Polycultural food production in temperate woodlands: Multifactorial benefits and political-economic barriers

Given the need to produce sufficient food while meeting net zero targets and protecting biodiversity, there is renewed impetus to expand woodland-based food systems in the Global North, including agroforestry and forest gardening. Typically, however, agriculture, forestry, and conservation are separated spatially, as well as conceptually, and afforestation policies insufficiently consider the integration of edibles into forest management, or woody species into agriculture. We review the scientific evidence on the benefits of woodland-based food systems in temperate climates in relation to four aspects: climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity restoration, food production, and social benefits. Findings suggest high potential of enhancing ecological and cultural ecosystem services through woody polyculture. However, an analysis of barriers and enablers of woodland-based food systems also shows that the productivist and monocultural approaches dominating agriculture in and for the Global North are a barrier to transforming the agri-food system towards more complex polycultural systems with woody species. Therefore, we discuss the conditions for making woody polyculture viable, upscaling these systems, and yielding multifactorial benefits at large-scale in relation to the wider political economy. We conclude that significant transformational rather than incremental shifts are needed, most notably regarding the practical and financial valuation of ecosystem services. • Woodland-based food systems include agroforestry and semi-wild systems. • “Semi-wild” is targeted, ecologically non-intrusive proliferation of woodland crops. • Multifactorial benefits for climate, biodiversity, food production, and society. • Diversity enhances ecosystem services but is incompatible with monocultural systems. • Upscaling woody polyculture requires systemic changes at political-economic level.