Sustainably diversified and localized agricultural production; i.e. modern agroforestry and traditional indigenous farming technologies in sync with natural, historic and cultural restoration, conservation and perpetuation targeting the Native Hawaiian population for return to the land and continuance of customary practices.
Ka Māla Village will employ traditional Hawaiian and Polynesian crops and farming techniques combined with cutting edge sustainable agriculture practices from around the world. This approach to agricultural production is "the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems...the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way."1
Bill Mollison, Permaculture: a Designer's Manual
Kauai has a lot of underutilized farm lands that can produce plenty more than the usual cows. A working demonstration/research co-op farm could serve as a model for what could be for all to see, growing a forest of productivity, using practices of multistory successional agroforest regeneration as manifested in Brazil by Ernst Gotsch with syntropic farming. The farm would also serve as a repository for plant propagative material for local farmers.
Imagine a twenty acre farmscape not far from ocean side bluffs where rows of Koa trees interspersed other Acacias, bananas, Mexican sunflower and other humus producing species are spaced around sixty feet apart. In the middle of the tree rows is an open Tatura trellis with a hurricane-proof plethora of intensively managed tropical fruit as demonstrated by Peter Solaris in Queensland, Australia. Bands of vegetables, root crops, dryland taro, fibers, and herbs are nestled between the fruit and Koas. Five cooperator/ researchers, with the interns meet at sunrise to discuss the day’s tasks, focused on farm-generated fertility, overall productivity, and the nutrient density of the crops. A farm research scientist would document all relevant developments. As the farm grows, locally recruited interns would lead interested school groups on an exploration of regenerative agriculture.
Infrastructure would include an equipment barn, sheds, a processing/storage/office facility with restrooms, a steam distillation unit for essential oils, a solar dryer and a workshop to build solar powered farm equipment.
A grant of $3million would; purchase the land ($1.5M), pay 2 years salary for 5 cooperator/farmers ($.5M), buildings ($.5M), farm equipment ($.25M),
irrigation system, nursery stock, trellis supplies, minerals, etc. ($.25M)
Crops to investigate could include moringa, cinnamon, cacao, limes, breadfruit, lemons, mango, avocado, dwarf coconuts, macadamia nuts, soursop, pink grapefruit, Cara Cara oranges, pomegranates, thatching palms, durable pole tree species, papaya, bananas, pineapple, dry land taro, cassava, sugarcane, mint, thyme, rosemary, oregano, vetiver grass, ginger, turmeric, sweet potatoes, along with the usual host of vegetables that thrive here on Kauai.
A relatively small investment could steer agriculture on Kauai to a healthier, more productive, community engaging future. Regenerations Botanical Garden, a 501(c)(3) non profit would oversee and own the project. The time is ripe.
Ka Māla Village will employ traditional Hawaiian and Polynesian crops and farming techniques combined with cutting edge sustainable agriculture practices from around the world. This approach to agricultural production is "the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems...the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way."1
Bill Mollison, Permaculture: a Designer's Manual
Kauai has a lot of underutilized farm lands that can produce plenty more than the usual cows. A working demonstration/research co-op farm could serve as a model for what could be for all to see, growing a forest of productivity, using practices of multistory successional agroforest regeneration as manifested in Brazil by Ernst Gotsch with syntropic farming. The farm would also serve as a repository for plant propagative material for local farmers.
Imagine a twenty acre farmscape not far from ocean side bluffs where rows of Koa trees interspersed other Acacias, bananas, Mexican sunflower and other humus producing species are spaced around sixty feet apart. In the middle of the tree rows is an open Tatura trellis with a hurricane-proof plethora of intensively managed tropical fruit as demonstrated by Peter Solaris in Queensland, Australia. Bands of vegetables, root crops, dryland taro, fibers, and herbs are nestled between the fruit and Koas. Five cooperator/ researchers, with the interns meet at sunrise to discuss the day’s tasks, focused on farm-generated fertility, overall productivity, and the nutrient density of the crops. A farm research scientist would document all relevant developments. As the farm grows, locally recruited interns would lead interested school groups on an exploration of regenerative agriculture.
Infrastructure would include an equipment barn, sheds, a processing/storage/office facility with restrooms, a steam distillation unit for essential oils, a solar dryer and a workshop to build solar powered farm equipment.
A grant of $3million would; purchase the land ($1.5M), pay 2 years salary for 5 cooperator/farmers ($.5M), buildings ($.5M), farm equipment ($.25M),
irrigation system, nursery stock, trellis supplies, minerals, etc. ($.25M)
Crops to investigate could include moringa, cinnamon, cacao, limes, breadfruit, lemons, mango, avocado, dwarf coconuts, macadamia nuts, soursop, pink grapefruit, Cara Cara oranges, pomegranates, thatching palms, durable pole tree species, papaya, bananas, pineapple, dry land taro, cassava, sugarcane, mint, thyme, rosemary, oregano, vetiver grass, ginger, turmeric, sweet potatoes, along with the usual host of vegetables that thrive here on Kauai.
A relatively small investment could steer agriculture on Kauai to a healthier, more productive, community engaging future. Regenerations Botanical Garden, a 501(c)(3) non profit would oversee and own the project. The time is ripe.
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Ernst Gotsch is a Swiss farmer and researcher. Gotsch's work in Latin America on models of agroforestry has led to conversion of large tracts of degraded land into productive and diverse agroforests. He has developed a new technique of rapid recovery of poor soils by imitating existing patterns in nature in which carefully selected species of plants - a consortium of species - are placed at a given spacing and orientation, introduced in a predetermined sequence, and are heavily pruned during their growth period at regular intervals. In the space of a few years he has converted over 1200 acres of degraded land in Brazil into a productive rainforest producing cacao among other things. His students and some corporations are now implementing the same techniques, combining commercial and ecological interests. (Wikipedia)
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