Subject: Re: permaculture statistics (fwd)

From: "Steve Diver" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 10:22:30 +0000

> I was needing some statistics on permaculture and wondered if anyone 
> knew of any sources. I'm looking for the following information:
> 
> - amount of water needed for current agricultural (monocultural) 
>   practices as opposed to permaculture
> - comparison of yields in permaculture vs. monoculture

My impression is that it would be hard to find a simple answer or 
statistical data in response to these two questions, because 
permaculture s based on designing harmonious relationships between 
different elements in the landscape to arrive at what can be called 
"cultivated ecology."  

Rather than a production method per se, permaculture is a combination 
of ecological design, practical implementation, and adjustment of 
lifestyle to incorporate earth-friendly technologies instead of 
energy-consumptive or polluting technologies.   

On the other hand, from a purely agricultural point of veiw, there are 
dozens of documented examples where polycultures and intercrops  
are more productive in total land equivalent yield, support more diversity,  
and are more resilient to pest attack and therefore require fewer or 
zero use of pesticides.  

Likewise, water use comparisons are dependent on which region you 
live in, what cultural practices and tillage methods are used, method 
of irrigation, and finally, cropping system. 

Thus, a comparison of water use between monoculture crops versus 
intercrops, or cropping system, is dependent on all the other 
factors such as mulch versus no-mulch, good soil tilth versus poor 
soil tilth and ability for water to infiltrate readily or run off,  
good soil humus versus low soil humus, etc.  

By and large, you can say that permaculture strives towards 
the adoption of sustainable technologies and concepts in the big 
picture rather than at the statistically specific research data 
level.  

Thus, one sutra of permaculture may be: 
 * Plant intercrops or polycultures instead of monocrops

This truth is understood through lots of practical examples and 
data as necessary, but the focus is on a higher order of ecological 
understanding and ethically-based living rather than on scientifically 
documented research, per se.  In other words, when it is clear that 
you got the sutra right, it no longer requires decades of research 
or stacks of research papers to accept the basic sutra and get on 
with designing the system and putting it into practice. 

I offer this point of view in hopes that it helps you find the data
you need but that it will require looking in the agricultural 
literature rather than the permacultural literature, per se. 

Steve Diver

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