[p2p-research] wholistic agriculture (via john thackara)

[Michel Bauwens]

WHOLE, WHOLE ON THE RANGE
A quarter of the land area of Earth is turning into desert. Three quarters
of
the planet's savannas and grasslands are degrading. And because the main
activity on rangelands is grazing livestock, on which 70% of the world's
poorest
people depend, grassland deterioration therefore causes widespread poverty.
Enormous research efforts have been made to understand and reverse
desertification but, until recently, and with one remarkable exception, to
no
avail. That exception, Operation Hope, has transformed 6500 acres of of
parched
and degraded grasslands in Zimbabwe into lush pastures replete with ponds
and
flowing streams - even during periods of drought. Allan Savory, who's behind
the
programme, is a kind of James Lovelock of rangelands management: ridiculed
by
the scientific mainstream for decades, he is now achieving recognition.
Savory
is the winner in the year's Buckminster Fuller Challenge, for which your
correspondent was a jury member. Read more at:
http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/05/whole_whole_on.php
http://tiny.cc/z5d5f

FROM GREEN REVOLUTION - TO BROWN
Savory's work has far wider implications than desertification alone. His
approach contains the elements of a new approach to agriculture. The Green
Revolution was based on high input, industrial agriculture. It involved
massive
inputs of petro-chemicals and herbicides, monoculture cropping, excessive
use of
water, and confinement animal feeding operations. Yes, it increased global
food
production tremendously; but, charges Savory, "the Green Revolution has not
been
characterized by ecological or social integrity—quite the contrary. Horrific
soil erosion, dead zones at the mouths of rivers, severely depleted levels
of
biodiversity, impoverished rural communities, soil fertility loss, and
oxidation
of soil organic matter, have been exacerbated by the Green Revolution".
Savory
promotes the necessity of a new 'Brown Revolution', based on the
regeneration of
covered, organically rich, biologically thriving soil, and brought to
fruition
via millions of human beings returning to the land and the production of
food.

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Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
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