Editing Permaculture (section)

== Background ==

=== History ===

[[File:Franklin Hiram King.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Franklin Hiram King]] introduced the term "permanent agriculture" in 1911.]]

In 1911, [[Franklin Hiram King]] wrote ''Farmers of Forty Centuries: Or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea and Japan'', describing farming practices of East Asia designed for "permanent agriculture".{{sfn|King|1911|p=Title page}} In 1929, [[Joseph Russell Smith]] appended King's term as the subtitle for ''Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture'', which he wrote in response to widespread deforestation, plow agriculture, and erosion in the eastern mountains and hill regions of the United States. He proposed the planting of tree fruits and nuts as human and animal food crops that could stabilize watersheds and restore soil health.<ref name="jrsjs">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Joseph Russell |last2=Smith |first2=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0PQvqpVnFbAC&pg=PP1 |title=Tree Crops: A permanent agriculture |publisher=Island Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-1-59726873-8}}</ref> Smith saw the world as an inter-related whole and suggested mixed systems of trees with understory crops. This book inspired individuals such as [[Toyohiko Kagawa]] who pioneered [[forest farming]] in Japan in the 1930s.{{Sfn|Hart|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N01940btQAQC&pg=PA41 41]}} Another pioneer, [[George Washington Carver]], advocated for practices now common in permaculture, including the use of [[crop rotation]]<!--which he was not claiming to have invented--> to restore nitrogen to the soil and repair damaged farmland, in his work at the [[Tuskegee Institute]] between 1896 and his death in 1947.<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/119838 "Biodiversity Heritage Library"] ''How to build up and maintain the virgin fertility of our soils'', Holding institute: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library; Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library; Date Scanned: 08/10/2016. Retrieved 2022-08-19</ref><ref>[https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/370968/#slide=gs-240553 "Henry Ford Collections and Research"] ''How to Build Up and Maintain the Virgin Fertility of Our Soils, October 1936''. Retrieved 2022-08-19</ref><ref>[https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/carver/ "National Agricultural Library, George Washington Carver: A national agricultural digital exhibit"] About George Washington Carver, scans of multiple publications by Carver. Retrieved 2022-08-19.</ref>

In his 1964 book ''Water for Every Farm'', the Australian agronomist and engineer [[P. A. Yeomans]] advanced a definition of permanent agriculture as one that can be sustained indefinitely. Yeomans introduced both an observation-based approach to land use in Australia in the 1940s and in the 1950s the Keyline Design as a way of managing the supply and distribution of water in semi-arid regions. Other early influences include [[Stewart Brand]]'s works, [[Ruth Stout]] and [[Esther Deans]], who pioneered [[no-dig gardening]], and [[Masanobu Fukuoka]] who, in the late 1930s in Japan, began advocating [[No-till farming|no-till]] orchards and gardens and [[natural farming]].<ref name = "Holmgren Essence">{{Cite web |last=Holmgren |first=David |year=2006 |title=The Essence of Permaculture |url=http://www.holmgren.com.au/frameset.html?http://www.holmgren.com.au/html/Writings/weeds.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526225318/http://www.holmgren.com.au/frameset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holmgren.com.au%2Fhtml%2FWritings%2Fweeds.html |archive-date=26 May 2008 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Holmgren Design Services }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mollison |first=Bill |date=15–21 September 1978 |title=The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka |page=18 |work=[[Nation Review]]}}</ref>

[[File:Bill Mollison 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bill Mollison]], who has been described as the "father of permaculture", cites Aboriginal Tasmanian belief systems as an inspiration of the practice.<ref name=":3" />]]

In the late 1960s, [[Bill Mollison]], senior lecturer in Environmental Psychology at [[University of Tasmania]], and [[David Holmgren]], graduate student at the then Tasmanian College of Advanced Education started developing ideas about stable agricultural systems on the southern Australian island of [[Tasmania]]. Their recognition of the unsustainable nature of modern industrialized methods and their inspiration from Tasmanian Aboriginal and other traditional practises were critical to their formulation of permaculture.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Schaeffer |first=John |title=Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook |publisher=New Society Publishers |year=2014 |isbn=9780865717848 |pages=292 |quote=Bill Mollison and a younger David Holmgren, who were studying the unstable and unsustainable characteristics of Western industrialized culture [...] They were drawn to indigenous worldviews...}}</ref><ref name="Permaculture 1991">''Introduction to Permaculture'', 1991, Mollison, p.v</ref> In their view, industrialized methods were highly dependent on non-[[renewable resource]]s, and were additionally poisoning land and water, reducing [[biodiversity]], and removing billions of tons of [[topsoil]] from previously fertile landscapes. They responded with permaculture. This term was first made public with the publication of their 1978 book ''Permaculture One''.<ref name="Permaculture 1991" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Permaculture One |publisher=Transworld Publishers |year=1978 |isbn=978-0552980753 |pages=128}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a [[Monocropping|single product system]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mollison, B. C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/24484204 |title=Introduction to permaculture |date=1991 |publisher=Tagari Publications |others=Slay, Reny Mia., Jeeves, Andrew. |isbn=0-908228-05-8 |location=Tyalgum, Australia |oclc=24484204}}</ref>|Bill Mollison}}

Following the publication of ''Permaculture One'', Mollison responded to widespread enthusiasm for the work by traveling and teaching a three-week program that became known as the Permaculture Design Course. It addressed the application of permaculture design to growing in major climatic and soil conditions, to the use of renewable energy and natural building methods, and to "invisible structures" of human society. He found ready audiences in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Britain, and Europe, and from 1985 also reached the Indian subcontinent and southern Africa. By the early 1980s, the concept had broadened from agricultural systems towards [[Sustainable habitat|sustainable human habitats]] and at the 1st Intl. Permaculture Convergence, a gathering of graduates of the PDC held in Australia, the curriculum was formalized and its format shortened to two weeks. After ''Permaculture One'', Mollison further refined and developed the ideas while designing hundreds of properties. This led to the 1988 publication of his global reference work, ''Permaculture: A Designers Manual''. Mollison encouraged graduates to become teachers and set up their own institutes and demonstration sites.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lillington |first1=Ian |last2=Holmgren |first2=David |last3=Francis |first3=Robyn |last4=Rosenfeldt |first4=Robyn |title=The Permaculture Story: From 'Rugged Individuals' to a Million Member Movement |url=https://www.pipmagazine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/what-is-permaculture.pdf |access-date=9 July 2015 |website=Pip Magazine}}</ref> Critics suggest that this success weakened permaculture's social aspirations of moving away from industrial social forms. They argue that the self-help model (akin to [[franchising]]) has had the effect of creating market-focused social relationships that the originators initially opposed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Massicotte |first1=Marie-Josée |last2=Kelly-Bisson |first2=Christopher |date=1 September 2019 |title=What's wrong with permaculture design courses? Brazilian lessons for agroecological movement-building in Canada |journal=Agriculture and Human Values |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=581–594 |doi=10.1007/s10460-018-9870-8 |issn=1572-8366 |s2cid=158253671}}</ref>

=== Foundational ethics ===

The ethics on which permaculture builds are:{{sfn|Mollison|1988|p=2}}<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Holmgren |first=David |title=Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability |publisher=Holmgren Design Services |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-646-41844-5 |page=1}}</ref>

# "Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply".{{sfn|Mollison|1988|p=2}}
# "Care of people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence".{{sfn|Mollison|1988|p=2}}
# "Setting limits to population and consumption: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles".{{sfn|Mollison|1988|p=2}}

Mollison's 1988 formulation of the third ethic was restated by Holmgren<ref name=":14"/> in 2002 as "Set limits to consumption and reproduction, and redistribute surplus" and is elsewhere condensed to "''share the surplus"''.<ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last=Rhodes |first=Christopher J. |date=2015 |title=Permaculture: regenerative - not merely sustainable |journal=Science Progress |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=405 |doi=10.3184/003685015X14467291596242 |pmid=26790178 |s2cid=31694833|pmc=10365330 }}</ref>

Permaculture emphasizes patterns of [[landscape]], function, and species assemblies. It determines where these elements should be placed so they can provide maximum benefit to the local environment. Permaculture maximizes [[synergy]] of the final design. The focus of permaculture, therefore, is not on individual elements, but rather on the relationships among them. The aim is for the whole to become [[Emergence|greater than the sum of its parts]], minimizing [[waste]], human labour, and energy input, and to and maximize benefits through [[synergy]].<ref name="Edible Forest Gardening">{{cite web |title=Edible Forest Gardening |url=http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111101061331/http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/ |archive-date=1 November 2011 |access-date=5 April 2012}}</ref>

Permaculture design is founded in replicating or imitating natural patterns found in ecosystems because these solutions have emerged through evolution over thousands of years and have proven to be effective. As a result, the implementation of permaculture design will vary widely depending on the region of the Earth it is located in. Because permaculture's implementation is so localized and place specific, scientific literature for the field is lacking or not always applicable.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ferguson |first1=Rafter Sass |last2=Lovell |first2=Sarah Taylor |date=1 April 2014 |title=Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review |journal=Agronomy for Sustainable Development |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=251–274 |doi=10.1007/s13593-013-0181-6 |issn=1773-0155 |s2cid=15089504|doi-access=free |bibcode=2014AgSD...34..251F }}</ref> Design principles derive from the science of [[systems ecology]] and the study of pre-industrial examples of [[Sustainability|sustainable]] land use.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=Veteto |first1=James R. |last2=Lockyear |first2=Joshua |date=2008 |title=Environmental Anthropology Engaging Permaculture: Moving Theory and Practice Toward Sustainability |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1556-486X.2008.00007.x |journal=Culture & Agriculture |volume=30 |issue=1–2 |pages=50–53 |doi=10.1111/j.1556-486X.2008.00007.x |via=AnthroSource|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="David Holmgren 1997">{{Cite web |last=Holmgren |first=David |year=1997 |title=Weeds or Wild Nature |url=http://holmgren.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/23_weeds_or_wild_nature.pdf |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Permaculture International Journal}}</ref>

A core theme of permaculture is the idea of "people care". Seeking prosperity begins within a local community or culture that can apply the tenets of permaculture to sustain an environment that supports them and vice versa. This is in contrast to typical modern industrialized societies, where locality and generational knowledge is often overlooked in the pursuit of wealth or other forms of societal leverage.<ref name="Mollison on people">{{Cite web |last=Mollison |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Mollison |title=A quote from Permaculture |url=https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10593799-the-tragic-reality-is-that-very-few-sustainable-systems-are |access-date=27 December 2022 |website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves. - Bill Mollison<ref name="Mollison on people"/>}}