Eco Q
& A's
What is EcoAgriculture?
EcoAgriculture is the active stewardship of land and
its ecosystem to help establish a productive and sustainable
harvest within that ecosystem. In a sentence, ecoagriculture
is about as far from conventional monoculture as one
can get.
If you visit a farm in the tropics that is working with
ecoagricultural practices the first thing you may say
is, “where is the farm?”
You will find yourself lost in a jungle of exotic hardwoods
growing along such spices as cinnamon, black pepper
and allspice. Mixed in are exotic tropical flowers and
the prized ylang ylang and vanilla. The soil is rarely
exposed and the huge amount of foliage growth is always
returned to the earth.
Vetiver is often seen, used as an impressive tool in
soil erosion prevention. Birds sing above in a melody
that suggests they are not only happy, but in a blissful
state of harmony.
The practice of EcoAgriculture can also be defined with
the “Permaculture” model. Permaculture is
a word coined by Bill Mollison and anyone with interest
in this subject should source his book: Permaculture:
A Designers’ Manual. It is the bible of this movement
and Bill Mollison is the leading authority. His definition
of Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is as follows:
“Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance
of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the
diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.
It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people
providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material
and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without
permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable
social order.
Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual,
material, and strategic components in a pattern which
functions to benefit life in all its forms. The philosophy
behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than
against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation
rather that protracted and thoughtless action; of looking
at systems in all their functions, rather than asking
only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate
their own evolutions. “ Bill Mollision (1988)
Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual. Tagari Publications,
Tyalgum, Australia
What is Agroforestry?
Agroforestry is an innovative concept that combines
agriculture and forestry. It is a landuse practice where
trees are integrated with crops and animals in the same
area. It puts trees to work for agriculture. Agroforestry’s
working trees help make agricultural systems more sustainable
by protecting crops and livestock, conserving natural
resources, improving human environments, and providing
new sources of income.
Putting trees to work in conservation and production
systems for farms, ranches, and communities means planting
the right trees in the right places, at the right time,
and in the correct design to achieve desired objectives.
With agroforestry practices incorporated, an agricultural
landscape might include windbreaks in fields, riparian
forest buffers along waterways, growing trees and forage
together, alley cropping with annual crops and high-value
hardwood trees, and “forest farming” operations
where high-value specialty crops are grown under the
protection of a tree canopy.
Agroforestry can be a win-win situation for landowners
and everyone who cares about the health of our land
and water. It provides opportunities to balance productivity
and profitability with environmental stewardship, and
pass on healthy and sustainable agricultural systems
to future generations.
Source: USDA National Agroforestry Center
Whats the difference between EcoAgriculture and Agroforestry?
Agroforestry is similar to Ecoagriculture and both are
fundamentally working to achieve similar goals of conservation
and sustainability. The difference may be found in the
structures of the systems, there biodiversity and there
adaptability to current practices.
Agroforestry seems to be more adaptable to the current
farming practices of the traditional North American
farmer. It can be seen as more conforming to row planting
and mechanization, thus allowing the farmer productivity
advantages necessary for the North American farmer to
compete with the lower labor costs of less developed
countries. It is suggested that Ecoagriculture is a
more diverse form of farming, more structured to a natural
ecosystem and more labor intensive in management due
to less mechanization.
What is EcoForestry?
Ecoforestry is based on learning to use forests in ecologically
responsible ways based on the wisdom of the forests.
Ecoforestry manages human activities so as not to interfere
with fully functioning natural forest ecosystems.
Ecoforestry aligns forestry with a community context
and limits the use of the forest to that which the forest
can afford to provide and remain healthy. It is a total
system of restoration and sustainable practice that
creates the basis for vibrant rural life. One of the
major applications of ecoforestry worldwide will be
for purposes of restoring full functioning forest ecosystems.
Through an ecoforestry approach, we need to become intimate
enough with the forest to fit our needs into the production
of the forest without interfering with it. Ecoforestry
optimizes cutting instead of maximizing it, harvests
a percentage of the natural interest instead of the
ecological capital. It encourages diverse forests instead
of single species, even aged plantations.
The forest is a web like system that produces many things
that are useful to human beings. Ecoforestry proposes
ecologically responsible practices that permit a diversity
of forest uses within its limits of productivity and
stability. Ecoforestry will progress with the replacement
of the industrial paradigm, an ecological ethic, broadened
ecological economics, and the participation of forest
workers, students, managers everywhere , and definitely
this distiller!
Source: Ecoforestry: The Art and Science of Sustainable
Forest Use (1997). Edited by Alan Rike Drengson and
Duncan MacDonald Taylor. New Society Publishers, Gabriola
Island, BC, Canada
Where do Essential Oils fit in?
A similar goal of all these systems is the desire to
diversify the value within their working models. Essential
oil distillation provides this opportunity on one level.
Generally essential oils can be produced in these systems,
often utilizing plant material that may otherwise not
be used, producing an value-added product. Furthermore,
after distillation it is possible to use the spent material
in soil building and thus contributing to the long term
benefits of the system. Essential oil distillation offers
one piece to a very complex economic and ecological
equation.
Why should I care?
It is hard to deny the world is in environmental crisis.
Just confronting all the issues is more than most can
deal with. If one is to look at all the environmental
concerns it is easy to surmise that we are helpless
in making changes as an individual. I would like to
suggest otherwise. Everyday we all make hundreds of
choices in how we live our lives, what we buy, how we
consume, what we support. These cumulative individual
choices do have impact, huge impact. Each one of us
has the power to contribute in countless ways if we
choose to, and it is only if we do band together and
make some changes that things can get better.
The race to control the food supply chain is fierce
and dominated by very powerful multinational companies.
With genetic engineered stains of seed stock now dominating
many production systems, it is very important for us
to hold on to the agricultural heritage of the world.
The people who work in the systems defined above are
involved in this important work.
Pesticides and Herbicides are killing us, our waterways,
and the wildlife they support. The organic movement
is a positive movement to limit the use of these chemicals.
Every time you buy organic you are endorsing that movement
and in your way reducing the chemicals used to produce
your food and other products you consume.
Over consumption plagues our Western culture. Sustainability
is ultimately becoming the greatest challenge of our
behavior. Not just here in North America, but worldwide,
as other nations and cultures strive for similar standards
of living. Taking responsibility for our individual
habits in consumption while developing concern and making
choices for sustainable living is a fundamental necessity
for positive change on a global level.
Bill Mollison puts it this way:
“The sad reality is that we are in danger of perishing
form our own stupidity and lack of personal responsibility
to life. If we become extinct because of factors beyond
our control, then we can at least die with pride in
ourselves, but to create a mess in which we perish by
our own inaction makes nonsense of our claims to consciousness
and morality.
We have expanded our right to live on the earth to an
entitlement to conquer the earth, yet “conquerors”
of nature always lose. To accumulate wealth, power,
or land beyond one’s needs in a limited world
is to be truly immoral, be it as an individual, an institution,
or a nation state.
What we have done, we can undo. There is no longer time
to waste nor any need to accumulate more evidence of
disasters; the time for action is here. It is our lives
which are being laid to waste. Want is worse, it is
our children’s world which is being destroyed.
It is therefore our only possible decision to withhold
support for destructive systems, and to cease to invest
our lives in our own annihilation. “
The Prime Directive of Permaculture.
The only ethical decision is to take responsibility
for our own existence and that of our children.
Make it now.
Principle of Cooperation
Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing
life systems and of future survival.
Source: Bill Mollison. (1988) Permaculture: A Designers’
Manual. Tagari Publications, Tyalgum, Australia
Now those are some strong words. But they are hard to
deny. I would like to end by saying my commitment to
environmental issues is feed by the incredible people
I have met during my pursuits to integrate my work with
these production models.
It is easy to see the impact one person can have when
you visit the land stewarded in a sustainable manner.
Positive change is happening, hundreds of thousands
of people are doing good, ethical work.
Everywhere you go, examples can be found. The youth
of the world are very aware on an environmental level.
Their strength and commitment will be the driving force
of the future. Lets give them as much help as we can.
Together we are making a difference.
Breathe well,
Kent McKay
|
|
