Wild farming is a growing alternative to "
factory farming
Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...
" that consists of planting crops that are highly associated and supportive to the natural ecosystem.
[Imhoff, Daniel. 2003. “Farming with the Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches.” Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA.] This includes
intercropping
Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves growing two or more crops in proximity. In other words, intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is ...
with native plants, following the contours and geography of the land, and supporting local
food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
s.
[ Altieri, Miguel A. 2000. “Ecological Impacts of Industrial Agriculture and the Possibilities for Truly Sustainable Farming.” Hungry For Profit. Eds: Magdoff-Buttel et al. Monthly Review Press, New York, NY] The goal is to produce large crop yields, while still promoting a healthy environment. Wild farming is a backlash against the dominance of factory farming which is a dominant factor in the food industry and has a 'myth' that industrial agriculture is more efficient. Up until the mid 20th century, agricultural crop yields relied on natural inputs such as rainfall patterns, natural soil resources, recycling of organic matter, and built-in biological control mechanisms.
Currently, agricultural practices have been conventionalized to include large
monocropped fields and the use of synthetic
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...
s and
fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s. Avoiding the conventional farming practices, wild farming adopts many practices from
sustainable agricultural systems such as
agroecology
Agroecology (US: a-grō-ē-ˈkä-lə-jē) is an academic discipline that studies ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear can suggest new management approaches in agroecosystems. The ...
,
permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...
,
forest farming
Forest farming is the cultivation of high-value specialty crops under a forest canopy that is intentionally modified or maintained to provide shade levels and habitat that favor growth and enhance production levels. Forest farming encompasses a ra ...
, and
greywater
Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from ...
systems.
Principles
The four basic guiding principles of the wild farming movement are:
# Direct managers to develop long-term vision for future of landscape
# Basic recognition of ecosystem processes.
# High value on biological diversity.
# To consider the quality of life of the community as well as the self.
[Jackson, Dana. 2002. "Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems". Eds: Jackson, Dana & Jackson, Laura L. Island Press, Washington, D.C.]
Organizations
The largest organization involved in the study and promotion of wild farming is the
Wild Farm Alliance
The Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing biodiversity by expanding the idea and practice of wild farming.
Rooted in Watsonville, the heart of central California's agricultural lands, the WFA was founded ...
(WFA). The objective of the WFA is to implement a vision of a “healthy, viable agriculture that helps protect and restore wild Nature”.
[Wild Farm Alliance]
"Wild Farm Alliance Platform
last viewed on 22 May 2007 The WFA has created a platform that other farmers, farming organizations, and conservation groups can adhere to. The WFA fights for the rights of the small-scale farmer who does not rely on the techniques of factory farming. Their platform has been endorsed by 74 organizations across the U.S., and the types of organizations include communities of sustainable farmers, California Certified Organic Farmers Foundation, conservation groups, advocacy groups, and suppliers of organic/sustainable food.
The WFA helps spread education by sharing success stories of farmers around the nation. For example, the WFA website contained a story of a farmer in Belgrade, MT who was raising sheep. To protect the flock from predators like wolves, they raised a guard llama with the sheep; because the llama grew up with the sheep they bonded and the llama protected them from native predators.
See also
*
Local food
Local food is food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the large-scale supermarket system.
Local food (or "locavore") movements aim to co ...
*
Locavore
Local food is food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the large-scale supermarket system.
Local food (or "locavore") movements aim to con ...
*
Biodynamic farming
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Farming
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