mark shepard's restoration agriculture 101 presentation
TRANSCRIPT
Mark L Shepard
Forest Agriculture Enterprisesforestag.comOn Facebook: Mark Shepard,restoration agriculture
Restoration Agriculture: Real world Permaculture for farmers
PERMA (permanent) (agri) CULTURE
• “Permaculture is an ecological design methodology where we create relationships between materials, plants, animals and humans in order to optimize function and yield. The aim is to create systems that are ecologically sound and economically profitable, which provide for their own needs, do not exploit or pollute and are therefore sustainable in the long term. Much of the design is taken from nature.” (Bill Mollison)
• (Permanent- Latin: per- throughout + manere- to remain; Culture- Middle English: cultivation, tillage; from Old French; from Latin: cultura, from cultus- cultivation, from Germanic: skel- to cut)
Bill Mollison
PermacultureWrote the book:
A Designers Manual
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Why Restoration Agriculture?
Angkor watt
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Pedal to the metal, baby!
• Why does everyone seem to be working so hard to create and maintain something that doesn’t seem to be working very well?
Permaculture Design Principle: Observe and imitate Nature.
Work WITH nature rather than fight against it.
KNOW YOUR BIOME !
In order to OBSERVE and INTERACTyou must first know the difference between an:
OBSERVATION
and a
CONCEPT
-Prior to European settlement, this piece of planet was photosynthetically productive and supported a rich variety of life for a brazillion years; all without the input of any fossil fuels, with no commercial fertilizers, no pesticides, no herbicides, no fungicides and not even any tillage!
-Can we we design a farming system to operate this way?
-Can such a form of agriculture provide the staple foods (carbohydrates, proteins and oils) currently provided by annual crops?
-Can such a farm be economically viable within the current economic system?
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Earthworks/ water management
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Earthworks/ water management
Establish edible woody polycultures
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Earthworks/ water management
Establish edible woody polycultures
Build fences & roads
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Earthworks/ water management
Establish edible woody polycultures
Build fences & roads
Establish Agroforestry practices
Identify your biome(s) and keystone species
Earthworks/ water management
Establish edible woody polycultures
Build fences & roads
Establish Agroforestry practices
Manage for eternity!
Fagacea: Oak,Chestnut, Beech
Apples
Hazelnut
Prunus: plum, cherry, peach
Raspberry, grape, currantForage, animals, fungi
Chestnuts…Corn on Trees!
Chestnuts: Corn on trees!
Food, juice, vinegar, alcohol
Hazelnuts!Protein & Oil
Oil + alcohol = Diesel Fuel!
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A highly productive, pest and disease-free home garden.Can you find 10 different types of
garden produce?
The Apple Orchard:Grapes on Chestnut over Hazelnut
next to Rose behind Apple over Daffodil, Iris and Comfrey and
more…
OK… Do the math:Potentially 3-7 times the energy capture per acre
Improving resource base
Perennial: reproduces itself
No plowing, cultivating, pest or disease control once established
Year-round harvest. Multiple yields/products
No erosion, non-toxic and BEAUTIFUL!
Working WITH nature
Degrading resource base: Soil erosion, chemical contamination
Plowing,herbicide,pesticide,fungicide,fertilizers
7 times less energy capture than a Savanna!
YEAR after YEAR after YEAR!
One Crop, one market, total risk exposure
Degraded landscape, small towns, culture,
Where does this lead?
OR….
Thank you for Farming (and EATING!) in Nature’s Image!
forestag.comNewforestfarm.netRestorationAg.orgOn facebook: Mark Shepard,Restoration Agriculture
