Permaculture: An Approach to Agriculture
"Without agriculture there will be immediate mass starvation, but with agriculture there will be a continual eroding away of the productive basis of human livelihood."
-Wes Jackson (23)
With the exception of some indigenous cultures where hunting and gathering is practiced, agriculture has been humans' primary source of food production for thousands of years. As time has passed, humans have furthered their knowledge of how agricultural systems work. This has resulted in a modern agriculture backed by hundreds of years of scientific research that seeks to ever increase the amount of food produced by a given acreage of land. Yet while modern agriculture is becoming more focused on efficiently producing food, it is not being followed with sensitivity to how it affects the environment and even the health of soils under its own feet. Since food production is in essence a focused natural process (growth of specific plants and animals), it is intrinsically dependent on the natural world and its systems. Thus, as Jackson points out in the above quote, an agricultural system unconcerned with environmental health is ignoring its very foundations.
A majority of the world's food needs are currently being met by the modern production-focused agricultural system mentioned above. However, as the scientific community is finding more and more evidence of a link between environmental degradation and this type of agriculture, new methods of agriculture are being developed and practiced that focus equal attention to both environmental health and food production. One such model, permaculture, is rapidly gaining attention throughout the world due to its foundational proposal: intelligent and ecologically sensitive design of agricultural systems should naturally be more efficient and productive than the ecologically destructive conventional systems.
Problems With Conventional Industrialized Agriculture
"By increasing the fertility of the land, it increases its abundance. The improvements of agriculture too introduce many sorts of vegetable foods, which, requiring less land and not more labor than corn, come cheaply to the market."
At first he discusses why many believe that the introduction of agriculture was a positive step. Many believe this because they think of our ancestors and how we are now better off than them in many ways (Diamond, 1987). This is true when it comes to various aspects such as technology and the simplicity of obtaining food and shelter. Then he states how an agricultural based society is healthier, easier, and is less time consuming than a hunter-gatherer society because they lived on a day to day basis. It is easier but it proves to not be healthier and is more time consuming. The primary reason why humans converted to an agricultural society is because of the growing numbers in population; there was no possible route to feed so many people while being hunter-gatherers.
Growing more organic food would result in more qualitative air and water. As far as organic food is grown mostly on small farms and the process excludes almost any use of pesticides or chemical stuff, organic farming does not create a threat of water and grounds contamination. Moreover, organic farms show a tendency to create more sustainable and richer soil layer due to crops rotations and use of organic composts. Crop rotations also reduce the exposure of plants to pests. The organic farming can also produce benefits in terms of slowing soil erosion and creating favorable environment for changing nutrient demands that are placed on the soil due to use of respective methods food production. In such way products grown on organic farms seem to include more valuable substances, like vitamins, iron, and other types of minerals. Thus, while growing organic food is imposing a positive impact on soils and decreases the intensity of pollution, it also results in higher contents of valuable substances in
How society created a system in nature where animals and farming actually ruin the land, the same land that was once so cherished by our ancestors, completely stupefies me. When America moved from the locally-owned farms to the gigantic food manufacturers of today, it also moved away from the idea of the sustainability of earth by not preserving the land. Since this movement skyrocketed our economy and allowed for growth in several sectors of life, people gave no second thought to the changes being made. How have we as a society gone so long without even considering the impact of such an enormous revision within our agricultural system? Through industrialized farming, we allow our land to be demolished. However, some farmers know an alternative way of farming. Some farmers use the alternative method of organic farming, a natural agriculture solution. Although there are various factors involved in organic farming, weighing the benefits and costs of this type of farming—on both large and small scale levels—permi...
There is widespread belief in a supreme God, unique and transcendent. Africans have a sense of the sacred and sense of mystery; there is high reverence for sacred places, persons and objects; sacred times are celebrated. Belief in the after life is incorporated in myths and in funeral ceremonies. Religion enfolds the whole of life; there is a difference between life and religion. Ancestors mediate between God and men. It is believed that sin harms the public good; hence there are periodical purification rites in order to promote public welfare. Worship requires a fundamental attitude of strict discipline and reverence.
The skill of listening according to Dr. Robert Bolton (1979) extends beyond simply hearing sound as a physiological sensory process but instead requires and involves interpreting and understanding the sensory experience or what is being heard (p 32). It also is an active experience wherein the listener is fully engaged and has absorbed the information of the speaker while showing interest and providing feedback all while demonstrating that they have heard and understand the message. It is a fair assertion that most people in varying relationships and environments listen in what is considered a passive capacity or only digesting and processing bits and pieces of the speaker’s message. This type of listening lends itself to frequent miscommunication, mixed messages and overall misunderstandings. Effective listening on the other hand provides concise communication, decreases interpersonal conflict and mistakes and also...
Listening is an aspect of communication that vital the building of understanding and of a relationship between individuals. Listening can be an active
Macklin R. (2003). Applying the Four Principles, Journal of Medical Ethics; 29: p.275-280 doi:10.1136/jme.29.5.275.retrieved from http:// jme.bmj.com/content/29/5/275.full
Magesa, Laurenti. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998.
Let’s explore why listening is so critical. “Adam listened to Eve. In that first spoken word message and all since, no communication occurred until there was a listener. It follows, then, that there has become a much-heightened need to listen. We must understand the fundamental relationship involved, we cannot escape it” (Mills 1). The characteristics of good listening skills can be best understood by using the acronym MASTER. The “m” refers to mental. Mental is the ability to slow down and strategically control our ability to listen. “A” refers to active. Being active utilizes constructive listening responses and constant practice can keep this sharp. The “s” refers to sustaining attention. Experienced concentration is crucial for sustaining attention. “T” refers to target. There are four types of potential listening targets; responsive listening, implicative listening, critical listening and nondirective listening. Responsive listening is the agreement between listener and speaker. Implicative listening involves carefully understanding what is implied by hearing what is said. Critical listening is the process of coming to the point of a subject by clearing away all the non-important information. Nondirective listening is fully hearing the speaker out. The “e” refers to eliminating t...
The Zulu people are now enmeshed in South Africa's modern, industrial economy and society, with the largest population of them still in the region of KwaZulu Natal on the eastern coast. There has been an adaptation of traditional beliefs to allow for Christian, medical, agricultural, mechanical and other rational, scientific approaches of the Europeans. However, despite the cultural diffusion of Western thought and religion among the Zulu people, traditional thinking, according to Berglund (1976), is not only still very much present in Zulu society, but is receiving mor...
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will:
IFOAM defines contemporary organic agriculture as a “production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people.” In this journal article, I also learned that organic farming was practiced in 160 countries all over the world. Organic agriculture has expanded, so global publication has spread too, mostly from the 1990s and onward. This resulted in thousands of scholarly articles, books, newspaper, magazine articles and websites about organic farming, so even more people started to learn about the wonders of organic farming. The book Organic Manifesto, authored by Maria Rodale, taught me much about organic farming and conventional farming, and what they do to humans and the earth.
Today agriculture is the livelihood of most poor underdeveloped nations. This communal life blood provides a majority of the population with a source of employment, nourishment and income. It is considered to be an invaluable skill, that is taught down from generation to generation along with a sense of respect for the environment. However as a nation begins to undergo development, so do their food production systems. The country's newfound development causes significant restructuring of their agricultural production practices. This restructuring leads to poor environmental practices, and adverse agriculture methods. Increased economic development/production negatively affects a country's environmental and agricultural health.
The philosophy of agriculture to live harmony with nature is deeply rooted in ancient agriculture and still practiced in India, China and the Andes. Organic agriculture reflects this philosophy, but the recent history of concepts such as organic, bio dynamic, natural farming and other related concepts, can be traced back to early in the 20th century. Conventional agriculture differ from organic farming in terms of usage of chemical fertilizers which increase the nutrient of the soil, usage of genetically modified seeds for better crop production as well as the use of antibiotics and hormones in animal farming. In Malaysia, the major agriculture crop productions are rice, fruits and vegetables (including palm oil production). China is in the first ranking for agriculture sector followed by India and United States of America. Since organic farming is practiced by many countries, without further ado, let’s take a look on how it can affect the environment and its implementation.