Designing Sustainable Small Farms

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In the following pages, I'll describe the permaculture guidelines for designing small farms and homesteads and then explain the actual design process. This article is necessarily general rather than specific but my hope is that it can set you on the right road. You will have to find out most of what you need to know from other sources (such as the ones I'll mention) and from your own experience. Remember as you work that the ever changing landscapes around us have much to teach the patient observer. The challenge we face is to listen, look, and learn.

Some Sad Facts About Our Food System

Two million small farms in this country produce 20% of our food, and gardens alone supply an estimated $16 billion worth of produce each year. As heartening as this sounds, most of us still depend on food produced on large farms that are far removed from the point of consumption. We share, therefore, in the serious environmental costs associated with conventional agriculture. As in other areas of human endeavor, technological progress in agriculture has been purchased at the price of environmental degradation and the loss of natural resources. Consider, for example, some of the external costs of modern farming in this country.

*At least one-third of our topsoil has been lost to erosion, and soil on existing cropland is being reduced at an average annual rate of 8 tons per acre ... and on 23% of the total cropland, soil losses average 21 tons per acre.

* Productivity has been maintained by increased fossil fuel input in the forms of cultivation, fertilizers, and synthetic pesticides ... and the resulting soil erosion and over-fertilization are responsible for the serious degradation of our aquatic ecosystems.

* Each year, approximately one billion pounds of pesticides are used in US. agriculture, yet losses to insect pests, pathogens, and weeds exceed a third of the potential crop. In addition, pesticide abuse is responsible for environmental and public health problems, such as human poisoning and fatalities, groundwater contamination, the destruction of nontarget organisms, and the development of pesticide resistant weeds and insects.

* Agriculture accounts for at least 81% of our nation's water consumption, and in some areas, salinization and aquifer depletion are apparent.

* The conversion of agricultural land for nonfarm uses has led to large deficits in food production in some parts of the country. (Massachusetts, for example, imports 93% of its food requirements.)

* The food system absorbs 16% of all the energy used in America. Food production, distribution, and processing can be sustained only as long as fossil fuels are available and affordable.

Part 1: Design Guidelines

The primary characteristic that distinguishes permaculture systems from conventional agriculture is the emphasis on skilled design. The placement of elements in a landscape, their relationships to each other, their evolution over time, and the ability of the system as a whole to meet the realistic goals of its managers should all be taken into consideration.

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