| Executive
Summary
GROW BIOINTENSIVE SUSTAINABLE MINI-FARMING PROGRAM
GROW BIOINTENSIVE can make possible:
- a 200 - 400% increase in caloric production per unit of area,
- a 67 - 88% reduction in water consumption per unit of production,
- a 100% increase in soil fertility while productivity increases
and resource use decreases,
- a 50% reduction in the amount of purchased fertilizer required
per unit of production,
- a 99% reduction in the amount of energy used per unit of production,
- a 100% increase in income per unit of area.
This program:
- provides "how-to" publications and training for GROW
BIOINTENSIVE practitioners and projects throughout the United
States, Mexico, Kenya, Russia, India, the Philippines, and in
over 100 other countries,
- increases the number of skilled GROW BIOINTENSIVE teachers,
- researches complete economic, nutritional, resource, environmental
and soil sustainability,
- increases the number of highly productive, resource-conserving,
low-capital-input, cost-effective small farms using diverse cropping
patterns.
In addition to collaborating with independent U.S. and international
regional centers, Ecology Action has also provided assistance and
taught classes at university programs including ones at Stanford
University, the University of California-Davis, and the University
of Arizona. The GROW BIOINTENSIVE method is being used to develop
urban and rural community projects, serving as models for individuals,
organizations and communities to establish sustainable GROW BIOINTENSIVE
mini-farms.
The program's major emphases are in:
- Improved Teaching Practices,
- Soil Preservation,
- Smallest-Scale Crop-Growing, and
- Seed Preservation.
In addition:
- Research applications and quarterly reports are published.
- Training is made available to farmers, potential farmers, farm
advisors and representatives from state and national departments
of agriculture, representatives of farm organizations and the
public.
The program is administered by Ecology Action, a non-profit organization
with over thirty-five years of experience and thirty publications
in this field, which are used nationally and internationally. Media
coverage of this work has included: The Chicago Tribune, The Los
Angeles Times, The New York Times, Science '80, The Christian Science
Monitor, Horticulture, The California Farmer, and the PBS Television
Network.
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