Faculty contact:  Ken Mudge

Agroforestry research focuses on sustainable land use systems involving forest farming of a variety of non timber forest products, including nut crops from overstory trees, fruit production from shade-tolerant understory plants, production of medicinal and other products from forest-floor herbs such as ginseng, and growing shiitake and other gourmet mushrooms.

Recent research includes propagation of woody and non woody plants using a variety of technologically appropriate methods including cuttings, micropropagation and grafting, and evaluation of genetic and environmental variation in pharmacologically active secondary metabolites (ginsenosides) in American ginseng.

We conduct much of our multidisciplinary research, demonstration and education at the McDaniels Nut Grove, a 7-acre block of wooded land on the Cornell Campus. The grove was originally developed in the early 1930s as a nut tree variety trial planting of approximately 200 trees, by Prof. L.H. MacDaniels. It reverted to unmanaged secondary forest over the last several decades, but was recently rediscovered is being renovated in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources and Cornell Plantations.