One incredibly beneficial and all-too-often overlooked method of farming is permaculture farming. Permaculture farming involves the development of agricultural ecosystems that are intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. One farm which abides by permaculture methods of farming is the Polyface Farm located in Swoope, Virginia. At this farm, the cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, rabbits, and turkeys have a symbiotic relationship in which they all perform ecological services for one another. To illustrate this, on the farm, three days after the cows have grazed the field, the chickens are released onto the field where they dig through the cow patties, eating the maggots, larvae, and flies, spreading the manure out, and releasing nitrogenous manure. This all allows for the enrichment of the soil. This process produces incredible yields. On only 100 acres of land, the Polyface Farm produces 40,000 lbs of beef, 30,000 lbs of pork, 25,000 dozen eggs, 20,000 broilers, 1,000 turkeys, and 1,000 rabbits worth of food. This is the product of permaculture farming. In addition to this, when the cows graze the grass, a lot of leaf mass is lost. After this, the grass, in order to keep the root mass to leaf mass ratio correct, sheds some of its roots. The species in the soil then chew through those roots and decompose them, resulting in new soil.
Keeping with the discussion of soil and sustainability, another overlooked aspect of sustainability is the importance and potential of soil as a carbon pool. Carbon rich soils act like giant sponges, absorbing water during floods and providing it to plants in times of drought. Further, adding carbon to soil makes the land much more productive. If we were to to increase soil carbon by 0.4% per year we could store 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Land management practices increase potential to store carbon- practices like keeping soil covered with plants, increasing crop diversity, composting, and carefully planned grazing are proven ways to put carbon back into the soil.
To learn more about the information addressed in this blog, watch the following videos:
https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view
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