permaculture

[Robyn Francis <erda@nor.com.au>]

On 14/3/08 1:56 PM, "Kai Vido" <kaivido@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> However, another problem with converting to horse power is
>> that all those big farms would have to be broken up first.
> 
> Why is it a problem to break up larger fields into smaller ones?
> Smaller plots could enable a community-supporting structure where many
> landholders specialized in different crops or diverse permaculture
> systems. 

Agribiz commodity farming system can only function profitably with high
fossil fuel input and subsidies as large operations. Many of these systems
make only $30 per acre profit (that's why they need 80,000+ acres to the
"economically viable"). The increasing cost of oil, and everything that
depends on oil, will force contraction to smaller scale intensive
polyculture farmimg.

The Cuba experience is interesting in this respect - the small 30 hectare
farms using oxen far out-produce the previous former large scale mechanised
mono-production systems. Some farmers form voluntary cooperatives pooling
their land, labour and resources.

Robyn