ABSTRACT
Abandoned agricultural lands represent opportunities for new management strategies that promote agroecosystem resilience without disrupting the economic welfare of current agricultural producers. Recently abandoned lands or degraded lands, in particular, where there has not yet been reestablishment of native habitats, provide opportunities for novel agricultural solutions that promote both rural economies and improved ecosystem services. This chapter describes crops suited to abandoned lands that are otherwise considered suboptimal for typical commodities. In some cases, suboptimal conditions are the product of a legacy of intensive management or mining activities. In other cases, however, suboptimal conditions are characterized by an ecosystem with lower nutrient or water availability that cannot support typical commodity crops. Here we discuss examples of crops that thrive in suboptimal conditions, imparting greater resiliency in agroecosystems, and avoiding competition for prime agricultural land that is already exploited.
