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Re: Inspiration: Yeomans Keyline Designs




Marc Safley <Marc.Safley@usda.gov> wrote in article
<3238789B.7F18.174D.000@MHS>...
> Many people are talking and thinking about sustainable agriculture and
> cropping systems today.  Who are the most inspirational speakers?  Who
> can really deliver the message in a positive and inclusive manner?

	I make no claim to be the most inspirational speaker but I can deliver a
message in a positive and inclusive manner.
	Here in Australia over the last 30 years I have spoken at rural field
days, been employed to addressed many Landcare groups, lectured to Primary
Industry Departmental Officers in Queensland and addressed the IFORM
Conference when it was held in Adelaide in 1990. 

	I subject I teach on the Yeomans Keyline Designs system. 

	The origins of Keyline date back to 1944 when my father, the late P.A.
Yeomans, purchased two blocks of land totaling nearly 1,000 acres. There
were about 50 miles West of Sydney, N.S.W., Australia and have an erratic
600 mm (24 inches) annual rainfall.
	It was on his properties that P.A. Yeomans pioneered property planning for
sustainable agriculture in Australia. Here the first large on-farm
irrigation dams were built in Australia.  The dams were also interconnected
by graded channels across the landscape. Timber clearing (and planting) was
done to a unique pattern of tiered contour tree belts that wound through
the undulating land. The properties developed a local reputation for always
being green. These signs; large farm dams, contour tree belts and
constantly green grass in the Australian sunburnt landscape were the first
obvious indicators that something different was being done.  P.A. Yeomans
published the first book on his work in 1954.  
	Beneath the lands surface a more remarkable change was taking place.  The
shale subsoil was being quickly converted into topsoil.  This was the
result of the combination of cultivating to the new Keyline pattern, the
sowing of a mixed pasture and the development of a type of rational grazing
system. 
	A chisel plow produced the Keyline pattern, which promoted rainfall
absorption, kept run-off water on the ridges and spread it wide and shallow
when it flowed down grassy valleys.  The pasture mix included inoculated
legumes with deep rooting grasses. The grazing system was timed to provide
abundant high protein food for the soil's aerobic organisms.  As a result,
the inert subsoil of yellow to blue gray shale changed into deepening dark
fertile topsoil during the three year soil development programs. Artificial
fertilisers were used but only once at the start of the first year. In the
soil earthworms started to abound and grow in size. I recall seeing one on
film, it was about three feet long. I remember too, as a child, harvesting
wild mushrooms from the farms. The stock carrying
capacity of the land went from a beast to 10 acres to over one beast to the
acre. 
	Keyline discoveries conclusively disproved the myth that it takes
thousands of years for topsoil to form. 
	The ramifications of Keyline to property planning are sweeping.  It is no
longer necessary to base property plans on soil type and slope, nor is it
necessary to use soil conservation banks to "safely dispose of farm waters"
attempting to "save the soil that is left".  The change from a shallow
impervious topsoil to one that is deep, absorbent and fertile, so totally
changes the design constraints as to make redundant the soil conservation
structures designed on the soil type and slope.  In practice one finds
existing soil conservation works are more than redundant they are physical
impairments to the development of sustainable agriculture.  
	Keyline designed water conservation and irrigation systems only require
contour banks to transports water to and from large on-farm dams.  Existing
Soil Conservation contour banks, being designed for the safe disposal of
farm waters, nearly always slope in the wrong direction.  
		May I suggest you browse through the Keyline Designs web site for more
stories, pictures and information on how to obtain the latest edition of
the classic Keyline book, "Water for Every Farm - Yeomans Keyline Plan,
which I updated and published in 1993.

If I may be of any further assistance please contact me.

Kind regards,

Ken Yeomans
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Keyline Designs PO Box 3289 Southport, Qld 4215 AUSTRALIA
ISD: 61 7 Tel: (07) 5591 6281  Fax: (07) 5527 0847 (GMT + 10 hours!)
Email:  info@keyline.com.au URL:  http://www.keyline.com.au
Agricultural consulting, book distributor: Property planning for
sustainable agriculture, bio-organic soil regeneration and Landcare.
Contoured farm photomaps for remote planning, water conservation dams,
hillside flood irrigation.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 





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