paddock shift systems save the world

those theories are interesting, for sure, but they fail to explain a lot of the details of desertification.

Interesting how many of these deserts formed within a few centuries of mass grain agriculture in that area... That's definitely not plate tectonics or mountain upthrusts...

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara

The Sahara has been much bigger in the past. It is an Earth climate issue and not the fault of mankind.

The Sahara was also wetter in the south than it is today. The southern boundary moved south 81 miles (130km) between 1980-1990.

But that is one desert, what about the deserts in the middle east? They were forests less than 15K years ago. Or how about the deserts of western China? Those hills were covered with trees less than 200 years ago. Or what about the Dust Bowl in the USA? Or the growth of deserts in Australia? or in Africa?

Desertification involves increasing the range of a desert. The humans may not have created the desert in the first place (China), but quickly, they extend its range with mismanagement, usually due to the overuse of the plow and overgrazing of grasslands.

Deserts are increasing at an astonishing rate every year, almost a million acres per year in China alone.

Worldwide, we are looking at desert growth at a rate of 20,000 SQUARE MILES EVERY YEAR. That's almost 13 MILLION acres every year. This is above and beyond the background rate that could be attributed to climate.

It has been estimated that over 75% of the topsoil in North America has been eroded since the European invasion.

The increase in desertification since the beginning of the industrial revolution is astounding. The rate just keeps increasing.

So, as you see, climate, mountain upthrusts, or plate tectonics cannot be responsible for all of this. It is increasing too fast and at a specific time in human history (industrialized farming).

Agriculture is the leading cause of desertification, and at a rate of almost 13 million acres a year..

"So, as you see, climate, mountain upthrusts, or plate tectonics cannot be responsible for all of this. It is increasing too fast and at a specific time in human history (industrialized farming)."

I didn't say "all" deserts were created from those things. Merely that there has been quite a bit of scientific research indicating that those things are the cause of the Sahara. Industrial farming is extremely new - last 50 years. As much as you and I dislike CAFOs and their ilk they're not the cause of the deserts. Better to look for the real causes so they can be understood.

My statement was that Agriculture is the leading cause of desertification. This remains true worldwide. Agriculture did not create the Sahara, but it may be increasing its range in many areas.

I think it's difficult to pin the issue down to one reason or another, on a macro scale of desertification. I'm sure there have been many deserts caused by natural means, but I also know that man has caused desertification (and we still are).

I am no expert on desertification, but I know a sand storm hit Beijing a day after I left in May of 2008. Their desert is expanding, and they're trying to plant a wall of trees to slow it (just like we did in the '30s, too little too late).

The moldboard was used everywhere in the 30's, and we were cultivating some really marginal areas. Because of WW1, Ag markets were crazy high. Farmers expanded, bought land, leveraged themselves......and when the markets tanked after the war, a lot of plowed land lay fallow. Combined with the drought, that was all it took.

Now we have expanded into a lot of those marginal areas once again, thanks to center pivot irrigation. However, the Ogallala aquifer is getting pumped dry.

Given what I learned from reading about Salatin and Polyface it's no surprise to me that proper rotational grazing closes the cycle of grasslands and browsers, much like North America's prairies were to the buffalo, and can improve rather than degrade the land. It's nice that the guy who won the award is finally being recognized for saying so.

"Managed intensive grazing" is to "Holistic management" as "polyculture" is to "Permaculture".

The Fast Company article does not do Allan Savory justice. Holistic management is more a thought process, MIG is just an important tool.

Any 19 permaculture and nature loving, responsible people want to join in a dessert permaculturising project and have fun with it.?
We could create it as as a Gaja university project.

Paul's presentation on Replacing Irrigation with Permaculture at the Inland Northwest Permaculture Convergence: http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/508-podcast-087-replacing-irrigation-with-permaculture/

Paul talks about paddock shift systems.

Podcast review of Geoff Lawton's Urban Permaculture DVD: podcast

Paul and Lacia talk about an urban paddock shift system.

A few comment here.

First of all, a mature rainforest is very diverse, it is not monocrop. On average, more than 200 species of trees per acre. Not sure about the North. Secondly, only under trees in the tropic does the soil remain fertile, otherwise, it washes away, quickly. Tropical soils tend to be thin, except around volcanos, and even then, 1 meter is a lot of soil.

Few things are more productive than a rainforest. You could drop me in a rainforest and I will come out the other end, fatter. There is food, good food, everywhere. And, unlike a northern forest, it is year round.

With a mature forest, you also have open places, these are called corridors of light. When a huge tree falls, it usually takes out 10 to 20 more trees, leaving a big gap. This start the regeneration all over again.

Much of the problem we have is that we want our animals we are accustomed to, just like we want our plants, instead of working with what grows naturally in the environment. For example, my sheep have to have minerals, salt, etc, but the native deer do just fine with what they eat. Our horses, which are indigenous to the Americas, need nothing and do just fine, as long as it is just pure pasture.

They say (scientist) that around 30 to 40 % of the rain that falls is from the forest. Cut down the forest, stop the rain. Since Costa Rica was cleared in the memory of those still alive, it is interesting to hear them tell of cattle drowned in streams that would now, barely get your feet wet. And we are talking rainforest climate.

Instead of feeling we need more grass land, perhaps we need less people, and the animals we feel we must have? Well, nature bats last, I am sure she has something to say about all this.

One other interesting thing, though there is a lot of grass now in Costa Rica, Costa Rica has NO native grasses. It used to be all forest.

Walter Jeffries wrote:...By the way, I saw something recently that said livestock are not the cause of desertification but rather historically it has been caused by shifting wind patterns that changed the delivery of moisture.

I disagree.

I had sheep & goats in a small paddock and they (I) turned that little patch of Vermont into a desert. The land was hard and bare. If it had been a dry year, it would have been dusty/ sandy too. I changed the fencing to give them an even smaller (sacrificial) area and the desert has started to retreat but it had only been 1 year of mismanagement! Imagine 3,000+ years of mismanaged grazing!

Paul and Kelda review chapter 2 of Sepp Holzer's Permaculture in this podcast.

They talk about the paddock shift system.