The work has always been worthwhile despite the continuing challenge of attracting strong, ongoing support. The biggest single asset to this undertaking is John Jeavons’s unfailing stamina and dedication. Over and over, when we all ask, Can it work? he answers, How are we going to make it work?” It is becoming increasingly clear that GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming will be an important part of the solution to starvation and malnutrition, dwindling energy supplies, unemployment, and exhaustion and loss of arable land if the social and political challenges can be met.
After forty years of testing, GROW BIOINTENSIVEfood-raising has produced amazing bene2ts. Yields can average 2 to 6 times those of U.S. agriculture, and a few range up to 31 times higher a plus at a time of peak food. But there’s still more to learn; for example, we are still working to develop an optimally healthy soil system.
Compost and calorie crops present the most challenges because they are crucial in meeting the nutritional needs of people and the soil. Experiments include alfalfa, fava beans, wheat, oats, cardoon, and comfrey. So far our yields are from one to 2ve times the U.S. average for these crops. Water use is well below that of commercial agriculture per pound of food produced and is about 33% to 12% of that of conventional techniques per unit of land area. This is especially important in a world that has reached a point of peak water.
Building Soil, Building the Future
There is an exciting challenge ahead of us. How can we revitalize our extraordinary planet, ensuring life and health for the environment, the life-forms of a myriad of ecosystems, humankind, and future generations? The answer is as close to us as the food we consume each day. We can begin to create a better world from right where we are in home gardens and mini-farms. Millions of people in over 140 countries are already using GROW BIOINENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming techniques to work toward this better world
The History and Philosophy of the GROW BIOINTENSIVE Method
The GROW BIOINTENSIVE method of horticulture is a quiet, vitally alive art of organic gardening that links people with the whole universe a universe in which each of us is an interwoven part of the whole. People End their place by relating and cooperating in harmony with the sun, air, rain, soil, moon, insects, plants, and animals rather than by attempting to dominate them. All of these elements will teach us their lessons and do the gardening for us if we only watch and listen. We become gentle shepherds providing the conditions for plant growth
Biologically intensive farming dates back to four thousand years ago in China, two thousand years in Greece, and one thousand years ago in Latin America. In fact, the Mayan culture grew food this way at their homes on a neighborhood basis. This is one of the g reasons their culture survived when others around them were collapsed.
