Agroforestry with Tracey Testo-Smith

On this week's show we'll be talking about agroforestry, or the "integration of trees & agriculture" with the Agroforestry Center's Tracey Testo-Smith.

Tracey Testo-Smith is on the Agriculture and Natural Resource Team at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties’ Agroforestry Resource Center and Siuslaw Model Forest as an Agroforestry and Natural Resource Educator. She graduated from SUNY Cobleskill’s Plant Science and Horticulture Bachelor program, has worked on many farms including the world’s largest wild-simulated ginseng farm, and manages her own forest farm.

Her employment at CCE is multi-faceted, including her role as co-chair of the NYS Agroforestry Program Work Team, and educator of general forestry and agroforestry topics such as deer browse, mushroom cultivation, ginseng production, plant, and mushroom identification as well as foraging classes. Much of her work is applied at the organization's 142-acre watershed demonstration forest, the Siuslaw Model Forest.

Tracey enjoys working with natural systems, specifically forests and streams, to build more resilient communities through education. Her passions include gardening, hiking, wild plant identification, the study of mycology, and foraging for food and medicine.