| I don't think this post is suggesting that all agriculture should take place in food forests. That's obviously not going to suit some species and would not be a balanced approach. Folks definitely get yields of more than a snack or 2 out of food forests. Growing food from perennials in a multi-layered food forest is very efficient (minimum inputs), resilient (diverse layers designed to support each other, plants that are of age and established, healthy soil) and has many outputs (food, timber etc). Bill Mollison explains the birth of the idea here [0]. I am convinced that they are a key piece of the future if we are to feed the 9 billion people you speak of. I am also becoming convinced that industrial agriculture's tendency to plant vast amounts of monocultures does not have a place in that future. Food forests are promoted through permaculture. The entirety of a permaculture farm wouldn't usually be dedicated to a forest like this. Grains have a place. So does meat. There are plenty of permaculture farms out there producing meat, and it's not uncommon for this to take place in woodland. Within a forest you may find pigs and poultry[1]. As a part of a permaculture farm's systems there may be pastured cattle, poultry[2][3] and so on. Within this sphere you find farms like Mastodon Valley[4], where cattle are a key part of their regenerative agriculture. Then you have ponds designed for fish[5]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrtJbk8_GY8&t=16m20s [1] https://youtu.be/GVQ8TUpvnDY?t=3m28s (woodland in this case, not a food forest) [2] https://youtu.be/3Knn7ZH4Tiw?t=39m28s (a system where chickens follow cows in pasture) [3] https://youtu.be/eFujalK2jHg?t=32m12s (using chickens to disturb an area in prep for establishing a new section of a food forest... continue watching for a few minutes to see an impressive chicken-pinning dog!) [4] https://mastodonvalleyfarm.com [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2B2Nyji7v0 (establishing a fish pond and using cows from the farm as helpers) |