History:
The permaculture, also called the "permanent
agriculture", has begun around 1975, 1976, with the
Australian Bill Mollison’s ideas about a new way of thinking
the disposition of vegetable species, closer to the natural
ecosystems. Travelling to the United States, Bill and other
pioneers spread their theories until they could build a Rural
Center of Education, first official institution dedicated to
permaculture in that country.
Principles:
The followers of this current aim to practice
agriculture in a way that it is most integrated possible with
the natural environment, simulating the spatial composition of
plants as they are found in woods and forests. It involves
semi-permanent plants (manioc, banana trees) and permanent
plants (fruit trees, timber, etc) and it includes the productive
activity of animals. It is, therefore, an "agrowoodsypastoral"
system, that is, it tries to integrate farming with forest
species and pastures and other areas for animals, considering
the landscape and the energetic aspects in the elaboration and
maintenance of these policultures (different cultures cohabiting
in the same space).
