Permaculture; an example of pseudo-science and mysticism in agriculture

Origin of permaculture.

The first guiding principles of permaculture were set out in two books by its founders; Bill Mollison and David Holmgren: "Permaculture one" written in 1978 and "Permaculture two" written by Bill Mollison in 1979. In 2003, the fundamental principles of Permaculture were refined by David Holmgren in his now famous book "Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability". In an attempt to give credibility to these recommendations, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren created a living community called "Tagari" in Stanley, Tasmania, Australia. Subsequently, Patrick Whitefield incorporated a new layer to the founders' principles in his books, including The Earth Care Manual published in 2005, with his vision of integrated living in nature to create resilient facilities that mimic natural ecosystems that are self-sustaining, productive and energy efficient where everything lives in harmony. Other authors will bring a personal touch, such as Australian lecturer Geoff Lawton, or Jordan Rubin-Jordan, owner of the Heal the Planet Farm in Missouri.

Permaculture, like other approaches claiming to be organic, grew out of the beliefs and fears of the post 1960s. Permaculture embraces the analyses of the neo-Malthusian biologist Ehrlich of Stanford University, and the Club of Rome. We must prepare for the inevitable collapse of industrial society as a result of the depletion of fossil energy resources and a return to subsistence farming. This collapse is expected to occur by 2100 at the latest. Science would be unable to stop this development. According to the founders of permaculture, 4 catastrophes are expected in a precise order of appearance: famine, soil erosion, widespread poverty and viruses (contagious viral diseases).

Cultivation without disturbing the natural balance.

In permaculture, ploughing is forbidden as well as weeding. Why is this? Weeds are said to participate in beneficial interactions with cultivated plants as in a forest; an idyllic vision that ignores the aggressiveness of weeds against cultivated plants, described in a chapter of this website by clicking here. Synthetic fertilisers and plant protection products are also prohibited, because in a natural forest no one uses these inputs to feed and protect the plants. These practices are necessarily related to a truncated vision of nature as if it had been invented for the development of man. But permaculture also wants to provide a solution to a predicted end of the world.

Permaculture's edible forest gardens aim to restore a presumed ideal state of natural balance that humans have disrupted by destroying forests and ploughing land.

By seeking to mimic the balance of ecosystems, nature is restored. Returning to the balance of nature is not a recent vision. It can be found in writings dating back to antiquity. According to these writings, if nature is left to its own devices, it will maintain a state of equilibrium, and agricultural methods must respect this same principle.

Cultivating without disturbing the natural balance is also the objective of "natural agriculture", also known as "wild agriculture", the foundations of which were defined by the Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka. In order not to disturb nature, it is necessary to act on it as little as possible and to re-establish the spiritual unification between man and nature. It is forbidden to plough, to pull up weeds, to use fertilisers and pesticides, not to prune the crops... The only thing to do is to sow, then to harvest. Permaculture is not revolutionary. It is nothing more than a "modernised" adaptation of thousand-year-old and erroneous allegations that contradict the fundamental bases of agronomic science.

Can we believe that thousands of agricultural engineers throughout the world have made mistakes and that we should accept as gospel the assertions of a few self-proclaimed geniuses who are convinced that it is enough to trust natural balances? Yet it is easy for an amateur gardener without much experience to see that imbalance is everywhere in nature and especially in his ornamental garden and vegetable garden, which are subject to constant disturbances such as physical stresses linked to climate change, competition for access to light, water and nutrients, the pressure of bio-aggressors that changes from one year to the next, the appearance of a new, more aggressive predator that can even cause immeasurable damage to the environment.

When ecosystems are disrupted by uncontrollable natural factors.

One could cite numerous examples of natural imbalances caused by various uncontrollable factors that occur in nature every year throughout France and elsewhere. These natural imbalances can have catastrophic consequences. Here is an example reported in the local press (La Provence Tuesday 27 April 2021) which occurred in March 2021 at "Les Mees", a village in Haute-Provence. Nearly 200 kg of dead carp affected by the spring viremia virus were removed from a well-known lake (Joël-Siguret lake) popular with walkers. This epidemic develops when the temperature is between 11 and 17 degrees. The virus was certainly brought by piscivorous birds and the contamination was all the more important following the heat wave of March 2021 when the carps gather in spring to reproduce.

Here is another well-known example of the evolution of a bio-agressors in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region: the decline of lavender and lavandin since the early 2000s. The etiological agent of this bacterial decline is the stolbur phytoplasma, which is present in conventional and organic agriculture. The main vector of this phytoplasma is the leafhopper Hyalesthes obsoletus, a highly polyphagous stinging-sucking insect which also occurs in tobacco, potato and tomato plantations.

As for the consequences of the disappearance of fossil fuels, there is no shortage of scientific work demonstrating that it is possible to use other solutions such as renewable energies. For example, in France, there are significant untapped offshore wind resources. Methanisation of agricultural residues could satisfy a large part of gas needs. As far as nuclear energy is concerned, France's uranium 238 reserves could be sufficient to meet electricity needs for 2,000 years when the breeder reactor project is resumed (Russia is already ahead of the game with this technology (5)). The experimental nuclear fusion reactor ITER also aims to meet the energy needs of future generations from an energy source whose reserves are immense (deuterium). There is therefore no reason to panic and announce that a disaster would be inevitable in a few years' time, justifying the adoption of permaculture as the only possible response to the disappearance of fossil fuels.

From micro-farming to animal traction; the anachronistic discourse of permaculture.

It is often mentioned in texts dealing with permaculture that it is particularly adapted to micro-farms. This agricultural practice would avoid the disappearance of small farmers and would even be a source of employment, realising the dream of a return to the land and to the numerous small farms of the 19th century which employed millions of peasants. A market garden farm run according to permaculture methods would be profitable from a surface of 10 ares, but with what income for the permaculturist? There are many small animal-drawn farms in the world, such as in Bangladesh, which are notorious for their low yields and chronic poverty.

This is also the type of agriculture that prevailed throughout the world before the pre-industrial era, as described in a famous book by Félicien PARISET, "Mœurs et usages du LAURAGAIS" (4) (awarded a gold medal by the Société Nationale d'Agriculture). This work could constitute a reference and a model of direction for the followers of permaculture, as its fundamental principles are to be found. Thus, in the 19th century, the following predominated : peasant seeds, the absence of chemical fertilisers replaced by farmyard manure, the use of animal traction and the massive use of manual labour, long rotations to compensate for the lack of organic inputs provided by mixed farming and livestock farms, etc., were all prevalent.

The consequences of this unprofitable pre-industrial agriculture (e.g. 13.6 quintals per ha for wheat, i.e. 6 times less than the yields of today's cereal farms) are also known: massive recourse to free family labour (women and children from the age of 12) and day labourers receiving a derisory salary barely allowing them to satisfy their basic needs, pellagra (or "misery sickness"), an endemic disease due to malnutrition and vitamin B3 deficiency, illiteracy as a rule among children who leave catechism school without having learnt to read or write as soon as they receive their first communion in order to help their parents with the work in the fields... It is true that today's permaculturists in France do not employ 12 year olds. However, they are replaced in model farms by the voluntary work of trainees whose stay and training are fee-paying for and constitute their main financial resource for survival.

Is the reduction in energy expenditure guaranteed by returning to animal traction? A tractor does not consume energy when it is at rest, which is not the case for an animal that has to eat and drink every day. A 400 kg horse must eat about 10 kg of vegetable matter (cereals, fodder, etc.) every day, which must therefore be provided for in the cultivated area.

From directive principles to environmental strata and sharing zones in permaculture.

When you read the works of the founders of permaculture (or those who copy them), you are struck by the banality of the advice they give, written in the form of commandments. Some of these commandments are so obvious that no one would dare to deny them, and many farmers apply them without knowing it. Perhaps that is why Moses did not write them in stone. What are these commandments?

They are ethical principles (care for the land, care for people...), design principles (observe before interacting, achieve efficiency, integrate instead of separate, use and value renewable resources and diversity, respond creatively to change, create beneficial interactions, do not produce waste that cannot be recycled....), and 'attitude' principles (work with nature rather than against it; the problem is the solution...) (3).

The application of all these principles is made concrete on the farm by the establishment of strata and zones sharing the human environment. The strata distinguish large trees from smaller fruit trees, shrubs, cereals and climbing plants. As for the zones, from the house to the wild forest, 6 spaces are defined: the house, the zone close to the house, the vegetable garden, the orchard and other crops, the edible forest and the wild forest, all organised in such a way as to make the most of the energy that the system would be able to capture and conserve.

In practical terms, the creation of a permaculture farm requires first observing the environment such as the position of the cultivated land in relation to the wind, the obstacles that reduce sunlight, the location of a water source for irrigation... Then the different elements of the farm are set up, such as the location of the edible forest planted with walnut and chestnut trees, the position of the vegetable garden in relation to the house to limit travel, the organisation of the vegetable garden into flat beds where combinations of vegetables will grow, the protection of a greenhouse against the wind by a hedge made up of small fruit trees, the position of the fields cultivated with cereals where animal traction will be used...

In the writings of permaculture, it is often mentioned that permaculture would ensure a gentle "energy descent" from fossil fuels. This new World of production that is on the horizon is defined by a seven-branched flower that is supposed to represent the vital areas that bring together ethics and design principles "(6) to support humanity in the energy descent".

Principles and prohibitions that are difficult to respect.

Local circumstances are sometimes formidable for permaculture theories and exceptions have to be made. For example, it is very difficult to do without plastic pipes in drip irrigation. This technique is essential when there is a lack of water; a recurrent situation in the Mediterranean region. This technique adopted in the permaculture garden of Valsainte Abbey is included in a gravity watering system using rainwater stored at high levels and conveyed through plastic pipes. In addition, not everyone has a high water source.

Of all those who claim to be inspired by permaculture methods, how many respect all the principles set out by the founders? Are all the prohibitions respected, such as the use of tractors, including for transporting compost, as I noticed in a report broadcast on a television channel? The difficulties being numerous and the results not very convincing, many do not say everything about the derogations that they take in secret, especially as there is no official control with the attribution of a label as in organic farming.

The pseudo-scientific claims of permaculture.

Let us return to one of the fundamental objectives of permaculture; the reproduction of natural forest ecosystems as a method of cultivation.

Agriculture, as an economic activity, has as its fundamental purpose the satisfaction of human needs that are considered indispensable. Farmers produce exportable foodstuffs. To achieve this goal, farmers are forced to transform the natural environment, starting with deforestation, and then importing plants useful to humans. Every cultivated field is an artificial habitat created by man that persists as long as this artificial environment is maintained. The founders of permaculture recognised that agriculture produces an artificial ecosystem, but it must mimic the original ecosystem. However, it is difficult to have both, the natural (forests) and the artificial (crops), at the same time, as their functions are different:

a) The term "cultures maraîchères" (market gardening) appeared in the 18th century and refers to the cultivation of vegetables in the marshes around Paris and later in other wetlands around rivers.

Difference between permaculture and integrated farming methods.

As in permaculture, ecosystem services are emphasised in integrated farming. One might therefore imagine that these two farming systems are based on a common theoretical and methodological foundation. However, this is not the case and it is important to point this out to avoid confusion.

In integrated farming, there is no question of relying solely on the interactions between the components of an ecosystem, which have always proved insufficient to reduce pest pressure. Even if we take into account the usefulness of these interactions, we intervene directly in the ecosystem services to control them, for example by importing useful auxiliaries, by introducing physical protection such as anti-insect nets (even if these nets are petroleum products)...

These new plant protection techniques, still called "Integrated Biological Protection", which include biocontrol methods, are described in more detail by clicking here

Orthodoxy and revisionism

♦ Experimental permaculture vegetable garden in Valsainte (04 French); stunted crops on mounds

According to some followers, different forms of permaculture are possible imposed by the diversification of local production and conditions. This is indeed mentioned in the texts of the founders. But all the different forms of permaculture must respond to the same imperative: to reduce energy expenditure as much as possible. There is therefore no monastic model that everyone must respect, except the obligation to ensure autonomous and sufficient energy production.

The freedom of choice of cultivation methods, taking into account local conditions, is not to the liking of certain followers who do not hesitate, for example, to publish vigorous statements on certain websites. Thus, permaculture is not immune to the emergence of a form of revisionism of its fundamental principles that some orthodox followers consider to be unacceptable deviations.

It is interesting to cite as an example, the case of cultivation on mounds (or the "ados" technique) containing different layers of organic matter and pieces of wood likely to nourish the soil through their decomposition. These mounds were for a long time a rite of passage in permaculture, introduced by Emilia Hazelip in the 1980s, and have since been denounced by some followers (11). This technique is still talked about today by other followers because of the advantages it would have (12). It should be noted that mounding is not the only popular permaculture practice. Other rituals that have not been validated by any serious scientific study are the permanent 'keyhole' beds and the 'mandala' gardens, which are said to 'induce energy' and 'spontaneous protection' against crop bio-agressors (13).