Knowledge Base and Research Digest

The Knowledge Base covers a wide range of topics, from the ethics, principles and design methods of permaculture, to a range of practical solutions. Of particular interest for farmers and smallholders is the section on ‘Land and Nature Stewardship’, which has a wide range of sections including: Managing Animals; Broadscale Agriculture; Forests & Woodlands; and Wildlands & Biodiversity. Each section includes links to books, websites, organisations, and videos.

An evidence base is also available on the Permaculture Research Digest.You can search by keyword, for example, farming.

Useful organisations

Permaculture draws from many disciplines and we have links with many groups and organisations, including:

Agroforestry Research Trust  The Agroforestry Research Trust is a non-profit making charity, registered in England, which researches into temperate agroforestry and into all aspects of plant cropping and uses, with a focus on tree, shrub and perennial crops.

Biodynamic Association  Fosters and promotes biodynamic farming and gardening.

Biodynamic Land Trust  The Biodynamic Land Trust is a charitable community benefit society, established to secure land into trust for healthy and sustainable farming and gardening. Let’s secure land into trust together, for a working and living countryside.

Community Supported Agriculture Network  The CSA Network UK is the only organisation working solely to promote CSA - community supported agriculture - across the UK.

Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) Driving innovative, transdisciplinary research on the understanding and development of resilient food and water systems internationally.

Food Sovereignty Network  Inspired by the efforts of farmers and social movements around the world as well as action in the UK, the Food Sovereignty Network is working to build a movement for a democratic, sustainable and fair food system – food sovereignty.

Landworkers Alliance An organisation of farmers, growers and land-based workers, working to overcome the obstacles facing us by campaigning for policies to support the infrastructure and markets central to their members livelihoods, building alliances and encouraging solidarity. They also raise awareness of the role that small-scale producers, family farmers and land-based workers play in providing food security, environmental stewardship, rural livelihoods, strong communities, animal welfare and high-quality affordable food.

LEAF - Linking Environment and Farming  Promotes sustainable agriculture, food and farming. "We help farmers produce good food, with care and to high environmental standards, identified in-store by the LEAF Marque logo. We build public understanding of food and farming in a number of ways. These include Open Farm Sunday and year round farm visits to our national network of LEAF Demonstration Farms”.

Organic Growers Alliance  The aims of the Organic Growers Alliance are to bring growers together so that through this alliance we have the ability to promote our interests, wherever matters affecting our work are determined, and the means to benefit individually and collectively from opportunities to share our experience of growing and of all that goes with it.

Organic Research Centre  The Organic Research Centre (ORC) is the UK’s leading independent research centre for the development of organic/agroecological food production and land management solutions to key global issues including climate change, soil and biodiversity conservation, and food security.

Oxford Real Farming Conference This annual conference is a unique gathering of the UK's sustainable and organic food and farming movements offering a practical mix of on-farm advice, showcasing new techniques for best practice in agroecological farming, and discussing the global food system, including the economic and trade policies that affect British farming, plus much more.

Pasture For Life  champions the virtues of pasture farming, providing a distinct and legal identity for systems where animals eat only grass and forage crops their entire life.

Regen Ag UK  (currently paused) A network and training organisation which promotes Regenerative Agriculture in the UK by connecting leading pioneers and trainers with farmers and smallholders via short courses, seminars and workshops, and by facilitating collaboration and peer-peer learning and practitioner lead exploration.

Soil Association  Soil Association Certification offers a huge range of organic and sustainable certification schemes across food, farming, catering, health and beauty, textiles and forestry which are recognised and trusted by consumers and businesses around the world.

Sustainable Food Trust  In order to drive the changes that are needed to transform our food systems, the Sustainable Food Trust works in three specific areas: Leadership and collaboration; Research and policy; and Communications and citizen engagement.