Hi Tom
I have enjoyed your recent comments. I live in New Zealand and, for some 10
years now I have pondered the sort of agroecological approach that has been
proposed and followed by the boys and girls at UC Santa Cruz. I was also
familiar with the work of Sir Albert Howard (Agricultural Testament) and
Fukuoka.
What I am pushing towards is a sort of combination of all three. The starting
point is the ecology (original) of our region which was largely wetland with
large swampy areas and lot of big trees. This has been 90% deforested and
drained for dairy farm. We are moving slowly backwards, ecologically speaking by
reintroducing timber belts. These high quality timber trees planted around
boundaries and electric fenced, grow to maturity in less than 20 years. They
provide a diversification of income, employment and enterprise opportunity, mop
up any leached fertiliser and, in combination with interplanted shelter of
fodder species make a significant contribution to animal welfare and hence
producitivity.
We are also looking at separating dairy shed effluent, a hugh environmental
problem in the region, feeding the solids to earthworms, and then using
resultant humus as a replacement for soluble fertilisers and earthworms as feed
for eels (an indigenous species) grown in cleaned up water.
I still think that poultry have a place to - phosphate availability is a problem
on the regions soils and poultry are good concentrators, they may also (ducks)
reduce nematode levels.
Anyway just a flavour of how I think that Fukuoka's philisophy can be applied
locally without great revolutions or fanfares and in a way which regenerates
both ecologies and rural communities.
Humusly
Alfred Harris
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