Showcasing Agroforestry in SE Wisconsin

Community gardens have been a fixture of Milwaukee County Extension since rental plots were first made available at the Milwaukee County Park grounds in 1972. Over the past five decades, Milwaukee County Extension’s Urban Agriculture programming has grown to include 11 garden sites, including Kohl Farm which provides educational programming and rental garden plots. At Kohl Farm, we'll be planting trees and shrubs as windbreaks and riparian buffers in an area of the farm that has historically flooded during heavy rains.  

Marcus and Efueko Landry began Beulah Family Homestead as a way to support communities in need and teach  the tools to reestablish healthy balance between the land, animals, and people. At Beulah Family Homestead, youth are invited onto the 13-area property to explore the intersections of nature and communal engagement through a value-based system that emphasizes integrity, accountability, humility, and maturity. At Beulah's, fruit and nut trees were carefully selected to add crop diversification to the land while also acting as windbreaks and riparian buffers for a large pasture area. 
See more photos on Flickr!

Iris Lee's farm is 50 acres of land with history and heart. Iris's father bought the land in the late nineteen-seventies. Iris now operates the first social equity hemp farm in the state of Wisconsin on the land, and is passionate about tending to the biodiversity of the area so that when she passes the property to her own children it's even more bountiful than before. The farm is in a very exposed area of SE Wisconsin that gets a lot of high winds, so for the plantings here we established windbreaks with native fruit and nut trees.

We are seeking a new partner site in Milwaukee County to host a publicly visible, small-scale agroforestry demonstration.

For this project, agroforestry can include planting of trees and shrubs that are fruit or nut bearing, or provide ecosystem services, like riparian buffering, habitat corridors, pollination services, etc. We will work with the partner to select species per the site’s interest and species suitability to the site.

We are offering a $15,000 award to a selected site partner to support site preparation, planting, and training for long term care of trees and shrubs during the October 2025 - December 2026 season.

What We’re Looking For:

• A publicly accessible site(s) (e.g., nonprofit campus, community space, schoolyard, or city park) with at minimum ¼ acre available for planting

• Commitment to ongoing tree and site maintenance

• Willing to host community education and engagement activities on-site

• Located in The Lake Michigan Watershed near Milwaukee County

• Ownership of the Land Title(s) for the site(s) (need a minimum year lease or letter from land owner agreeing to manage the trees for 10+ years of management)

• Committed to agroforestry and community engagement

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What MFAI Provides:

• Technical support and design guidance from MFAI and the Savanna Institute

• Project materials including trees, shrubs, and signage

• A $15,000 award (for 2026) to support the site’s work in maintaining and showcasing the demonstration

• Inclusion in outreach events, videos, and other public education efforts

This project aims to demonstrate how agroforestry—integrating trees into agricultural or community systems—can improve water quality, build soil health and support community health.

Interested parties should submit a letter of inquiry to nburkard@michaelfields.org with subject line “2025 Milwaukee Agroforestry Site”. Please attach as many documents listed above as you can, to provide proof of eligibility per the “What We’re Looking For” section above.  Questions can be submitted to the program manager Nolan Burkard nburkard@michaelfields.org

Applications will be reviewed starting July 15 with a partner notified by mid August.