Agro-forestry???? If you think we can serve the world by spreading agricultural forestry, you know nothing about sustainable resource use or ecology!
To practice agriculture, we take complex natural systems with plants, animals and soils that have developed in place, often for thousands of years. We then clear off the plants and animals, plow up the soil (thereby destroying soil structure and creating a greatly simplified soil biota). Often these plants and animals have attributes, such as for medicines, fiber, food, etc., that are lost forever by clearing for agriculture. We then plant monocultures and load the soils with herbicids, pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizers. I should say here, that agriculture is extremely important. It is just that, we shouldn't plow up every inch of land for one use.
These same methods are used in agricultural forestry. I am an ecologist in Washington State, USA. Here, agro-foresters have clearcut over 90% of our forests; forests that took ten thousand years to develop (since the last ice age). The once diverse forests are replaced by monocultures and sprayed with aerially-applied herbicides used to kill even the forbs and shrubs that would otherwise compete with the trees. Animals such as bears and porcupines are also wiped out as they might damage the trees. Gigantic multinational corporations wipe out huge swaths of forests, at the same time wiping out local towns, destroying clean water, and killing species and industries (salmon and sustainable salmon fishing, other forest products such as berries, mushrooms and other potentially profitable forest products) that would otherwise support jobs and species diversity. Agricultural forestry is a bad thing for my state, for our species, and for our earth.
Rather than agro-forestry, we should be talking about sustainable forestry. A wonderful example is a 137-acre forest owned and sustainablly managed by a visionary on Vancouver Island in Canada. Merve Wilkinson has owned this piece of land since 1937. He has been harvesting timber off of his forest since that time, one tree at a time and in a way that is intended to preserve the structural, age and species diversity of his forest. He has made a living off of that forest and he has helped others also make a living off of his forest. At the same time, he has preserved plant and wildlife habitat and huge ancient trees. Plus, his forest is beautiful beyond words.
Another example is Wangari Maathai. This amazing Kenyan woman won a Nobel Peace Prize for leading a campaign to plant millions of trees to combat deforestation. In her acceptance speach, she urged the audience "to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder". What an amazing visionary!
Agro-forestry is an abomination. It is an example of everything that is wrong with our species and the relationship that our species has with the earth. Sustainable forestry, on the other hand, is an example of what our species could do. That is, what we could do if we weren't so driven by greed, short-sightedness, ignorance and stupidity.