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Natural Sequence Farming (1 Viewer)

2020s vision: Heal the land, secure our future

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...Wc2D5L4fAfu4kTD-9GoBeigJ1z9jp00Q0Jj1KI0OtTn80

"The former governor-general Michael Jeffery has said that “soil and water security will increasingly underpin global social stability and security”. We have lost so much topsoil and fertility that even “organic” or “sustainable” is no longer enough. All of our futures rely on starting to farm in ways that build soil and sequester carbon."






Chosun :gh:
 
You've just chalked up your 44th post in a row to this thread, Chosun, in unbroken sequence with zero responses from anyone else. So treat this as my contribution to breaking the monotony. . .. ;)
 
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Chosun, thank you for these eco restoration tutorials.
The Wall Street Journal had a story some years back of a similar effort in western India, where former streams had dried up because of poor land management. The local who changed that was a farmer whose insight was to create shallow bumps in the land, to help reduce the rainy season runoff and recharge the aquifers. Given that Australia has a similar fairly flat landscape with a similar feast/famine water supply, would that approach make any sense there?
 
Ponding

etudiant said:
Chosun, thank you for these eco restoration tutorials.
The Wall Street Journal had a story some years back of a similar effort in western India, where former streams had dried up because of poor land management. The local who changed that was a farmer whose insight was to create shallow bumps in the land, to help reduce the rainy season runoff and recharge the aquifers. Given that Australia has a similar fairly flat landscape with a similar feast/famine water supply, would that approach make any sense there?
Click to expand...
Yes, thanks, I recall seeing that article.

In natural floodplain systems, the flatness of the land (particularly clay based - those particles are tiny !) is created by the water in a self leveling process over millenia - the wetlands slowing the flow and spreading the water are key. It is such a beautiful thing to see.

Where that natural process has been degraded/ destroyed (by water diversion/ harvesting, wetland destruction/ draining, or stock/ ferals [and farmers] causing erosion) , then such techniques can be used as part of the toolkit of interventions to rehabilitate the land. I think it is mostly referred to as 'ponding'.

I know it is done on the plains of Western NSW (also large feral pig problems out that way) as a way to mimic the natural processes. You don't need (or want) much of an embankment ~10-15cm will do the trick. I used to do something similar on the property I was rehabilitating - though I would create the bunds just using sticks, twigs, bits of bark, branches etc. Memorable because I once (in 10 years) saw a Brolga visit for a few hours one morning after a record 24hr rain period of circa ~100mm. It was a long way from any recognized wetlands happily feeding in a puddle about the size of your loungeroom.

Here is an article detailing a similar project on some flatter ground.
https://www.theland.com.au/story/61...what-smart-ponding-earthworks-can-do-for-you/





Chosun :gh:
 
Land Rehabilitation - including Ponding

This report summarizes a few different techniques and projects in the catchments leading to the Great Barrier Reef.

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...FjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw0BZhmXWXudi2LKf4h32xgU
There's a nice example of a 'ponding' intervention (see pages 22-23)

The ideal is to have the high carbon soil sponge over the whole landscape act as a water holding 'pond', though some landscapes are so degraded that several intermediary steps and rehabilitation interventions will be required before that begins to happen more naturally.





Chosun :gh:
 
There is evidence that the Amazon basin was terraformed by the local inhabitants over the course of many centuries.
The 'terra preta' provinces are rich in charcoal and often midden debris, which suggests deliberate effort to improve the soil, made over long periods.
The earliest Spaniards to travel the Amazon reported a densely settled environment, with villages abutting each other along the river. Those people were wiped out by the new diseases the Spaniards brought and their gardens fell into disrepair, but their soil legacy lives on. It would be wonderful if we manage to leave a similar legacy of enhanced life.
 
Thanks for that etudiant. A similar situation occurred here. Despite the age of the land and relative infertility (though there are some pockets or regions of fertile volcanic derived soils - just not in the same quantity as Europe or North America) , the soils upon European arrival had ~ 10 fold the carbon that the flogged out and eroded soils mostly do now.

That fertility was built not just by geological processes, but by careful land care over 10's of 1000's of years by Aboriginal people and the animals and plants here. The cost of that has never been properly accounted for.

Doing all we can to offset (through NSF practice) the ~90% of wetlands lost will be key along with careful placement of biodiversity corridors, and aerodynamics of vegetation, along with Regenerative Agriculture to restore that soil volume and soil carbon %.

The next post I will make contains some excellent information on that latter component.




Chosun :gh:
 
No Kill Cropping

____________________ ************* ____________________
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IMPORTANT
____________________ ************* ____________________

This system was devised by a lovely (and highly astute) gentleman - Bruce Maynard, decades ago. It is a very holistic approach that lines up better with traditional Indigenous thinking and practice. It is the miracle pill the world needs. This bloke deserves a Nobel Prize.

Given the documented trend of massively negative impacts of herbicide/insecticide use on the world's insect populations and hence entire Web of Life, it is perhaps more important than ever to adopt these methods widespread with great gusto !

Basically, No Kill Cropping allows you to have your pasture and cropping cake and eat it too. It allows 'dry' cropping into native grasslands with zero herbicide and fertilizer costs, and greatly reduced machinery costs. There is then the option of part or fully harvesting by stock to further improve soil carbon.

We absolutely can fix the joint with the right techniques, love and attention, and societal models. Please enjoy the excellent summary slides below:

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/D...-grassland-granary-presented-by-bruce-maynard





Chosun :gh:
 
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Chosun Juan said:
____________________ ************* ____________________
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IMPORTANT
____________________ ************* ____________________

This system was devised by a lovely (and highly astute) gentleman - Bruce Maynard, decades ago. It is a very holistic approach that lines up better with traditional Indigenous thinking and practice. It is the miracle pill the world needs. This bloke deserves a Nobel Prize.

Given the documented trend of massively negative impacts of herbicide/insecticide use on the world's insect populations and hence entire Web of Life, it is perhaps more important than ever to adopt these methods widespread with great gusto !

Basically, No Kill Cropping allows you to have your pasture and cropping cake and eat it too. It allows 'dry' cropping into native grasslands with zero herbicide and fertilizer costs, and greatly reduced machinery costs. There is then the option of part or fully harvesting by stock to further improve soil carbon.

We absolutely can fix the joint with the right techniques, love and attention, and societal models. Please enjoy the excellent summary slides below:

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/D...-grassland-granary-presented-by-bruce-maynard


Chosun :gh:
Click to expand...

Think the main obstacle to the wider use of this very Australian pragmatic technique is the belief that any plant (weed) apart from the crop plant will steal its water and nutrients. A decent academic study might help end that misconception.
Meanwhile, am surprised at the minimal response this method has received, the slideshow dates back to 2015 and there is 1 comment, a silly ad.
 
Weeds !!!

etudiant said:
Think the main obstacle to the wider use of this very Australian pragmatic technique is the belief that any plant (weed) apart from the crop plant will steal its water and nutrients. A decent academic study might help end that misconception.
Meanwhile, am surprised at the minimal response this method has received, the slideshow dates back to 2015 and there is 1 comment, a silly ad.
Click to expand...

____________________ ************* ____________________
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IMPORTANT
____________________ ************* ____________________


Yes, Weeds are just colonizer species. Any land that is growing weeds is land that needs it. They can be essential to salvaging nutrients that would otherwise 'end up in China' (a rather fun saying from my childhood of where things would end up if they fell down holes and through the earth from here and reemerged on the opposite side of the globe :) ..... leached nutrients that rely upon deep rooted vegetation to recycle them back to the topsoil to avoid desertifying soil trends.

Chemically killing weeds is madness that is destroying the land and having adverse effects on the ecosystem's and our health.

I have personally seen Peter Andrews physically demonstrate that weeds are no issue at all by pulling up random clumps of grass and weeds side by side - the grass far from being starved was actually being fed by the weed and had a healthy root system dwarfing the weeds. The weeds roots on the other hand were withered, and it had just about served it's purpose in the regeneration cycle. Note, that Peter's land actually was hydrated by NSF, regenerating and building soil by the foot, as opposed to other differently managed parts of the country in decline. Letting weeds grow is an essential part of the holistic whole.

I am not sure how the research papers are progressing in this area. I have seen enough with my own eyes (multiple earthworms curled up in the shelter of weed root systems and shade - Patterson's curse - which is no good for stock and hence mercilessly sprayed, which is a shame as from chemical free areas it makes beautiful honey). It's a non-issue .... honestly things are that dire just get on with it while the research proves you right a decade from now. There is enough extension programme and ad-hoc evidence out there already to prove it, along with the commensurate increases in soil carbon.

I have posted short YouTube demonstrations by Peter on Weeds in this thread. (I will dig up the post number later).

A lot of the kill any weed that grows brigade are just unaware of these exceedingly simple facts - instead deferring to the 'more knowlegeable' , 'scientifically advanced' big business players - unwittingly becoming a captive to the ongoing 'relationship' of the corporate model and destroying the land in the process.

Apart from this there is the very real need to have agricultural product free from contamination (other vegetative matter, non-productive seeds such as weed seeds, prior different crops etc). This is indeed a very real driver of chemical use too, apart from the perceived and real effects on crop growth of 'weed' presence. There are non-chemical means of dealing with these issues - slashing, mulching, devices such as the Harrington Weed Destructor etc.
http://www.ihsd.com/

Industrial agriculture the world over is ridiculously 'pro-chemical' and 'anti-weed'. It is big multi-billion $ business to 'own' the whole 'agriculture production system' from GM and other patented seeds to the purpose designed chemical systems involved in their production. There has been quite some M&A activity in this area (how some of it passed regulators I have no idea)
https://www.gmwatch.org/en/articles...worlds-top-10-pesticide-firms-who-owns-nature
https://www.investopedia.com/articl...6/top-5-pesticide-companies-world-syt-dow.asp

I haven't followed the investment scene in this arena but given the mounting evidence of pest/insect/herbicide use and insect decline linked to ecosystem decline, I have to wonder at the long term viability and valuations of these business models. Analogous to future investment in fossil fuels, there is just no future in it.

[EDIT]:
Peter Andrews on weeds (excellent short video from post#10)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qjlia4DjgKg

Managing Weeds as Cover Crops (excellent article from post#64)
https://worldagriculturesolutions.c...ivvt5TFB-NpK3IFJs7Q2jfGsPUk7qcNET3IjfmABH2hBA






Chosun :gh:
 
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Noted US scientist says zero-till best for the environment

https://www.theland.com.au/story/66...f8T5EfwBwEKxFmAQV9P-xfFIROJOy36p5w5ClBQyUsOtk

"According to US research, zero-till cropping, especially with stubble retention, results in less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, and supports better soil fungi bacteria ratios that are vital to soil nitrogen and carbon storage."

"These views are consistent with Australian researchers who have studied tillage and cropping systems over the last 40 years."





Chosun :gh:
 
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