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Food
Published in John C. Ayers, Sustainability, 2017
To sustainably achieve high crop yields, farmers must use methods that promote thick, nutrient-rich soils and supply abundant but not excessive water to plants, all while minimizing the use of fossil fuels and any chemicals that might have negative environmental impacts. Sustainable agriculture methods include conservation tillage, use of cover crops, maintenance of high crop and genetic diversity, crop rotation, intercropping, use of best practices for water conservation and for maintaining water quality, use of natural fertilizers (compost, animal manure, green manure), precision application technologies, integrated pest management, long-term use of biochar, and genetic improvement of livestock and crops through traditional breeding and genetic engineering (Committee on Twenty-First Century Systems Agriculture and National Research Council 2010). Holistic management is a sustainable approach to resource management in general and agricultural systems in particular. Here we look at some of these practices in more detail.
Agriculture
Published in John Gusdorf, Ecological Living, 2019
Holistic Management is the method developed by Allan Savory for using dense moving herds of livestock on grasslands to restore the land and store massive amounts of carbon in the soil while increasing production. It has its detractors. Some soil scientists believe they have disproven it (Carter et al., 2014). George Monbiot likens Savory to a medical quack. Savory seems to have brought some of this on his own head by overstatements. But scientific studies have shown that Holistic Management does work as claimed, restoring grasslands and increasing yields – although measurements of carbon sequestration are hard to find.
Successional development and agroforestry
Published in Stephen R. Gliessman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Victor M. Izzo, Eric W. Engles, Andrew Gerlicz, Agroecology, 2023
Stephen R. Gliessman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Victor M. Izzo, Eric W. Engles, Andrew Gerlicz
World Agroforestry worldagroforestry.orgConsiderable information about research and development partnerships in the area of agroforestry in the tropics, directed toward reducing poverty and environmental impacts.Agroforestry Net, Inc.agroforestry.orgAn organization focused on agroforesty in the Pacific Islands. Publishers of the ejournal The Overstory.Association for Temperate Agroforestryaftaweb.orgAn excellent source of information on agroforestry systems suitable for more temperate regions of the world.Edible Forest Gardensedibleforestgardens.orgAn organization dedicated to developing the vision, design, ecology, and stewardship of perennial polycultures of multipurpose plants in small-scale settings.Holistic Management Internationalholisticmanagement.orgA natural-resource approach that uses ecological processes, including succession, for pasture and agroecosystem management.Society for Ecological Restorationser.orgAn international society, with an academic journal, dedicated to reversing ecosystem degradation and restoring the earth’s ecological balance for the benefit of humans and nature.
Water resilience and human life support - global outlook for the next half century
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2020
Keys’s analysis suggests that the food security of some of the most water-constrained rainfed agricultural regions could be very sensitive to distant land use changes. Although until now Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has been used primarily for holistic management of runoff (blue) resources, the importance of moisture feedback (green) would make IWRM appropriate for landscape management as well.