Sustainable agriculture subforum?

[DJ-Studd]

Can we have a sustainable agriculture subforum?
Discussion of soil biology, grazing, grasses, tractors, on farm bio fertilizer creation etc?

Could be a good one? :handshake:

What do people think? :y:

[sun burn]

DJ I understand where you are coming from but i am against it. You would like everything that pertains to having a farm on the one forum for easy finding. I wanted to have all tropical plant matters put in its own branch of the forum also but got no joy. I think my idea makes more sense than yours though. :D

With regard to yours, I think its best to put the plant discussion altogether and animal discussion altogether. Some times these forums go wrong because they get too many branches and if readers don't read all of them, they miss out on things they would be interested in if only they'd known.

In general i am pretty happy with the number and segregation of branches as they are - although i still think a tropical plant forum would be a good idea as its unambiguous and there should be no danger of things going in there that would fit equally well in another branch of the forum. At least that's how it seems to me. If its a tropical plant then it doesn't belong in any other branch. There's only a problem for the sub tropical gardeners but they can easily keep an eye on this branch as well.

[9anda1f]

Hi DJ, hope things are going well up your way.

"Sustainable Agriculture"? Help me out a little here ... isn't "agriculture" by definition unsustainable? Isn't Permaculture the sustainable alternative to agriculture? What am I missing, I'm not sure I understand exactly what your requested subforum would encompass. Maybe it's just my misunderstanding of some definitions?

= )
Bill

[SueUSA]

Shouldn't ALL permaculture be sustainable?

Sue

[DJ-Studd]

DJ I understand where you are coming from but i am against it. You would like everything that pertains to having a farm on the one forum for easy finding. I wanted to have all tropical plant matters put in its own branch of the forum also but got no joy. I think my idea makes more sense than yours though. :D

Hi Sun burn,
my suggestion of a Sustainable Agriculture forum is not to allow for the easy searching of relevant threads (as handy as this would be), but rather to encourage the discussion of said topic.

I agree that forums with lots of subforums (ie ALS forum) become too difficult to read and manage, but is Sustainable Ag not a large and important topic in its own right? The popularity of the PRI forum would be a good driving tool for it. RegenAG have a forum on their website but it seems to be limited in popularity to those who attended their workshops and as such has next to no activity right now.


Hi DJ, hope things are going well up your way.

"Sustainable Agriculture"? Help me out a little here ... isn't "agriculture" by definition unsustainable? Isn't Permaculture the sustainable alternative to agriculture? What am I missing, I'm not sure I understand exactly what your requested subforum would encompass. Maybe it's just my misunderstanding of some definitions?

= )
Bill
Hi Bill,
getting there day by day at this stage, but won't complain thanks for asking :)
Agriculture in the current commercial practices are unsustainable, yes.... but agriculture with a focus on soil restoration whilst still achieving a yield is the direct opposite. When using the correct practices we can actually suck carbon out of the air and reduce global warming.
RegenAg was a series of workshops run last year focusing on these practices. www.regenag.com - have a look.



Shouldn't ALL permaculture be sustainable?
Sue

One should sure hope so :)
Talking of largescale systems here though.

[DJ-Studd]

Just a suggestion anyhow, thought it may have had some merit.

[sun burn]

Sustainable Ag not a large and important topic in its own right?

If that's the case, then i can't see why you don't just start threads to discuss the things that interest you. for instance if you want to discuss grass, why not start a thread on it. If you want to discuss tractors, start a thread. If you want to discuss cattle, start a thread. and so on. I'm sure those who know anything about it will engage. As well as those of us who don't. ;-)

[9anda1f]

Ahhh DJ, now I think I'm onto what you're meaning ... a subforum for what Darren Doherty calls "broadscale" Permaculture.

I think that's a damn good idea!

Bill

[milifestyle]

Ahhh DJ, now I think I'm onto what you're meaning ... a subforum for what Darren Doherty calls "broadscale" Permaculture.

I think that's a damn good idea!

Bill

Agreed!

[Grahame]

I'll be interested to read about it because 'broadscale' permaculture sounds dodgy to me. I'm looking forward to someone setting me straight on that.

[9anda1f]

Well, my take is that broadscale Permaculture is Permaculture applied to large tracts of land. Darren does a lot of design work for big properties, uses machinery to put in swales, keyline plowing, dams and ponds. To me, broadscale Permaculture is the opportunity to work within a mini-climate (as opposed to a micro-climate) and design within a larger slice of the ecosystem. For instance, my paltry 20+ acres (~4 hectares) is hardly larger than a good sized backyard.

Lots of Permaculture discussion revolves around the more commonly held smallish properties. I think what DJ may be driving for is a place to discuss the unique aspects of large property Permaculture.

[pebble]

I think the issue is how much it would be used. I'd love to see more discussion on sustainable agriculture, but would we get it? Why aren't we already?

[eco4560]

DJ would you like to propose a Forum title and description that reflects what you would like to see included?

[permasculptor]

How best to transition from monoculture to Polyculture.just a thought your call DJ

[DJ-Studd]

DJ would you like to propose a Forum title and description that reflects what you would like to see included?

Hey Eco,
I'm no creative writer, but subjects would include
- Rotational cell grazing (incl Ultra High Density Stocking/Mob Grazing)
- Keyline
- Soil building and carbon sequestration
- Compost tea (on a large scale!)
- 'Whole farm planning'
- Agroforestry? (Just starting to read up on this myself)
- Biochar (on a large scale)
etc :)

Anything that is applicable to a large farm and has a positive earth impact as opposed to a negative one :y:

[Woz]

I think it is a marvelous idea and one which would interest me greatly.

[matto]

Its got my vote!
Maybe the title could be Regenerative Agriculture- designing systems in the broader environment supplying food, fodder, fuel and fibre.

[DJ-Studd]

Its got my vote!
Maybe the title could be Regenerative Agriculture- designing systems in the broader environment supplying food, fodder, fuel and fibre.

Great, however I was hesitant to suggest the title of Regenerative Agriculture as it is the full name of RegenAg, don't want to infringe on their space.
I've already a few questions in my head that I'm saving up :)

[matto]

Great, however I was hesitant to suggest the title of Regenerative Agriculture as it is the full name of RegenAg, don't want to infringe on their space.
I've already a few questions in my head that I'm saving up :)

G'day DJ
You might be right, however it is much more apt a description than is sustainable agriculture of what we need to achieve. Listen to Darrens interview to explain the meaning. It is a brilliant observation http://agroinnovations.com/index.php/en_us/multimedia/blogs/podcast/2010/08/episode-100-regenerative-permaculture/

Perhaps the other oxymoron, Broadacre Permaculture would better fit the title here. Not only concentrating on the technical aspects of regenerating our farmlands but also allowing for discussion on things such as co-operative models for processing equipment for example, also transportation and marketing in local and bioregional economies.
As much as we want to be self sufficient from the backyard, until we are back at around 30% of the population working in agriculture then I think that modifying Big Ag and food distribution is a more achievable option.

[Pakanohida]

Hey Eco,
I'm no creative writer, but subjects would include
- Rotational cell grazing (incl Ultra High Density Stocking/Mob Grazing)
- Keyline
- Soil building and carbon sequestration
- Compost tea (on a large scale!)
- 'Whole farm planning'
- Agroforestry? (Just starting to read up on this myself)
- Biochar (on a large scale)
etc :)

Anything that is applicable to a large farm and has a positive earth impact as opposed to a negative one :y:

To me, all those things are supposed to be part of permaculture. Cell grazing, I admit I am not familiar.

However, everything else is the kind of things we are supposed to be doing with Permaculture property in the first place. When we start dividing things up by size we are going to lose out on ideas from other people.

For example, just off the top of my head... ..we have this subforum for larger size stuff. And there is a great discussion in it about large scale compost tea and biochar. Awesome; However, I might never see it because my property isn't large. However, because of that, some one doesn't know about the biochar & flowform work I am doing on a small scale which can be adapted upwards. (Incidently, I already am doing experiments with biochar and flowforms, all be it very slowly)

I am not trying to be negative on your idea Dj, I am just thinking ahead for several generations of Permies.

[DJ-Studd]

Seems like there is generally decent interest in such a forum, where do we progress from here?

Cheers