[FRIAM] Permaculture; sustainable food production

[Pieter Steenekamp]

I think there is broad consensus that modern farming is bad for the earth.
I was always under the impression that it's one of those very difficult
problems to solve. I always implicitly assumed that the yield of modern
farming is just so much higher than ecologically friendly farming that it's
impossible to feed 7 billion people without resorting to ecologically
harmful farming.

So I always assumed that the choice was between hurting the environment or
letting people starve.

I got a wake-up call this week. We visited a nearby Permaculture farm (
https://numbivalley.webs.com) and it's just amazing the yield in terms of
healthy food that they produce on a ridiculously small area of land. They
farm in a very sustainable and eco-friendly way that produces more food
(and it's very tasty, we had lunch with them and healthy too) per land area
than modern farming. That's what they claim in any case, I have not
independently verified that. The co-owner Kathryn says she challenges any
farmer that uses modern farming methods to match their yield in terms of
food production per area of land.

I asked the other co-owner, Ross if a global disaster happens and they
become totally isolated from the rest of the world if they would be able to
survive. Jokingly he answered that they would not, because they won't be
able to buy tennis balls. Tennis balls? I wondered what part
of Permaculture depends on tennis balls. Yes, he said, I regularly go to
the nearby town to play tennis and I won't survive without that. But on a
serious note he thought about it and speculated that he reckons that they
will survive.

The possible draw-back is that Permaculture is extremely labor intensive.
But then, working and living like that could be very good for the soul and
the body, it's not like working in a factory.
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