Agroforestry vs Monocrop Simulator

Field Design

Tree row density 40%

Simulation

Years per second 1.0

Monocrop yield

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Agro crop yield

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Tree output

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Soil nutrient idx

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Land-Equivalent Ratio (agroforestry vs two sole systems)

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Monocrop total value Agroforestry total value

How it works

Each simulated year, the pure monocrop field loses a slice of soil nutrients and topsoil to erosion because every root in the field is shallow and the whole surface is bare between harvests — its yield trends downward, compounding.

The agroforestry field's crop rows compete with tree roots for light, water and nutrients, so their yield starts lower — but deep tree roots recycle subsoil nutrients into leaf litter, nitrogen-fixing species add usable nitrogen, canopies act as a windbreak, and tree roots bind soil against runoff. All four combine to slow the agroforestry field's decline far more than the tree competition costs it. Trees themselves also mature into a second, growing output stream (wood/fruit).

LER = cropYield_agro / cropYield_soleMonocrop
    + treeYield_agro / treeYield_soleWoodlot

Tree row density — more tree rows means more competition for the crop but also stronger nutrient recycling, nitrogen input and windbreak/erosion protection.
Nitrogen-fixing trees — legume species that add symbiotic soil nitrogen, further slowing the agroforestry field's nutrient decline.
Land-Equivalent Ratio — a value above 1.0 means the mixed system out-produces the same land split into separate sole-crop and sole-tree plots; it typically climbs over the years as trees mature and the monocrop keeps degrading.

Real-world relevance: this is the core economic argument for agroforestry — not that trees beat crops per unit area in year one, but that combined, resilient system output compounds favorably over a multi-year timescale where monocrop soil degradation also compounds.

Year 0

Crop Tree trunk Tree canopy Windblown particle

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