The Western Ghats of Kerala have been settled over the past 40 years by landless immigrants. Natural forests and cardamom (planted under forest canopy) have been widely replaced by small-holder cultivation. Settlers plant cassava and other annuals in the initial 3–5 years following clearing of the forest canopy. These crops are gradually replaced by black pepper, the dominant crop 5–15 years after clearing. Finally, other perennial crops, planted during the period when pepper was dominant, mature. A highly mixed “home garden” cropping phase is most common on sites 15–20 years after the forest canopy was removed. Soil erosion on sites cleared 1–3 years previously averaged 120 t/ha in the 1988 monsoon season. Over the same period, soil erosion under mature cardamom, pepper and mixed cultivation averaged 0.65, 3.5, and 1.45 t/ha respectively. Erosion levels appear to be related to cover at ground and intermediate (1–4 m) heights above the surface. Soil organic matter is high in the cardamom areas, declines rapidly when the forest canopy is cleared, remains low in pepper, and appears to rebuild to levels as more mixed agroforestry systems become established. Overall, there appears to be a succession in which high erosion and declining organic matter levels are temporary features associated with the conversion of sites from forests and cardamom to other phases.