Page 16 RAIN June 1979 The Journal ofthe New Alchemists-5, $10 from: The New Alchemy Institute P.O. Hox 47 Woods Hole, MA 02543 This year's jounlal is out now, and good as ever. Many of their illnovative systems have now been refined and simplified to the point where tbeir real effectiveness is becoming apparent. The sailwing water-pumping windmill, with new blade, tower and pump details, seems ready for wide application. The pros and cons of the H:ydrowiud wind generator at PEl based on hydraulic systems are laid out, with feelings now tbat it is still technically promising but too inscrutably complex to encourage other innovators and applicators. The Arks are performing magnificently. Aquaculture techniques are being applied in remote areas of Costa Rica and the Washington Cascades. The gem of this issue is Earle Barnhart's "On the Feasibility ofa Permanent Agricultural Landscape," exploring the requirements for sustainable agriculture. Excerpts follow, along with Earle's excellent bibliograpby on agricultural forestry for our friends working in that area. An agricultural landscape incorporating th~ interactions ?f mixed-age agricultural zones or ecological Islands would include at least four basic functional types: Protective elements, in which permanent plant communities act to moderate forccs of wind and water to prevent erosion. Productive clements, the grain fields and gardens, meadows and orchards, intensively managed for food production. Regulatory animal babilaLs, plant communities or p~ysical structures wh ich provide shelter and food for useful animal pedcs such as predators. parasites.and pollinator~ . . . Nutriel1t Cyci;11g elemellts, species or communities :-vhlch trategically retrieve leaching nutrients, fix atmosphenc nitrogen or convert waste p.roducts from other ~~nes. (such as human wastes) Into nutrlc~t~ useab~e for fertlhz.atl~n . Broadly conSillere.d, the cntl~al vanabies of deSign In any location are the relative propor.tlons of spa~e alloca~ed to protective, regulatory, prod~ctlve and nutr!ent-cycllng zones, and the percentage of net pnmary productlvl~y removed annually from each zone. We have a f~w appro~lmate values for the protective and regulatory functIOns. Optimum benefit from wind protection occurs when one to fo~r percent of the acreage is in permeable shelter belts. ErOSIOn control calls for terracing or permanent ve.getation on slopes .ste~per than cight percent. As for polhnatlon, standard practice In commer . • cial orchards is to have .one strong hive per acre. Opt!mum fru it-tree cross-p ~lllnation occurs.when one ?ut of five ~venly distributed trees IS a different vanety. All SOil conservatIOn practices such as windbreaks, sod waterways, hedges and stream bank vegetation are known to be favorable to wildlife, vegetative cover being the ba~ic source of food and protection. Bird habitat and nesting sites are simultaneo~sly foste.r~d. Other accepted woodland mana~ement practices speCifiC to wildlife call for three to four animal dens per acre, two to three protectiv~ b~ush piles per acre, fivero fifteen percent of an area in wildlife food plants, and a fifteen to twenty foot shrub zone between woodlands and fields. Combining windbreak functions with w.ildl i~e food plants and. as~uming the substitution of domestic animals for larger Wildlife, the protection/pollination/regulation area required may tentatively be limited to five to ten percent. The remaining production and nutrient-cycling areas must be managed for sustainable yields of food and materials. Odum states that, in a natural eco-system, with no human manage ment or auxiliary energy inputs, the biotic community seems to require fifty to seventy percent of net annual primary pro ductivity to maintain current levels of environmental stability. If none of the net biomass is removed, the ecosystem stores energy and nutrients in the biomass. . -" Y . 't?""t '" 'f'. . . .. . We are extending the scope of our agriculture to include field crops, tree crops, ponds, agricultural forests and terrestrial animals into more highly-integrated landscapes. Initial experiments will consist of selection and evaluation of biota, stressing local hardiness, ease and speed of propagation and rates of growth. Plants and animals will be tested for ecological compatibility in such combinations as rapid local cycling of plant and animal wastes into food chains, increasing ecological stability over tim e and multiple-function ~ ., of each component. Particular emphasis will be towards self ] regulation and maximum benefits from inputs of auxiliary energy. ,&> 6J "" • = :( y -;;; !;). C9. 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