Permaculture—Scientific Evidence of Principles for the Agroecological Design of Farming Systems


Permaculture practitioners have long been using design principles without them ever being scrutinized. Here, the authors review the scientific literature to evaluate the scientific basis for the design principles proposed by permaculture co-originator, David Holmgren. Scientific evidence for all twelve principles is presented. Even though permaculture principles describing the structure of favorable agroecosystems were quite similar to the agroecological approach, permaculture in addition provides principles to guide the design, implementation, and maintenance of resilient agroecological systems.

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