Editing Permaculture (section)

== Issues ==

=== Intellectual property ===

Trademark and [[copyright]] disputes surround the word ''permaculture.'' Mollison's books claimed on the [[copyright page]], "The contents of this book and the word PERMACULTURE are copyright." Eventually Mollison acknowledged that he was mistaken and that no copyright protection existed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grayson |first=Russ |year=2011 |title=The Permaculture Papers 5: time of change and challenge - 2000–2004 |url=http://pacific-edge.info/the-permaculture-papers-5-time-of-change-and-challenge-%E2%80%94-2000-2004/ |access-date=8 September 2011 |publisher=Pacific edge}}</ref>

In 2000, Mollison's U.S.-based Permaculture Institute sought a [[service mark]] for the word ''permaculture'' when used in educational services such as conducting classes, seminars, or workshops.<ref>{{Cite web |last=United States Patent and Trademark Office |author-link=United States Patent and Trademark Office |year=2011 |title=Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) |url=http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4005:o81il1.2.1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316040257/http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4005:o81il1.2.1 |archive-date=16 March 2017 |access-date=8 September 2011 |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce}}</ref> The service mark would have allowed Mollison and his two institutes to set enforceable guidelines regarding how permaculture could be taught and who could teach it, particularly with relation to the PDC, despite the fact that he had been certifying teachers since 1993. This attempt failed and was abandoned in 2001. Mollison's application for trademarks in Australia for the terms "Permaculture Design Course" and "Permaculture Design" was withdrawn in 2003. In 2009 he sought a trademark for "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual" and "Introduction to Permaculture", the names of two of his books. These applications were withdrawn in 2011. Australia has never authorized a trademark for the word ''permaculture''.<ref name="IPA">{{Cite web |year=2011 |title=Result |url=http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/atmoss/Falcon.Result |access-date=8 September 2011 |publisher=[[IP Australia]] |archive-date=14 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514011248/http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/atmoss/Falcon.Result |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Definition===

The broad range of topics discussed in permaculture has led to criticism that permaculture is not clearly defined. Peter Harper from the [[Centre for Alternative Technology]] has lamented that, "for some people 'Permaculture' is a generic term for sustainable living, giving another whole set of shifting, fuzzy meanings".<ref name= "Harper Big Rock">{{cite journal |last1=Harper |first1=Peter |title=Permaculture: The Big Rock Candy Mountain |journal=The Land |date=Summer 2013 |issue=14 |url=https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/permaculture-big-rock-candy-mountain |access-date=2 December 2024 |publisher=[[The Land is Ours]]}}</ref> Even permaculture texts have expressed that "there are as many permaculture definitions as there are permaculturists", although this is also seen as a strength of the flexibility of permaculture principles.<ref name="Macnamara">{{cite book |last1=Macnamara |first1=Looby |title=People & Permaculture |date=2012 |publisher=Permanent Publications |isbn=978 1 85623 087 2 |page=1}}</ref>

Studies of permaculture farms have shown a diversity as well as a number of consistent features. A 2017 study of 36 self-described American permaculture farms found a variety of business strategies, including small [[mixed farm]]s, integrated producers of perennial and animal crops, mixes of production and services, livestock, and service-based businesses.<ref name="Ferguson Lovell 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Ferguson |first1=Rafter Sass |last2=Lovell |first2=Sarah Taylor |title=Livelihoods and production diversity on U.S. permaculture farms |journal=Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems |publisher=Informa UK |volume=41 |issue=6 |date=2 May 2017 |issn=2168-3565 |doi=10.1080/21683565.2017.1320349 |pages=588–613 |bibcode=2017AgSFS..41..588F |s2cid=157437298 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rafter-Ferguson/publication/316639793_Livelihoods_and_Production_Diversity_on_US_Permaculture_Farms/links/5b48c56eaca272c6093f5a31/Livelihoods-and-Production-Diversity-on-US-Permaculture-Farms.pdf<!--NOT redundant to DOI-->}}</ref> A 2019 study by Hirschfeld and Van Acker found that adopting permaculture consistently encouraged cultivation of perennials, crop diversity, [[Spatial heterogeneity|landscape heterogeneity]], and nature conservation. They found that grass-roots adopters were "remarkably consistent" in their implementation of permaculture, leading them to conclude that the movement could exert influence over positive agroecological transitions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hirschfeld |first1=Sarah |last2=Acker |first2=Rene Van |date=June 2020 |title=Permaculture farmers consistently cultivate perennials, crop diversity, landscape heterogeneity and nature conservation |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renewable-agriculture-and-food-systems/article/abs/permaculture-farmers-consistently-cultivate-perennials-crop-diversity-landscape-heterogeneity-and-nature-conservation/ED6AA225064583F39E26E6A754BD138F |journal=Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=342–351 |doi=10.1017/S1742170519000012 |issn=1742-1705|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Methodology===

Permaculture as a popular movement has been largely isolated from scientific literature. Most permaculture literature is non-scientific in nature and is written for non-specialists. Many permaculturalists rarely engage with mainstream research in [[agroecology]], [[agroforestry]], or [[ecological engineering]],<ref name="Ferguson Lovell" /> and permaculture publications rarely cite academic sources.<ref name="Scott">{{cite web |url=http://robscott.net/2010/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Scott2010.pdf |title=A Critical Review of Permaculture in the United States |author=Robert Scott |website=Robscott.net |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref> In parallel, it was observed in 2007 that few academic papers studied permaculture principles or permaculture farm productivity.<ref name="Scott" /> Going back to Mollison and Holmgren's early publications, permaculturalists have often claimed that mainstream science has an elitist or pro-corporate bias, or that academic institutions are too rigid to study the interdisciplinary approach permaculture proposes.<ref name="Ferguson Lovell" />

This divide has led some to criticise permaculture as [[Pseudoscience|pseudo-scientific]] or to call for a more clear methodology to be used.<ref name="For Sceptics 2021">{{Cite web |date=11 March 2021 |title=Permaculture for Sceptics |url=https://www.permaculturenews.org/2021/03/11/permaculture-for-sceptics/ |access-date=22 July 2021 |website=The Permaculture Research Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421231533/https://www.permaculturenews.org/2021/03/11/permaculture-for-sceptics/ |archive-date=21 April 2021 |url-status=dead<!--?-->}}</ref> Peter Harper has attempted to draw a distinction between "'cult' permaculture", where oversimplified claims are assumed to be true and go untested, and "'smart' permaculture", which acts "more like an immature academic field".<ref name= "Harper Big Rock" /> Some permaculturalists have also observed oversimplification, such as Robert Kourik, who commented that the supposed advantages of "less- or no-work gardening, bountiful yields, and the soft fuzzy glow of knowing that the garden will ... live on without you" were often illusory.<ref name=":13">{{cite web |author=Peter Harper |date=2003 |title=A Critique of Permaculture: Cleaning out the stables |url=http://academia-danubiana.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2.12.09.01_HARPER-A-critique-of-permaculture.pdf |website=Academia-danubiana.net |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>

More recently, permaculture has started to be an object of scientific study. Julius Krebs and Sonja Bach argue in a 2018 issue of [[Sustainability (journal)|''Sustainability'']] that there is "scientific evidence for all twelve [of Holmgren's] principles".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krebs |first1=Julius |last2=Bach |first2=Sonja |title=Permaculture—Scientific evidence of principles for the agroecological design of farming systems |journal=[[Sustainability (journal)|Sustainability]] |volume=10 |issue=9 |year=2018 |page=3218 |doi=10.3390/su10093218 |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3218/pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2024, Reiff and colleagues stated that permaculture is a "sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture", and that it "strongly" enhances carbon stocks, soil quality, and biodiversity, making it "an effective tool to promote sustainable agriculture, ensure sustainable production patterns, combat climate change and halt and reverse land degradation and [[biodiversity loss]]." They point out that most of permaculture’s most common methods, such as agroforestry,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Castle |first1=Sarah E. |last2=Miller |first2=Daniel C. |last3=Merten |first3=Nikolas |last4=Ordonez |first4=Pablo J. |last5=Baylis |first5=Kathy |date=2022-03-17 |title=Evidence for the impacts of agroforestry on ecosystem services and human well-being in high-income countries: a systematic map |journal=Environmental Evidence |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=10 |doi=10.1186/s13750-022-00260-4 |doi-access=free |pmid=39294716 |bibcode=2022EnvEv..11...10C |issn=2047-2382|pmc=11378871 }}</ref> polycultures,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brooker |first1=Rob W. |last2=Bennett |first2=Alison E. |last3=Cong |first3=Wen-Feng |last4=Daniell |first4=Tim J. |last5=George |first5=Timothy S. |last6=Hallett |first6=Paul D. |last7=Hawes |first7=Cathy |last8=Iannetta |first8=Pietro P. M. |last9=Jones |first9=Hamlyn G. |last10=Karley |first10=Alison J. |last11=Li |first11=Long |last12=McKenzie |first12=Blair M. |last13=Pakeman |first13=Robin J. |last14=Paterson |first14=Eric |last15=Schöb |first15=Christian |date=April 2015 |title=Improving intercropping: a synthesis of research in agronomy, plant physiology and ecology |url=https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.13132 |journal=New Phytologist |volume=206 |issue=1 |pages=107–117 |doi=10.1111/nph.13132 |pmid=25866856 |issn=0028-646X}}</ref> and water harvesting features,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Tong |last2=Wang |first2=Mo |last3=Su |first3=Jin |last4=Li |first4=Jianjun |date=January 2023 |title=Unlocking the Positive Impact of Bio-Swales on Hydrology, Water Quality, and Biodiversity: A Bibliometric Review |journal=Sustainability |volume=15 |issue=10 |pages=8141 |doi=10.3390/su15108141 |doi-access=free |issn=2071-1050}}</ref> are also backed by peer-reviewed research.