The Rise of Alternative Farming Systems: Feral Ecology (first of a 5-part weekly blog series)

The emergence of alternative farming systems has been gaining popularity in the last decade and making its way into mainstream culture much faster than in previous eras. Thanks to "digital highways" (Morris, 2012), such as social media, these ecology-based farming systems countering the dominant industrial agriculture model (Diver, 1995) have found its way in the hands of individuals outside of the academe. Permaculture, in particular, has achieved international fame (Diver, 1995; Ferguson and Lovell, 2013). Morris describes how permaculture has spread in today's Society 2.0:

"Now its terms and techniques spread virally through YouTube videos, support and information exchange bulletin boards, blogs, national societies and local networks; its businesses and courses proliferate." - Morris, 2012

With issues such as climate change, food security, and biodiversity loss headlining the news, individuals and communities are searching for ways to address these issues by themselves. Alternative agriculture gives common people the power and knowledge to challenge the prevailing model of conventional (also called "industrial") agriculture. These alternative farming systems will be defined and discussed in this five-week blog series.

Despite alternative farming and permaculture's rising popularity in popular culture, there continues to be a lack of scientific research in these disciplines (Veteo and Lockyer, 2008 as cited in Haluza-DeLeay and Berezan, 2010). A so-called "feral ecology (Morris 2012) has come out of the confines of the gated scientific community and into the hands of the public thanks to the information-sharing power of the Internet. The perception of the scientific community towards permaculture continues to be negative due to its "feral" nature and the credentials of the people who practice it--those outside of the academe. This blog series will discuss the current standing of permaculture in the scientific community.

Ever since permaculture began in the 1970s, it has produced countless permaculture designers all over the world independently working on their permaculture projects. The overall socio-ecological impact of these projects have not yet been fully evaluated and researched within the scientific community (Ferguson and Lovell, 2013)

Next week: Sustainable Agriculture

References:

Diver, S (1994). Permaculture and Sustainable Agriculture. Introduction to low-input sustainable agriculture. P. 152-158. Proceedings of the 13th Annual Oklahoma Horticulture Industries Show. Held January 7-8, 1994. Tulsa Jr. College-Northeast Campus, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Ferguson, RS and Lovell, ST (2013). Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practive and worldview - A Review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, INRA and Springer-Verlag France 2013

Haluza-DeLay, R and Berezan, R (2010). Permaculture in the city: Ecological habits and the distributed ecovillage. Localizing Environmental Anthropology: Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillage Design for a Sustainable Future. Berghan Books.

Morris, FA (2012). When Science Goes Feral. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences