Titre :	The feasibility of a prairie-like agriculture
Type de document :	texte imprimé
Importance :	p 158-196
Langues :	Anglais (eng)
Catégories :	SCIENCES AGRICOLES
Mots-clés :	MODELE AGRICOLE  PRAIRIE  AGRICULTURE DURABLE  LAND EQUIVALENT RATIO (LER)
Résumé :	This chapter discusses the potential benefits of an agriculture, modeled on native prairie, composed of mixtures of perennial seed crops for human consumption. This agriculture would yield and provide much of its own fertility and manage troublesome weeds, insects and plant diseases. The prairie is a structural and functional model for perennial polyculture research. Of course, the analogy is not perfect as the prairie produces only small amounts of seed. By mimicking the prairie’s structure-that is, herbaceous perennial plants growing in diverse, complementary mixtures-some of the sustainable features of the prairie community would be incorporated into agriculture. These features include soil building through the turnover of roots, reduced soil erosion, biological nitrogen fixation, efficient use of soil resources via minimal overlap among plant species and stability and resilience of crop fields in the face of climatic extremes. This chapter also explores the feasibility of designing an agriculture that incorporates the principles of prairie ecology by mimicking the structure of the prairie. The purpose here is to support the scientific feasibility of the proposal with experimental data related to four critical subjects sufficiency of seed yields from perennials, yield advantages of polycultures over monocultures, soil fertility and relationships among crops, weeds and diseases in polyculture and monoculture. It begins by introducing four basic questions that guide much of the Land Institute’s research toward a sustainable agriculture. It then recounts studies from the literature that support the feasibility of developing successful seed-producing perennial polycultures. It continues with the results of studies at the Land Institute specifically designed for the purpose of developing this form of agriculture. As a way of inviting others to join in this work, the chapter concludes with a list of some of the broader research in pure and applied sciences (plant ecology, plant breeding, soil science, population genetics, entomology and animal science) that is needed to develop workable perennial polycultures.
Numéro du document :	A 10266/A00
Niveau Bibliographique :	2
Bull1 (Theme principale) :	AGRICULTURE EN GENERAL
Bull2 (Theme secondaire) :	AGRICULTURE-CONSIDERATIONS GENERALES

The feasibility of a prairie-like agriculture [texte imprimé] . - [s.d.] . - p 158-196.
Langues : Anglais (eng)

Catégories :	SCIENCES AGRICOLES
Mots-clés :	MODELE AGRICOLE  PRAIRIE  AGRICULTURE DURABLE  LAND EQUIVALENT RATIO (LER)
Résumé :	This chapter discusses the potential benefits of an agriculture, modeled on native prairie, composed of mixtures of perennial seed crops for human consumption. This agriculture would yield and provide much of its own fertility and manage troublesome weeds, insects and plant diseases. The prairie is a structural and functional model for perennial polyculture research. Of course, the analogy is not perfect as the prairie produces only small amounts of seed. By mimicking the prairie’s structure-that is, herbaceous perennial plants growing in diverse, complementary mixtures-some of the sustainable features of the prairie community would be incorporated into agriculture. These features include soil building through the turnover of roots, reduced soil erosion, biological nitrogen fixation, efficient use of soil resources via minimal overlap among plant species and stability and resilience of crop fields in the face of climatic extremes. This chapter also explores the feasibility of designing an agriculture that incorporates the principles of prairie ecology by mimicking the structure of the prairie. The purpose here is to support the scientific feasibility of the proposal with experimental data related to four critical subjects sufficiency of seed yields from perennials, yield advantages of polycultures over monocultures, soil fertility and relationships among crops, weeds and diseases in polyculture and monoculture. It begins by introducing four basic questions that guide much of the Land Institute’s research toward a sustainable agriculture. It then recounts studies from the literature that support the feasibility of developing successful seed-producing perennial polycultures. It continues with the results of studies at the Land Institute specifically designed for the purpose of developing this form of agriculture. As a way of inviting others to join in this work, the chapter concludes with a list of some of the broader research in pure and applied sciences (plant ecology, plant breeding, soil science, population genetics, entomology and animal science) that is needed to develop workable perennial polycultures.
Numéro du document :	A 10266/A00
Niveau Bibliographique :	2
Bull1 (Theme principale) :	AGRICULTURE EN GENERAL
Bull2 (Theme secondaire) :	AGRICULTURE-CONSIDERATIONS GENERALES