Alley cropping in Vineyards
Katherine Favor, USDA National Agroforestry Center, May 2025
Paper on incorporating trees into vineyards.
Includes the benefits of alley cropping in vineyards:
- Increasing the overall production of the farm by integrating a second crop
- Diversifying production for economic stability
- Preventing frost damage at certain times of the year
- Enhancing habitat for beneficial insects, spiders, bats, and birds, for improved pest
control and to reduce reliance on pesticides - Cooling the microclimate to improve grape quality, especially in wine grapes
- Improving certain wine quality indicators including brix, density, and total acidity
- Improving infiltration capacity and soil water holding capacity
- Reducing runoff and erosion
- Improving soil microbial diversity
- Improving air quality by intercepting pesticide and herbicide drift, particulate matter,
and dust - Decreasing offsite movement of nutrients and chemicals
- Enhancing habitat for wildlife
- Sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Plus information on
- Adapting to and mitigating against climate change
- Spacing to manage competition, for wind protection, for heat protection, for improving pest management
- Species selection to reduce competition, balance yield and quality, manage pests
