What does a permaculture farm or landscape look like? What's in it that makes it different from other agricultural systems or farm designs? This paper published in Biodiversitas in 2021 hopes to answer these questions.
The study discusses the configuration of landscape components found in each permaculture site. Components refer to 6 categories: biotic, abiotic, manmade, technological, socio-economic, and cultural. These categories are based on observable physical characteristics observable on the ground and on the air via drone photography.
Biotic refers to plants, animals, and people. Abiotic refers to water features, hills, mountains and other land formations. Manmade refers to buildings used for shelter or storage. Technological refers to installations, vehicles, and machineries. Socio-economic refers to spaces or structures that generate income such as stores, stalls, etc. While cultural refers to spaces with religious or cultural significance such as grottos, parks, monuments, etc.
These landscape components are then discussed according to the 6 permaculture zones identified during our observations. Generally, the classic permaculture zoning in permaculture literature has been followed except for some modifications/variations.
Zone 0 is always the house structure. Zone 1 is a vegetable, herb, or ornamental garden. It's always close to Zone 0. Zone 2 is dedicated to grazing for sites that have livestock and poultry. Zone 3 is interchangeable with Zone 2. This is where most cash crops are located like rice, corn, high value vegetables, etc. Zone 4 is consistently placed in the outer zones where fruit trees, native trees, shrubs, and windbreaks are located. And Zone 5, the 'wilderness' area, can be included within private property or outside of private property such as montane forests, ocean, mangroves, etc.
We're sharing here a map gallery that was not included in the publication. In this interactive gallery, you can see each component geotagged on the site. The lines connecting each component indicates a relationship between the two (i.e. if plant is connected to goat, then goat eats the plant).
This is the first detailed description of 12 permaculture sites in the Philippines. Hopefully, this will lay the foundation for many more studies. It can also be useful if researchers would be able to compare the results of this study with permaculture designs in other countries.
You can access the map gallery here.
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