The Land Institute

[Guest guest]

http://www.landinstitute.org/

 

The Land Institute has worked for over 20 years on the problem of

agriculture. Our purpose is to develop an agricultural system with the

ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to

that from annual crops. We have researched, published in refereed

scientific journals, given hundreds of public presentations here and

abroad, and hosted countless intellectuals and scientists. Our work is

frequently cited, most recently in Science and Nature, the most

prestigious scientific journals. We are now assembling a team of

advisors which includes members of the National Academy of Sciences.

These scientists understand our work and stand ready to endorse the

feasibility of what we have come to call Natural Systems Agriculture.

 

Our strategy now is to collaborate with public institutions in order

to direct more research in the direction of Natural Systems

Agriculture. We are seeking funds to construct and operate a research

center devoted to Natural Systems Agriculture and to underwrite

scientists elsewhere who will engage with us in such research. We

estimate the research cost to be $5 million a year for 25 years, which

is a small fraction of one percent of the nation's annual agricultural

research investment.

 

Important questions have been answered and crucial principles explored

to the point that we feel comfortable in saying that we have

demonstrated the scientific feasibility of our proposal for a Natural

Systems Agriculture. Because this work deals with basic biological

questions and principles, the implications are applicable worldwide.

If Natural Systems Agriculture were fully adopted, we could one day

see the end of agricultural scientists from industrialized societies

delivering agronomic methods and technologies from their fossil

fuel-intensive infrastructures into developing countries and thereby

saddling them with brittle economies.

 

Mission Statement

 

When people, land, and community are as one,

all three members prosper;

when they relate not as members

but as competing interests,

all three are exploited.

By consulting Nature as the source

and measure of that membership,

The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture

that will save soil from being lost or poisoned

while promoting a community life at once

prosperous and enduring.

 

The Land Institute is a non-profit research and education

organization. Its work depends upon charitable contributions from

individuals, foundations and corporations.

 

Please join us by contributing to The Land Institute.