| This page is an extract from 'Permaculture: A Beginners Guide' by Graham Burnett | |
| Zones '3' & '4'- Broadscale Strategies For a Sustainable Future |
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- In the UK there are 43 million acres of farmland, consisting of one third rough grazing land (eg, moorland), one third permanent pasture (eg, hilly, water meadow, steep gradient, thin soils, etc) and one third arable land considered suitable for crop production by ‘conventional’ methods... Industrialised agriculture with it’s high inputs of machinery and fossil fuels is diminishing, not increasing, the long term stability of fertile land as continuous ploughing, grubbing up of hedgerows, removal of trees and additions of chemical fertilisers and pesticides lead to problems like erosion, compacted soils and nitrate poisoning of our watercourses... Broadscale permaculture techniques and strategies seek to reverse this damage, as well as utilising land otherwise considered not suitable for cultivation...