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The Workshop:

Join Joshua Greene, Director of Education for Trees for Graziers, for a full-day, hands-on workshop at Singing Pastures Farm exploring how well-designed silvopasture systems can improve livestock performance, farm resilience, and long-term profitability. Set on a working pasture-based livestock farm, this workshop will combine classroom discussion with an in-depth farm tour, giving participants the opportunity to see silvopasture principles in practice.

Joshua will share the design process behind successful silvopasture systems, including tree species selection, pasture establishment, livestock integration, and management strategies that balance ecological health with farm productivity. Participants will learn how trees can enhance forage production, improve animal comfort and welfare, build soil health, diversify farm income, and strengthen resilience to changing weather conditions.

Whether you are considering planting your first trees or expanding an existing silvopasture, this workshop will provide practical tools, design frameworks, and real-world examples to help you successfully integrate trees into grazing systems.

Participants will learn:

• The principles of successful silvopasture design and planning

• How to select appropriate tree species for forage, timber, nuts, fruit, and ecosystem services

• Tree planting layouts, spacing, protection, and establishment strategies

• Integrating livestock into young and mature silvopasture systems

• Grazing management practices that support both healthy trees and productive pastures

• The benefits of trees for animal welfare, soil health, water management, and climate resilience

• Economic opportunities and long-term returns from agroforestry systems

• Lessons learned from the silvopasture systems at Singing Pastures Farm

This workshop is ideal for livestock producers, beginning farmers, agricultural service providers, conservation professionals, and anyone interested in incorporating agroforestry into pasture-based livestock operations. It will include both a classroom and field portion. Participants will expect to learn:

Topics for Classroom Presentations:

• historical practice of silvopasture

• types of silvopasture

• benefits of silvopasture for various enterprises

• livestock and human feed production and potential

• silvopasture-specific tree species

• shade concepts & goals

• tree densities and layouts

• working from goals to silvopasture design with farmers

Topics for In-field Portion:

• tree layout in pasture

• tree planting in a silvopasture

• tree patterns for various farm needs

• tree protection strategies

• polywire and electric fence considerations

• rotational grazing in silvopasture

• tree maintenance & aftercare

About Trees for Graziers:

Trees for Graziers is an agroforestry education and consulting organization dedicated to helping farmers successfully integrate trees, livestock, and forage through silvopasture. By combining practical, science-based training with on-farm experience, Trees for Graziers supports producers in designing resilient grazing systems that improve animal welfare, enhance ecosystem health, and strengthen farm profitability.

About Breadtree Farms:

Breadtree Farms stewards 800-acres of organic, perennial agriculture in the Upper Hudson Valley and Southwest Vermont, demonstrating how agroforestry and silvopasture can create productive, climate-resilient farm landscapes. Breadtree's home farm, BQ, is a 320-acre former seed potato and dairy farm in the Rupert Valley, where more than 80 acres of former cropland were planted into chestnut and hickory silvopasture in 2024–2025. At BQ, sheep are rotationally grazed through rows of trees, improving soil health, cycling nutrients, and supporting tree growth while providing shade and shelter for livestock.

The farm also features several experimental interplantings focused on timber, pollinator support, and masting fodder for ruminants, and an intensive silvopasture trial centered on leaf and masting fodder for sheep. The farm is also home to a set of timber-framed barns that Breadtree is in the process of renovating into the largest organic chestnut processing facility in the United States.

BQ also highlights the environmental benefits of silvopasture, with a focus on protecting water quality and creating more flood-resilient landscapes in the headwaters of the White Creek—which drains into the Black Creek, the Battenkill, and ultimately the Hudson River—along with building healthy soils, enhancing habitat for beneficial insects, and increasing farm resilience through diversified perennial agriculture.

The Luminary Tour is organized by the New England Grazing Network and supported by:

• Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment

• Vermont Grass Farmers Association

• UMaine Extension

• Granite State Graziers

• Cornell Cooperative Extension – Capital Area Ag & Hort Program

• Berkshire Agricultural Ventures

• Northeast Pasture Consortium

• Northeast Grass-Fed Beef Initiative

Generously Supported by:

This program is generously supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement NR243A750008C009 and The Cedar Tree Foundation