More than 90 percent of all the food grown in the U.S. is reliant on synthetic fertilizer made from petrochemicals. Without it there would be no food for most of us. The soils of America’s industrial agriculture system are dead, compacted and depleted, so without artificial fertilizer, there’s just not enough nutrients for the crops to grow, and without plowing there is nothing to aerate the soil. Even organic farms are dependent on oil to produce, process and ship their crops.
The fact is, we use ten calories of fossil fuel energy for every single (that’s right, just one!) calorie of food we produce. This way of life is fundamentally unsustainable and simply cannot continue. Given that we have reached peak oil and cannot depend on fossil fuels to supply our food in the coming decades, how can we live without them?
The answers are in nature. As Charles Darwin pointed out, earthworms have been plowing and aerating the soil for millions of years. And as for fertilizers, just look at how a forest flourishes by using the natural fertility created by billions of living microbes, fungi, plants and animals.
Non-destructive, low-energy methods that mimic nature are elements of a wider system known as Permaculture, which challenges all the normal approaches to farming. Permaculture means “permanent agriculture,” and one of its central principles is that you work with the land, rather than against it.
According to PermaculturePlanet.com, Permaculture is “an interdisciplinary earth science which encompasses many kinds of appropriate technologies and sustainable design methodologies, such as; renewable energy, water conservation, organic food production, ecological building techniques, micro-economics and more.
In a world of rapid ecological change & seemingly insurmountable social & environmental problems, Permaculture offers practical solutions using design principles drawn from the observation of natural systems. From individual homes to entire bio-regions, Permaculture has the potential to repair damaged landscapes, build capacity in communities and replace apathy with self empowerment.”
Permaculture techniques have brought forth food and fertility from barren deserts in Jordan, Israel, and India, and saved villages in Africa and Cambodia from starvation and dependence on foreign food aid. I use Permaculture methods in my own garden to increase yields without machinery, outside inputs, or even a lot of work. Permaculture practices are something everyone can learn.
The technology we need to thrive in a future without petroleum is not waiting to be discovered in some laboratory somewhere, it is right here working in communities around the world. For a glimpse of the farm of the future, watch the video above.
This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade!
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Ever since I first heard about Permaculture, I wanted to learn everything there is to know about it. Perhaps one of these days I’ll take a class somewhere about it.
Thanks for joining in the Fight Back Fridays fun.
Cheers,
~KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
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