Just as animals inhabit all natural ecosystems, fulfilling unique mobile niches amongst the plants and contributing to the ongoing fertility, seed dispersal, vegetation management and overall species balance. Animals have also been essential components of integrated food production systems until the advent of industrial-chemical agri-business, when the wholeness of natural production was replaced by growing singular bulk commodities requiring a growing list of expensive and artificial inputs.
The nutrient recycling and maintenance of fertility that animals provide, requires very little expense or maintenance to perform, as their natural actions of harvesting vegetation and lower trophic food sources are returned as manure. Within the manure of free-range animals in particular, are beneficial microbial populations via gut bacteria that assist in promoting natural decomposition and preparing the material for soil born microbes and fungi to colonize and complete the cycle back to bio-available nutrient rich humus.
When preparing the ground for planting, instead of ploughing the soil and laying waste to the entire soil ecology, animals can do an exceptional job of eating and trampling down vegetation, adding their manure, and in the case of pigs and to a lesser degree hoofed animals and scratching poultry, open the soil to allow their recycled nutrients to permeate deeper. Through establishing seasonal rotation animal self-feeding production systems to strategically incorporate the widest available range of easy to grow staple food crops plus specific animal forage and browse species, ease of organic production can be achieved. Leguminous shrubs – such as leuceana, icecream bean, honey locust, pigeon pea – and ground covers of pinto peanut, clover and lucerne can provide high protein animal foods. Hedge rows of animal browse crops of mulberry, willow, saba nut, bana grass and sugar cane and other easy to grow foods such as cassava, arrowroot, sweet potato, taro, choko, perennial squash, yam bean and sunroot plus many so-called weeds are also readily useful as animal feed.
When production is returned to such an integrated whole, there is very minimal need for machinery beyond the initial earth works of creating strategic dams and connecting contour channels, grow beds below the channels, roadways and level pads for buildings. There should be no need to slash and mow, plough or attempt to control pests and weeds with broad scale spraying. Any healthy ecological system harbours a great diversity of species, interacting and bringing dynamic balance to the overall system. Sporadic insect, invertebrate and other small fauna population spikes are quickly responded to by their natural predators that gravitate to the food source and build up in numbers, only to disperse again when the situation has found equilibrium.
With water being the essential ingredient of biological life, it is naturally the backbone of production systems planning. From rain water harvesting and storage dams, to contour channels that direct the flow evenly across the landscape through production areas with the ease and assurance of gravity. Within this water network, aquatic animals are employed in similar fashion to their terrestrial counterparts. Aquatic poultry such as muscovies, ducks and geese can also be managed in seasonal forage areas that include parts of dams and contour channels where they can both feed themselves and enhance the fertility of the overall ecology.
In summary, managing food production areas with animals will greatly reduce, if not completely eliminate, input expenses for fertilizers, ground preparation before planting, vegetation management and mulching, insect and pest control, natural animal feeds and herbal medications, and can be designed and planted well enough to produce organic free range animals at no expenses and in perfect symbiosis with human food production. Scientific specialization has created great advances in certain technological areas, but care for the planet, wholesome food production, humane treatment of animals and promoting healthy human beings are all part of holistic interconnected dynamic living systems. The grass roots localized return to healthy organic food production and responsible care for the environment is inevitable as we choose well-being for ourselves and the planet. We can choose as individuals and communities to tune into the rhythms and lessons of the natural world and become the caretakers of the Earth, and promoters of well-being that truly intelligent beings would surely be.
Muscovy/vegetable production system
Recent Comments