permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

Scott wrote:

> I am looking for any published data on the efficacy of permaculture
> agriculture, silvaculture, acquaculture, or homestead self sufficiency.
> I am particularly interested in research that has done comparative
> studies of permaculture vs standard practices.

It may be hard to find data that's actually labeled "permaculture research"
(though we need it). But here are a few possibilities from some of the
disciplines that permaculture can include:

Agroforestry and agroecology research centers. CGIAR (Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research) has a website, www.cgiar.org that ties
into a lot of organizations doing agroforestry and ag using complex
agroecosystems. One of these, ICRAF (Int'l Centre for Research in
Agroforestry, http://www.cgiar.org/icraf)  has several programs doing
research on yields under agroforestry. One of the programs is their
Alternatives to Slash and Burn project at
http://wwwscas.cit.cornell.edu/ecf3/Web/AF/ASBMain.html
(which has a nice photo of rice paddies and an agroforest)
and one page, 
http://wwwscas.cit.cornell.edu/ecf3/MyPages/ASB/ASBPublications.html
lists many papers on yields, and improvement of nutrient cycling and
diversity through agroforestry. A little searching through the related pages
and links should get you some good data.

You could also cite some of Douglas and Hart's data from "Forest Farming"
where they describe yields from grain as 1-2 Ton/Acre, apples as 5-7, and
various nuts and pods as up to 15T/Acre (I'm citing from memory here; you'd
have to find the exact numbers in the book).

I also remember a thread a while back here where Russ Grayson (I think)
talked about the importance of evaluating after a site design, and the
impression I got was that he had done some of this. Might check with Russ
(Pacific Edge Permaculture <pacedge@magna.com.au>)

Darren Doherty at www.australiafelix.com.au has worked on a lot of
large-scale Pc-style projects and may know of some data, too, but since he's
on this list and hasn't said anything, perhaps not. Might check with him
though.

You may have to be creative and assemble data from systems that aren't
calling themselves Pc yet are doing just what we do. Let me know how the
process goes. I can't blame the grant agencies for wanting hard numbers;
hope you can find some. It would be a service to Pc.

Toby