'Permaculture: Why it Matters to Sustainable Agriculture' Webinar Hosted by Dream Media/Dream AgriTech

Thank you to our friends at Dream Media and Dream Agri Tech for inviting us to do this webinar on permaculture. Below are some resources to aid you in your permaculture journey:

Permaculture organizations in the Philippines:
Philippine Permaculture Association 
Green Warrior Permaculture
Green Releaf
Cabiokid Foundation, Inc.
Isabela Permaculture Development Center

Permaculture Facebook groups in the Philippines:
Philippine Permaculture Practitioners
Solution: Permaculture
Permaculture and Wellness Club of the Philippines

Permaculture farms, projects, initiatives:
Lorenza' Garden and Food Forest Farm, Isabela
The Justice German Lee Jr. Nature Sanctuary, Cebu
Aloha Natural Farm, Palawan
Alpas, Antique
Kai Farms, Cavite
Layog Country Farm, Mountain Province
Tara Farms, Laguna
Umaleng Organic Farm, Zamboanga del Sur
Glinoga Organic Farm, Pitogo, Quezon
The Pitak Project, La Union
Bukid ni Bogs, Zamboanga del Sur
I-mazingPH

Permaculture Reference Database

YouTube Videos:
UMASS Permaculture
Oregon State University Ecampus (permaculture course)
Documentary on permaculture in the Philippines
Dito Sa Laguna Permaculture Episode

Permaculture Reference Database

Please help us build a Permaculture Reference Database. This will be helpful to students and researchers writing their Review of Literature for their permaculture-related papers.

Please feel free to add, comment, and edit the entries. Journal articles are preferred but you can also add book titles, news articles from credible sources, links to published abstracts, and thesis manuscripts. Thank you! 

#permaculture

Add your entries by clicking this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lxI4JuDzpR2eWH8pVERmXXAk9XAPxCn7vcYV-lePXnA/edit?usp=sharing

Webinar on Permaculture Presented by Dream Agritech Consultancy Services

For the next webinar in our Agriculture 20-20 series, we are going to talk about #Permaculture!

Join us on Monday, May 18 at 3 pm (UTC +8)!

The webinar will be conducted by Jabez Flores from Permaculture Research PH!

Register via this link: https://forms.gle/5JmpvBMdsSZ3hvB6A

See you on Monday! Stream will be live here on FB and on our Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkXb1kgihxzbDAN_kDuSEJQ)! #DreamAgri2020

Roberto "Obet" Verzola on Permaculture

Photo from Philippine Permaculture Association Facebook Page

Here is an article written in 2009 by the late Engr. Roberto "Obet" Verzola in his blog, Ecology, technology and social change: Notes on Green theory and practice by Roberto Verzola. Sir Obet was a visionary, a polymath, and a man ahead of his time. A board member of the Philippine Permaculture Association, he is known as the "Father of Philippine Email."

Permanent agriculture

How does one design a farm so that it is environmentally-friendly and economically viable as well?

To many Filipino farmers, this question has not even occurred. Most tenants and farm workers have little say in running the farms they work in, much less in redesigning them. Even farmer-owners often simply take the existing farm set-up as given, preoccupied as they are in the day-to-day problems of keeping their farms afloat.

Yet, a farm’s design is a key factor in its survival and sustainability. In poorly-designed farms, farmers will always feel as if every day were an uphill climb, because the poor design makes the farmer work against the natural flow of matter and energy in the farm. In well-designed farms, farming will feel like a downhill joyride, as the natural forces and components in the farm themselves do most of the work that the farmer normally shoulders.

A sustainable approach to farm design called permaculture, first developed in Australia, is now proving its worth under Philippine conditions. In permaculture (from permanent agriculture), the farmer carefully lays out a system of water containment and channels within the farm, so that water naturally flows slowly, by gravity, from one containment to the next. Then, the farmer gradually “assembles”, following certain principles and guidelines, an increasing variety of plants and animals. These are laid out in a way that each additional farm component performs one or more functions or provides matter or energy which, in a conventional farm, have to be provided by the farmers themselves. After many years, a well-designed permaculture farm will look like a lush forest of food and cash crops. And this forest will essentially maintain itself. Then, the farmers’ job will consist mainly of tending the “forest” and regularly harvesting its products.

Successful permaculture farms in the Philippines include the Center for Ecozoic Living and Learning (CELL) in Silang, Cavite and Cabiokid in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija. Permaculture practitioners and advocates have set up the Philippine Permaculture Association (PPA), which conducts regular trainings and supports those who want to try permaculture in their own farms.