Aromaland buys from small
farmers
We work with small farmers all around the world who practice
sustainable agriculture. We have been sourcing these small
farmers for over 20 years. Many if not all the practices
detailed below are demonstrated by our farmers. Our farmers
are distillers and the plant material is processed into
an essential oil on the same land where it is grown. The
whole cycle is complete and sustains itself within its
own carefully managed ecosystem.
Sustainable agriculture seeks in principle to promote
economic viability, environmental stewardship, and social
responsibility. These three tenets are to be embraced
as one functional unit. Decisions concerning a sustainable
agriculture should then enhance the environment and the
farmer's economic situation and benefit the regional society.
Holistic Management gives us a way to move forward on
these three tenets. It gives us a way to design agriculture
to truly mimic nature's principles of sustainability.
It gives us a way to make decisions that automatically
take into account the society, the economics, and the
environment before they are made.
To better understand how nature functions, her basic processes
need to be considered. Looking closely, four basic processes
can be found in all natural systems. First, water falls
to earth as rain, filters through the soil and is either
taken up by plants or continues downward to become ground
water. When water is cycling effectively, floods are infrequent
and of lower impact, water is released slowly through
underground flow into springs and streams, and erosion
is virtually non-existent. If on the other hand, bare
soil is exposed and plant density is low, most water runs
off the landscape rapidly resulting in soil erosion, much
less water entry into the soil, and severe and more frequent
flooding. So, an effective water cycle is apparent in
nature and essential to a sustainable agriculture.
A second natural process we can observe in nature is the
mineral cycle through the biological system. Minerals
needed for biological growth are constantly recycled from
soil to plant to animal and back to soil again. There
is very little waste in the natural mineral cycle. There
is no need for fertilizer in nature, as all the fertility
is recycled again and again with very little loss. Ultimately,
to be sustainable, we need to find ways to utilize the
natural mineral cycle while minimizing our off-farm purchase
of minerals. Farming practices that inhibit the natural
mineral cycle, only reduce the sustainability of our farm.
A third natural process shows us that plant and animal
communities strive toward high biodiversity. Not only
is diversity high in the numbers of species, but also
the genetic diversity within species, and a wide age
structure of each population present. Greater diversity
produces greater stability within the system. It also
assures minimal pest problems. Large expanses of monoculture
represent a simple level of diversity. Monocultures
are almost never present in nature. Monocultures require
great energy expenditure, either with fossil fuels or
animal and human power to maintain. Weed invasion is
nature's way of injecting diversity into monocultural
cropland. When biodiversity is increased, the cost of
pest control and fertilizer is decreased.
Crop rotation is the first step toward increasing biodiversity
on the farm. It helps break weed and pest life cycles
and provides complementary fertilization to crops in
sequence with each other. Advancing from rotation to
strip intercrops represents an even higher level of
biodiversity. Our strip intercropping of spices, lumber
trees, flowering and essential oil plants are several
examples. Increasing habitat for more beneficial organisms
with more borders, windbreaks, and special plantings
for natural enemies of pests such as pennyroyal represent
even higher levels of biodiversity and stability.
The fourth natural process involves the flow of energy
from the sun through the biological system. The sun
is the fuel driving the biology of our farm. Energy
flows from the sun through the ecosystem from one level
to the next. Sunlight is absorbed by the green plant,
enabling it to grow. Plants are eaten by animals that
are in turn eaten by predators which are eaten by even
higher predators. During each step, energy is being
transferred from one level to the next. Energy is transferred
below ground through plant roots that eventually die.
The dead roots become food for decomposer organisms.
The waste and by- products from the primary decomposers
are consumed by another set of secondary decomposers.
Finally the residue is broken down into plant available
nutrients and soil humus. At each step of the decomposition
process, energy is either transferred from one organism
to another or is lost as heat.
In summary, the holistic decision-making process incorporates
values-based goal setting, the appropriate use of tools,
financial planning, land planning, biological planning,
and careful monitoring of effects. All these aspects
are managed as a whole unit. The benefits are higher
quality of life, financial stability, consistent profitability,
and the confidence of knowing that your decisions are
improving the environment and the community you live
in. It provides people with a means to make decisions
that more accurately mirror the way nature functions
(in wholes), and thereby ensure that our civilization
is truly sustainable over time.
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