permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Russians Proving That Small-Scale, Organic Gardening Can Feed the
World | Reclaim, Grow, Sustain
http://reclaimgrowsustain.com/content/russians-proving-small-scale-organic-gardening-can-feed-world

Russians Proving That Small-Scale, Organic Gardening Can Feed the World

When it's suggested that our food system be comprised of millions of
small, organic gardens, there's almost always someone who says that it
isn't realistic. And they'll quip something along the lines of,
"There's no way you could feed the world's growing population with
just gardens, let alone organically." Really? Has anybody told Russia
this?

On a total of approximately 8 million hectares (20 million acres) of
land, 16.5 million Russian families grow food in small-scale, organic
gardens on their Dachas (a secondary home, often in the extra urban
areas). Because growing your own food happens to be a long-lived
tradition in Russia, even among the wealthy.

Based on the 1999 "Private Household Farming in Russia" Gosmkostat
(State Committee for Statistics) statistics, these Dacha families
produced:

    38% of Russia's total agricultural output
    41% of the livestock
    82% of the honey
    79% of the sold cattle
    65% of the sold sheep and goats
    59% of the milk
    31% of the sold poultry
    28% of the eggs
    91% of the potatoes
    76% of the vegetables
    79% of the fruits

If Russian families can manage such production in their region's very
short growing season (approx. 110 days), imagine the output most parts
of the world could manage by comparison. Unfortunately in just the US
alone, lawns take up more than twice the amount of land Russia's
gardens do (est. 40-45 million acres).
- See more at: 
http://reclaimgrowsustain.com/content/russians-proving-small-scale-organic-gardening-can-feed-world#sthash.yM7AmDC1.dpuf