Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Whitefield, a meat-eater, does provide a two page discussion on page 258 of his book,
headed 'Omnivorous or Vegan?'. He phrases this discussion within the context of organic
farming, which he has just soundly endorsed, and prefaces the main part of the discussion
with these words:
The practical question is 'how important is the keeping of animals to sustainable
farming? On the one hand, we can get a far higher yield of food from the land by eat-
ing plants rather than animals. On the other hand, animals have an important part to
play in maintaining soil fertility.
Whitefield goes on to explain the principles of fertility building through ley farming,
and examines experimental variations such as stockless rotations, and bi-cropping (sowing
grain in a sward of perennial clover, which can be mown for fodder or grazed after the har-
vest). He concludes:
The total output of grain from a wholly organic agriculture would be less than at
present, partly because of lower yields per hectare, and partly because a proportion
of the arable land must be down to ley at any time. We would have plenty of grain
for ourselves, but not much to spare for feeding animals. So production of pigs and
poultry would have to be reduced. But grass-eating ruminants - sheep, cattle, goats -
would probably have a central place.
I could hardly agree with him more. It's all there in a sense, yet it's tucked away when
it ought to occupy a central place in his book, and in the permaculture canon. One thing
I found curious about Whitefield's discussion of the delicate meat/vegan issue is that he
never mentions the word permaculture. 'How important is the keeping of animals to sus-
tainable farming?' he asks. In a permaculture handbook you would have though that the
crucial question was 'how important is the keeping of animals to permaculture?'Is he being
polite to permaculturist vegans? Does he consider that ley farming, though sustainable, is
not part of permaculture? Or is this just an accidental choice of words that I am attaching
too much importance to?
That doesn't really matter. What does matter is that nobody has yet found a way to grow
continuous high yields of grain crops organically other than in conjunction with grass and
legumes - which may not strictly require animal husbandry, but certainly lend themselves
to it. Grain is our primary staple, and however successful breeders may become at devel-
oping food from trees, it is going to remain the staple for the vast majority of people in the
world for some time to come. Staple crops, by definition, lie at the heart of any agricultural
system, and it is very difficult to see how permaculture, unless it espouses agrochemicals,
can afford to neglect the grass and legumes that are so essential for the organic production
