During the 1990s, Olimpo Montes adopted what he understood to be modern cattle-production methods. The Colombian rancher placed his herds in pastures that had been cleared of trees, exposed to direct sunlight and treated with chemical fertilizers to speed the growth of grasses. And he failed. Though production soared initially, Montes found himself locked in an unending cycle of fertilization that eventually cost him so much in imported inputs he barely could pay his debts. So in 1997, with his pastures degraded and his land stripped of forest cover, Montes decided to abandon agrochemicals. Instead, he would take a silvopastoral approach, replanting his pastureland to encourage the growth of a nutrient-rich variety of grasses, shrubs and trees. Silvopastoral systems hold numerous benefits for... [Log in to read more]