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Invitation to participate in the research project Increasing Agricultural Resilience with High-Performance Polycultures

by Pavlo Ardanov

Do you practice, research or study ecologically intensive agriculture, where the farm needs in nutrient turnover and biocontrol are primarily met by diversifying cultivated and wild plants and animals? Are you motivated to reduce farm inputs and pollution while increasing economic and environmental resilience, sustaining resident biodiversity and increasing carbon sequestration?

If yes – we invite you to contribute to the research project of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute, University of California, Davis and the NGO “Permaculture in Ukraine” to co-develop an algorithm and SOFTWARE FOR DESIGNING CROP POLYCULTURES (simultaneous cultivation of several crops on the same land), and POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO PROMOTE BIODIVERSITY-BASED AGRICULTURE. And also the first polyculture system – DIVERSIFIED TREE NUT AND FRUIT ORCHARD, with a variety of cover crops, other commercial crops, and/or fodder crops integrated with livestock.

How to contribute?

Design and implementation of efficient crop polycultures requires collaboration between farmers, researchers, and policy makers. Resilient, resource efficient and diversified production systems will help farmers to overcome the forthcoming economic crisis. Please, spend 10 – 15 minutes to share your experience and vision. Together we can help growers to design future of agriculture systems – knowledge intensive and wise, productive and nature friendly.

P.S. if you are interested to know more about already available databases and algorithms for designing plant polycultures – see these videos.

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Conference “Polycultures and Permaculture”

by Pavlo Ardanov

Research and practice conference “Polycultures and Permaculture” aimed at establishing collaboration between researchers and practitioners to promote biodiversity-based agriculture will be organized on 1 – 6 of February 2020 (Kyiv, Ukraine; Davis, USA; online sessions).

Functionally assembled crop combinations and rotation schemes help to maintain ecological regulation for soil fertility, pest and disease control, diversify farm produce to increase their sustainability, aid carbon sequestration and support local biodiversity. Our conference is a networking place between agroecologists, conservation biologists, farmers and policy makers to combine conceptual knowledge with the practical experience.

We offer blended conference format with the possibility of both online and in-person participation, and several sessions distributed across the time zones from 1st till 8th of February 2020. Researchers and practitioners are invited to publish their findings in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings as abstracts or short reports. Participation in the conference and publication in proceedings are free of charge.

The aim of this conference goes beyond collecting presentations. We want to create expert teams to compose policy recommendations on biodiversity-based agriculture, which will be delivered in a form of conference resolution and publication in a research journal (funding available). University lecturers, researchers and practitioners are invited to contribute towards recording video lectures on designing crop polycultures for informal and for the academic education courses (funding available). Finally, we would like to establish research team to develop an algorithm, free software and mobile application for designing crop polycultures. We offers several discussion sessions to brainstorm your ideas and establish new expert teams.

Please, visit the conference web-page, fill the registration form, follow conference updates on Facebook, and share and discuss best crop diversification practices on the project Facebook page. We shall be grateful for sharing conference video invitation in social media.

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Search for niche innovations in Europe in the field of food and agriculture

Dear European Permaculture-Network,

We from NAHhaft together with our project partners Friends of the Earth Europe and Nyéléni Europe and Central Asia would be grateful for your support. This would involve reaching out to people from a variety of sustainable niche initiatives in the agriculture and food systems of Europe, and increasing awareness of these initiatives.

The research project aims at finding a plurality of food and agriculture related niche innovations that are not yet or barely known in Germany. By means of their Europe-wide promotion, impulses for a sustainable adaptation of the niches in many regions across Europe should be set. In addition, the diversity of niches is meant to unleash synergy effects on a sustainable transformation of these food systems.

We are currently in in the research phase. In order to reach as many initiatives as possible, it would be of great support to the project, if you could pass on the document in attachment to your members and associate networks or if you could upload it to your homepage and social media platforms.

Additional project related information can be found here:

https://www.ernaehrungswandel.org/fileadmin/Website/NEuropa/NEuropa_Flyer.pdf

If you have suggestions in this regard, please write them to us: helen.engelhardt [at] nahhaft [dot] de

You are invited to visit our homepage, if you are interested in getting to know more about our work at NAHhaft: https://www.nahhaft.de

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards

NAHhaft– 

Helen Engelhardt

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin

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Research and practice conference “Urban Permaculture”

26 of January 2019, Kyiv, Ukraine (working language – English, with the possibility of remote presentation and participation).

As it became tradition since the III Ukrainian permaculture gathering, in 2019 our national convergence will be organized along with research and practice conference to let researchers and practitioners to communicate for mutual benefit. This time the topic will be “Urban Permaculture”: we will talk about reducing and recycling of waste, creating safe, energy-saving, low-cost housing for people and preserving and creating habitats for the wildlife, efficient mechanisms for self-governance, establishment of direct economic and friendly ties between farmers and city dwellers, urban farming, environmental services and inclusive environments. Please, contribute to our diverse event with your expertise (web-site, Facebook page, registration form)! We expect up to 200 participants and offer free participation for presenters.