestry-boosts-rice-a nd-biodiversity-in-india/ I sent this writer there to learn about it, was very cool to hear about the 300 varieties of heirloom rice these farmers are reviving too, plus the uses of Sesbania, bamboo, agati, water spinach, bitter gourd and custard apple they are developing. *Check out the old ritual they do at the beginning of the piece calling a diversity of birds to their fields to help them control pests organically. * And come they do, from the nearby Kulik Bird Sanctuary: *Asian openbill storks (**Anastomus oscitans**), cormorants, herons and egrets arrive to join the bee-eaters, drongos, and owls* devouring bugs, mice, and rats alike. Rest of the features from Brazil & Kenya so far are here <https://news.mongabay.com/series/global-agroforestry/> at the series aggregator page if you are curious, this is the main 'explainer' <https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/agroforestry-an-increasingly-popular-solution-for-a-hot-hungry-world/> piece we did that lays out the gigatons of carbon that agroforestry sequesters annually, the incredible size of its current scope (equal to Canada in area), etc. Erik -- See my latest writing and photojournalism projects here <http://www.erikhoffner.com/> *tw: @erikhoffner <https://twitter.com/ErikHoffner>*
