Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Judicious removal of mature conifers will provide space not only for housing, but for
more durable timber species, such as European larch, Douglas fir and Scots pine.
43
In 2005, these proposals attracted interest because of the plummeting price of softwood
on the world market, and the Scottish Minister for Forestry and Rural Development reques-
ted the Forestry Commission to produce a report into the possibility of establishing forest
crofts along these lines. However, in 2006 timber prices rallied, and in 2008 and 2009 the
Scottish Government spent most of its energy trying to force through the sale of Forestry
Commission land to private companies, rather than exploring ways of using the resource
more sustainably. A bid from the Kilfinan Project in Argyll to buy 452 hectares for a com-
munity forest and forest crofts was turned down because the Forestry Commission required
full market price, while the Big Lottery Fund would not finance full market price acquisi-
with help from Highands and Islands Enterprise.
Kilfinan Forest Village aims to derive its most substantial income from adding value to
the produce, and sees a future in improvement of the woodland; but the emphasis on 'local-
izing the source of essential resources' - food, housing, power and water - places it firmly
within the sphere of permaculture. It would be a wonderful irony if these much-maligned
conifer forests turned out to be the serendipitous seedbed for the spread of polyculture.
It is tempting to view the establishment of clearings and settlements within plantations
as analogous to Vera's groves, hollowed out by the passage of time and the incursions of
grazing. Similarly, the landscapes of formerly arable East Anglia and of formerly pastoral
Herefordshire would be 'Vera-ized' as they became peppered with woodlands, fields, pas-
tures, and orchards. As in Vera's model, the texture of this landscape would be in large part
maintained by livestock. Only livestock can engineer the balance that any society seeks
between the realm of light and the realm of shade on any scale beyond the arable. Even in a
full-blooded fossil fuel economy, JCBs, timber harvesters and other wheeled monsters are
fighting a losing battle with nature unless they enlist the help of quadrupeds. Where live-
stock are allowed to roam they bring grass, and where they are excluded trees grow, and
it is a relatively effortless matter for humans to calibrate their performance to our will or
whim.
The other task that animals perform more efficiently than machines is to move nutrients
from where they are not needed to where they are required. That (together with the addition
or removal of water) is largely what land improvement consists of. We employ plants to
extract nitrogen from the atmosphere into the land, and we employ animals to move nitro-
gen and other nutrients from one bit of land to another. More importantly perhaps, plants
cannot extract phosphorus from the atmosphere, so the role of animals in importing surplus
phophorous from outlying areas could be crucial.
