What are the environmental effects of planting fruit trees ?

[random_man]

Any human activity has an environmental impact. As the other poster noted, it depends on what was there before, as well as what the alternative use of the property would be. In other words, if it were not used as an orchard, what would be there instead? Housing, a shopping mall? etc. One issue I have with measuring environmental impact is that it's often assumed the alternative is undisturbed nature, whereas in the real world the alternative is often another, higher-impact human activity.

If you were to be converting virgin forest into an orchard, you would have a loss of wildlife habitat certainly. An orchard does provide some habitat as well, however, i.e. birds, bees, etc. Overall the impact of orchards is relatively low, compared to other uses. Because the fields are not disturbed very much after the trees are planted, erosion should be minimal. Water use can be an issue, but orchards lend themselves very well to drip irrigation, which is an efficient way to irrigate. Pesticide use does disrupt ecosystems to a certain extent, but it's hard to quantify, and would vary from one orchard to the next, as well as from year to year, depending on what's used and how often. Positive impacts of an orchard: food! as well as; jobs, economic activity, and the preservation of a working agricultural landscape.