SHI0013
Written Evidence to submitted by the Permaculture Association Britain
Summary of recommendations
About permaculture and the Permaculture Association Britain
“Permaculture is an approach to meeting human needs while increasing ecosystem health.” Rafter Sass Ferguson. Devised in the mid-1970s by two Australian ecologists, permaculture combines ethics, ecological principles and design strategies to create healthy, productive and non-polluting sustainable settlements. Permaculture offers a practical route towards a society living in harmony with nature, where we take responsibility for ourselves, each other and future generations.
Since 1983 the Permaculture Association Britain, a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, has been supporting the development of permaculture in Britain. It's vision is 'an abundant world in which we care for the earth, each other and future generations, whilst living within nature’s limits', and its mission is 'to empower people to design thriving communities across Britain, and to contribute to permaculture worldwide'.
The Association's primary activities are focussed on supporting ecological design and sustainable living through a wide range of education, research and networking activities and events. Specifically, offering the Diploma In Applied Permaculture Design, organising the LAND demonstration network, helping people to collaborate, share resources and engage in practical solutions, providing a key point of contact for the UK and an international hub, and maintaining a popular website, e-bulletin, newsletter, and social media communications. There are 10 paid staff (5 FTE), 120 volunteers, 1400 members and 7000 e-bulletin subscribers. In September 2015, we hosted the 12th International Permaculture Conference in London, attended by over 600 delegates from 70 countries.
Detailed response to the Inquiry
How could soil health best be measured and monitored? How could the Government develop a strategy for tracking soil health?
The Permaculture Association recommends a national soil monitoring campaign built on citizen science.
The creation and maintenance of healthy soil is central to permaculture. Therefore, over the last three years the Permaculture Association Britain has directed considerable effort to the development of simple soil tests. Our view is that healthy soil has three elements of equal importance; chemistry, biology and physics (structure), but that agricultural soil science, and particular lab-based soil testing, has focussed too much on chemistry at the expense of the other two elements. We also believe that an understanding of healthy soil should not be limited to scientists but should be readily available to all growers. We have therefore developed a series of simple soil tests which can be done without specialist equipment and with no technical knowledge. These tests measure soil type, structure, pH, texture, bulk density, water penetration and depth, and use earthworms and slaking as proxies for soil organic life. These tests bring soil into the realm of 'citizen science', allowing a large body of growers to record the health of their soil, and changes to it over time, with minimum cost.
The Permaculture Association would therefore strongly encourage the UK government to develop soil testing as a citizen science activity. The benefits of this would be three-fold. Firstly, it would enable a variety of sites and a geographical range which would be beyond the reach of soil testing done by professional scientists. Secondly, it would be considerably cheaper than a national soil testing programme undertaken by professionals. Thirdly, being involved in such a programme would have considerable educational and awareness raising benefits to the participants themselves, the growers on whose actions soil health depends; in this way, growers become active participants in both the creation and analysis of healthy soil on their land in a new way.
What are the benefits that healthy soils can provide to society?
What are the consequences of failing to protect soil health for the environment, public health, food security, and other areas?
The Permaculture Association believes that healthy soil is the basis of modern society.
The development of agriculture was central to the development of human settlement, and in turn to the development of civilisation. For 8,000 years soil has supported agriculture, which in turn has supported an ever growing population of humans. There is no more precious natural resource than soil. Healthy soil is also a crucial resource for the non-human environment. Soil is itself a vastly complex eco-system supporting thousands of different forms of life. Soil in turn supports the whole ecosystem above ground, be it woodland, grassland or wetland. Soil forms the solid foundation of the food pyramid, being the basis of almost all primary production on land; while primary producers derive their energy from sunlight, for nutrients, water and stability they need soil. Complex, stable, healthy soil will almost inevitably produce complex, stable, healthy ecosystems. Conversely, the absence of healthy soil will be a major block to the development of any healthy ecosystem.
Though it is often forgotten today, without healthy soil agriculture will eventually fail and, even in our industrial age, so will the food supply. The desertification of once rich agricultural lands in North Africa and the Middle East serves as a warning of what can happen when fertile soils are not properly cared for. The number of humans who can survive by fishing, hunter gathering, or even on synthetic meat is likely to be tiny. The development of scientific agriculture over the last two centuries has freed the majority of humanity from back breaking agricultural toil, but without the maintenance of healthy soil this will not continue. There is plenty of evidence that a crisis of soil is beginning, with increasing soil erosion, falling fertility and, recently, the serious problems for soil posed by flooding. It has been estimated that under current management practices soil in the UK can support less than a hundred more harvests. These problems are likely to intensify under the pressures of climate change, as dry summers alternate with wet winters. There is also the problem of the over-reliance on soluble fertilisers and pesticides at the expense of soil biology, meaning that the natural fertility of much soil in the UK is now seriously compromised.
What measures are currently in place to ensure that good soil health is promoted? And what further measures should the Government and other organisations consider in order to secure soil health?
The Permaculture Association recommends agricultural extension services that focus on raising farmers' engagement with the health of their own soil.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many farmers, especially tenant farmers, have little awareness or understanding of the soil they work. Reliance on mechanisation, dependence on soluble fertilisers for soil fertility, and the time pressures of modern farming often remove farmers from a direct relationship with the health of their soil. This neglect of soil health can been seen during periods of wet weather where substantial areas of arable soil appear to have become waterlogged due to panning. Moreover, even a cursory examination of many farm soils reveals an apparent absence of organic life.
We do not believe that farmers need to adopt solely organic methods of farming to improve the health of their soil. However, they do need to direct their attention to a systematic, holistic design for soil health. This means a full review of their soil cultivation practices with the assistance of a trained professional. In particular it means the conscious design of a soil management regime that will promote rich soil biology. The scientific evidence for how to build healthy soil is clear, but in practice few farmers systematically follow these practices. Evidence suggests that many farmers, when given the tools and knowledge necessary to create healthy soil on their land, are keen to do so. We therefore suggest the government create a planned programme of agricultural extension aimed at actively engaging farmers in the process of creating healthy soil.
What role (if any) should soil health play in the Government's upcoming 25 year plan for the natural environment?
The Permaculture Association recommends that building healthy soils should be a government priority.
The crisis of soil described above is by no means inevitable. Using permaculture, or other regenerative management techniques, it is possible to rebuild healthy soils relatively quickly, in as little as five years. The key factor is a conscious and holistic management approach, which sees soil health as a priority and implements systematic management practices that will build it. The scientific literature strongly supports the success of these techniques in building soil health and natural fertility. There are plenty of examples in the UK and elsewhere of the ability to do this. Adoption of full organic farming principles is not necessary in this process, but a change in soil cultivation and soil feeding is.
We believe that the UK government needs to take a lead in supporting farmers to build healthy soils. Increased use of the CAP and other environmental subsidies could be made to incentivise farmers to build their soil. Government could set targets for increasing soil organic matter content and decreasing run off across the UK. Targets and incentives could also be introduced to develop soil as a carbon sink. Flood protection measures could include building the water holding capacity of soil, especially in upland areas. A national programme of agricultural extension which focuses on soil building could be supported. Overall, a systematically designed plan for the creation of healthy soils needs to be developed by both government centrally, and by every farmer and land owner locally.
January 2016