Hi All,
For the last few days, I've been thinking about ways to make permaculture mainstream. I think the easiest way would be for somebody to be producing food with permaculture that is capable of competing with something you would buy from a grocery store. I had considered the idea of having some type of permaculture certification but I'm not sure that would be such a great idea since most permaculture operations are small and the costs could be high to have somebody visit each farm regularly and make a certification, as is done with organic. Other issues would be that permaculture is by definition defying standards and it would be very difficult to class each operation on how 'perma' they are.
My next idea was that the idea of getting permaculture to fit in with mainstream is just wrong and it should be the other way around. Instead of certifying, we need to get people to visit permaculture farms in person and participate in some way or another. That way, we build community and friendships and people can ask the farmers and see exactly what goes into the produce. One problem I can forsee in a poly-culture type of setup is that harvesting becomes difficult. Although this problem may be a solution in a sense.
So, the next idea is to run a permaculture farm as a certain type of pick it yourself model which brings up a new model of food. One parallel I can think of is car junkyards. Junkyards allow people to come in for a small entry fee and then give a heavy discounted rate on parts. The caveat is that there is no guarantee the part you need will be at the junkyard. You have to perform labor to remove the part from a junk car. And, there is no guarantee the part will be in working condition.
With this model, there is small recycling type of ecosystem formed. There are individuals who scavenge good but used tires and sell them to used tire shops. Other people specialize in pulling special parts from a niche market (i.e. old European cars) and selling them on eBay or to mechanics. Other people look for the diamond in the rough -- i.e. a good condition engine on special cars that would normally be very expensive.
I think in a 'pick your own' permaculture farm, this type of ecosystem might be formed. I also think there is great benefit to bringing ordinary people out to the farm, especially children. So, the idea would be that the farmer would give some type of discount if people come in and pick it themselves and perhaps be able to expand operations to areas that are not so easy to harvest. Perhaps the farmer could charge a fixed cost for whatever you can shove in a certain sized bag/box or a price per pound or even a flat fee for whatever you can haul out with your hands.
Not everyone will go for this type of model, but everyone can participate. Some people might be too busy to come to pick their produce and others might be too sick/frail. Other people, such as the unemployed/underemployed/poor may be able to have their produce subsidized by going to the farm and picking up produce for their neighbors and delivering it to their neighbors' houses. Farmers could also offer further discounts/trade by having their customers contribute labor at certain planned events.
What do you guys think about this idea and do you have any other ideas to make permaculture more mainstream?
John
