Sustainability Begins In The Mind - Rejuvenating Drought-Struck Land Means Thinking In A New Way

Conventional agriculture is doing everything wrong. I remember the first time I build a food forest in the Napa Valley area of California. I was young and surrounded by seasoned farmers who had been farming conventionally since before I was born.

They would love to come over and tell me all the mistakes I was making and I would love to listen to them to gather any information I could from them, but most of their advice I respectfully ignored because it was not sustainable. Back then sustainability was not a phrase you would hear very often. While I respected their lifelong devotion to farming I also could see that it was degrading the land and making productivity dependent on chemical fertilizers.

Something interesting happened when a drought came to California and those old farmers were experiencing dry crops and losses while the property I was working on was fully hydrated. They thought I was spending a fortune on water but soon realized I wasn't watering at all.

What had happened was the land was rehydrating because of the techniques used to reforest the land instead of clearing it for farming. The diversity of crops supported each other instead of monocropping, the topsoil was retaining more water instead of draining it.

Basically, everything those old conventional farmers would laugh and ridicule me for doing they now were questioning me about. I can't take credit for that knowledge as I learned it from others, but I'm happy to say that those old farmers began incorporating those methods when they saw the results and cost savings. As the market for more organic food expanded so did the minds of these farmers.

Seeing is believing and I know those old farmers quickly looked past my young age and inexperience when they could see for themselves the results. The world desperately needs more examples of true sustainability so people can see for themselves. It's one thing to explain it and quite another for them to see it. I wish I had documented that transition but this was before video cameras, cell phones, and the internet. But this transfer of knowledge is happening around the world.

This story in drought-stricken Australia shows how this farmer turned the drought around and you'll find it very inspiring. Unfortunately, his work was resisted every step of the way but he persisted and the results speak for themselves.

How Peter Andrews Rejuvenates Drought-Struck Land

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What's really interesting is how initially the government and the locals thought he was crazy and there are even government regulations to prevent people from doing exactly what is needed to repair the land.

The laws governments pass and the typical farming practices used and condoned by farmers are exactly the wrong things to do for sustainability to thrive and they even prevent what needs to be done. The world has lost its mind if you ask me.

There need to be these kinds of examples spread across the world because once people see the beneficial results and realize it's cheaper, more resilient, and productive, and requires less labor, even the most stubborn old-time farmers will come around.

Another amazing story and example of a very large scale-project of land reclamation is this video called ReGreening The Desert. It shows it is possible to repair large-scale damaged ecosystems and they are doing it in China and Saudi Arabia. Here too, local people initially resisted changes to how they traditionally farmed until they could see how they would benefit. The world needs more vanguards to show them the way.

Regreening The Desert With John D. Liu

Before And After Pics Of The Regreening The Desert Project

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You can solve all the world's problems in a garden

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