Sustainability Lessons: Biosphere2, a closed-system living project in Arizona during
the 1990s, used techniques based on those rediscovered/systematized by Ecology
Action. The result: They raised 80% of their food for two years within a closed
system. Their experience demonstrates that a complete year’s diet for one person
can be raised on the equivalent of just 3,403 square feet! In contrast, it currently
takes commercial agriculture 15,000 to 30,000 square feet to do the same.
Moreover, commercial agriculture has to bring in large inputs from other areas and
soils just to make this production possible, depleting other soils in the process. To
raise all the food for one person in a developing nation takes about 16,000 square
feet, given the diets eaten and the food-raising practices used.
The Environmental Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona performed the
first tests for Biosphere2, documenting the status of the soil and crop yields over time.
In the Human Diet Experiment, all crop tests involved sustainable Biointensive crop
rotations including grains, legumes, and green manures. All crop residues were
returned to the soil after harvest and composting. Dr. Ed Glenn, who conducted the
tests, stated: Although funding was not available to continue these experiments for
the number of years necessary to draw final conclusions, the results support the
hypothesis that sustainable food production with few or no outside inputs will not
only continue to produce high yields but will improve rather than deplete the organic
constituents in the soil.We are excited whenever people and programs adopt
GROW BIOINTENSIVE practices, but there is still a
challenge to be met. Many people are successfully using
GROW BIOINTENSIVE farming techniques to grow food
for nutrition intervention, but few are trying to grow all
their calorie food needs on a basis that also feeds the soil