Pakissan.com; Introduction to Permaculture

Permaculture Described

Permaculture is a mixed perennial and annual food agroforestry system which works cooperatively with, rather than coercively against, Nature to incorporate and interweave the natural life cycles, habits, and needs of food plants and animals into ecologically balanced food-producing ecosystems. Permaculture bases food production on renewable resources, capture of available energies, and multi-level, multi-species, multi-use food ecosystem "restoration." Plants, animals, and natural energy flows are interlinked to create stability by supplying the needs of each individual plant or animal from multiple sources from within the system. Mutually beneficial plants and animals are placed in close proximity so that they can meet their own needs and each other's as part of their own natural behavior. Inputs of labor, chemicals, and raw materials are minimized through the crafty placement of mutually supportive species of plants and animals. An example of this would be the placement of chickens in fruit orchards, where the birds offer pest and weed control, as well as high-phosphorous fertilizer to the trees; the trees in turn offer shade, shelter, nd food to the birds in the form of fallen fruit and orchard insects. The two components (chickens and fruit trees) offer mutual benefits to each other without competing for their respective needs. In this way, not only is work saved (weeding, pest control, feeding chickens), but a system already supplying a yield (an orchard) can be made to supply another yield (chickens, eggs) in the same space using existing wastes, without sacrificing any of the the original yield.

Permacultural Earth-Shaping

The permaculture designer fosters the growth of a wide variety of adapted food plants and animals by emulating the varied topologies and living populations of natural ecosystems. Instead of attempting to produce a level, even field or pasture suited to the growing of a single crop, the permaculture designer increases microclimatic diversity by installing water and soil conservation ditches (or "swales") on-contour at intervals designed to capture all runoff (with its accompanying load of valuable topsoil). By doing this, the designer accomplishes several goals. The soil under and around the swales is charged with extra water, allowing the growing of plants which otherwise might require expensive and wasteful irrigation. This widens the available plant resource base (and, thereby, the money-making opportunities) of the farmer and lessens her irrigation costs. Topsoil which would otherwise be carried off in runoff settles in the swales where it can be recovered and spread in eroded areas, or can be left in the swales to create a rich microenvironment. Adding to the value of the captured topsoil are adsorbed nutrients such as phosphorous, which would otherwise be lost to waterways, creating nutrient waste and water pollution. While taking up only about 10% of the area of a field, swales offer an added yield far out of proportion to the land given up to water and soil conservation.

Yields of Permacultural Systems

Permaculture attempts to recognize existing resources, converting them if necessary into forms useful to humans through the interaction of intermediary species. In this way, an insect infestation can be seen not as a problem, but as an opportunity to raise chickens or other insect-eating animals of value to humans. Thus, instead of trying to force agricultural systems into one particular type of yield, the Permaculture designer responds to different conditions and problems by identifying some plant or animal capable of incorporating each new condition or problem into a productive part of the food-producing system. In this way yields can be increased by identifying and taking advantage of on-site excesses and wastes, instead of by increasing inputs of chemicals or fertilizers from outside. This approach conserves resources, and minimizes wastes and pollution, at a time when the human population is placing extreme pressures on global resources and ecosystems.

Similarly, many types of modern "pollution" can actually be seen as wasted resources. In fact, if abundant resources are not used, they may easily become pollutants. This is often the case when human and animal bodily wastes which could be used to produced biogas (methane generated by anaerobic digestion of nitrogenous wastes), and then used as soil-enriching fertilizers. Instead, they are viewed simply as sources of pollution, and are treated by costly disposal methods which purposely dissipate their nutrient and energy values. In many countries, this is seen as an inexplicable waste (as it is), and in fact in California today human waste treatment facilities exist which employ biogas generation to fire electrical generation plants as part of the waste treatment process. In this way, resources which have traditionally been considered noxious wastes are transformed into valuable renewable resources.

Energy Needs

Energies needed to run permacultural systems are taken from the existing flows of sun, wind, water, and floral and faunal life cycles. A multiple-crop agriculture based on useful trees with agricultural crops planted in the intervening spaces can provide food, clothing fibers, building materials, and energy needs in a sustainable fashion, if the farms which produce those crops are themselves sustainable. Non-renewable resources must be avoided or used very conservatively, and resources which pollute by their very nature (i.e. agricultural and other toxins) are avoided altogether. Further, excess energies and yields are reinvested in the system, increasing local health and wealth. In these ways, sustainable, agriculturally productive ecosystems can be developed which have the diversity, stability, self-sufficiency, and resilience of natural ecosystems.

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