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There are a surprising number of perennial food plants. Not just bushes and trees; vegetable crops too! I recently saw a Gardeners' World episode which showcase
by JoeAltmaier 4y ago
There are a surprising number of perennial food plants. Not just bushes and trees; vegetable crops too! I recently saw a Gardeners' World episode which showcased a lady with 220+ perennial vegetables in her garden. Including a variety of broccoli, and one of chard! A surprise to me.
A benefit to her is, she could have all that without dealing with every plant, every year. But she had plenty of rain and land. Not everybody would find that solution beneficial.
- tfourb 4y agoWell-designed food forests and agroforestry systems can exceed the calorie production per acre of heavily mechanized and fertilized annual crops like corn, while providing tons more actual nutrition and additional services like wood, good quality soil, etc. with little or no fossil-fuel-based inputs. Check out i.e. Mark Shepard (New Forest Farm) and Martin Crawford (Agroforestry Research Trust) for examples.
- seunosewa 4y agoIf this was true, commercial farmers would probably be doing it already. They tend to rapidly adopt anything that improves yield.
- fogzen 4y agoThey have little incentive since non-financial externalities are not accounted for in commercial agriculture. In other words, we aren’t accounting for the costs of topsoil and ecosystem destruction, or greenhouse gases from fertilizer and pesticide production. Industrial agriculture has increased yield mostly via unsustainable external inputs: fertilizer, pesticides, and motorized machines (oil, oil, and more oil).
- efields 4y agoCertain crops we grow annually will perennialuse just fine in the right environment. We bought a perennial kale last year only to have it completely die, meanwhile a kale I didn’t pull at the end of the fall is shooting new leaves. Right plant, right place. We’re still working on it, thousands of years later.