7.2 Alley cropping

When field crops are planted in alleys between hedgerows of trees and shrubs it is called alley cropping. The hedgerows provide fodder, green manure and mulch material. This is rather labour intensive since they have to be kept pruned throughout the cropping season to control shading and competition. Trees for alley cropping should fix nitrogen, coppice very easily after trimming and have leaves that are preferred by livestock or that decompose easily when applied as mulch. On dry sites competition for water may be so strong that alley cropping damages the crop. It should therefore not be practised on such sites.