Globally, livestock production requires vast swaths of land for the grazing of cattle, which can present conservation, climate, and ecological challenges. Clearing land for monoculture pasture can have significant impacts on biodiversity, atmospheric carbon, and landscape cohesion. One possible solution is the use of silvopasture systems (SPS) – the incorporation of trees and shrubs in grazing lands – which are being promoted as a promising alternative to reduce the environmental footprint of pasture monocultures and enhance productivity and climate benefits to farmers and society. Despite these benefits, SPS are not widely adopted, and their potential for scaling is not fully understood. To meet this challenge, we urgently need evidence-based guidance on how to optimally scale up SPS through existing policies, incentives, and implementation efforts to maximize farmer, climate, and conservation benefits.

Our Approach: This working group convenes a coalition of leaders, scientists, and practitioners, who were engaged in one of the largest implementation efforts of silvopasture systems (SPS) in Colombia. The group will explore the real-world drivers and impacts of on-farm SPS adoption, and characteristics of farms and landscapes where win-wins exist across productivity, conservation, and well-being outcomes. Using biophysical and social survey data, coupled with environmental and landscape-level data, the group will undertake trade-off, multifunctionality analyses. The results will evaluate the efficacy of current policies and inform incentive-based certification schemes and farm planning tools promoting SPS to maximize their benefits for people and nature.