Permaculture, which is short for permanent agriculture or permanent culture, was developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the late 1970s. The term describes a holistic approach to farming that incorporates plant, animal, and human systems into a diverse yet fully integrated ecosystem promoting abundance. It can be applied on any scale from domestic to commercial farming, and its approach is to mimic natural ecosystems by using the flow of energy that exists in and between the various individual components to create harmonious and regenerative relationships. Through this approach, food production becomes a sustainable process supporting and encouraging diversity and abundance.
There are three core ideas in permaculture practice – earth care, people care, and fair share or “return of surplus”, as Geoff Lawton, a well-known permaculturist, puts it.
Earth care is simply the aim to do no harm to the earth and all the creatures, plants, and resources with which we share it. It includes environmental concerns, the use of bio- and alternative fuels, the promotion of eco-approaches, and the environmental conservation that goes beyond simply preserving the resources, plants, and animals that remain after years of destruction – it aims for regeneration and the creation of a state of bountifulness. It especially tries to minimise and repair the impact and damage of our activities on the planet. In permaculture, all things have an intrinsic or inherent value which permaculture systems attempt to harness without causing harm and for the greater good of all things. Earth care implies a change in one’s way of thinking – from how one can exploit resources to their maximum potential to how one can form systems which work in harmony with one another.
People care is the care of the people involved in the maintenance and use of natural systems. The aim here is to provide for the current and even future food needs of people, while still keeping earth care in mind. Food production should occur in a sustainable and enduring way. Permaculture emphasises the creation of healthy, pesticide-free, organic produce that can promote and sustain human and environmental health and wellness.
Fair share is the idea of sharing the surplus which is (hopefully) created through the permaculture process. It is the end of the permaculture cycle, where surplus food is fed back into the system to ensure the system’s continued existence. Permaculture systems should not only survive, but thrive. People receive food and produce to eat as a result of their labours, while the soil is restored and fed nutrients from surplus production and plant matter which is allowed to fall to the ground using the “chop and drop” method. Organic waste is turned into nutrient-rich compost through compost heaps and worm bins, and animals are fed the food grown in abundance, which in turn they help to fertilize. Plants grow stronger and produce more through soil amendments, natural fertilizer, and better management of the process of food production. And so the cycle continues. Energy flows through the cycle, giving nutrients back to the system and supplying each individual element’s needs. Fair share not only applies to surplus food production, but also to the sharing and continuous redistribution of time, resources, and information. It also means that the system should inherently cater to its own needs.
From these three, simple ideas, permaculture grows into a complete and comprehensive approach to gardening and farming. And it is easy to see how important and applicable these ideas are to food production in a time where resources are scarce, the environment is under huge amounts of strain, and the changing climate and temperatures and human activities are wreaking havoc on the earth.
