Agroecology is a promising approach to face current problems of biodiversity loss, soil degradation and climate change mainly caused by and affecting agriculture at the same time. Agroecological agriculture is based amongst other principles on the diversity of habitats, species, genes, the cycling of biomass and nutrients, the build-up of storages of fertile soil and water, and the integration of different land-use elements to create synergies. Permaculture is a promising framework to design and manage such context-specific agroecological systems.

In this project we investigate agroecological agriculture designed and managed with permaculture in Germany and Luxembourg. Therefore, soil samples are taken and plant and earthworm species are determined from different land-use types of permaculture farms and nearby reference agriculture. Additionally, farmers are interviewed to obtain economic data to determine land and labor productivity as well as resource efficiency. Our results should clarify whether this kind of agriculture holds its claims of true sustainability while still being able to produce sufficient food for human consumption.

Julius Reiff

Martin Entling

2019-2022

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Krebs, J., & Bach, S. (2018). Permaculture—Scientific evidence of principles for the agroecological design of farming systems. Sustainability, 10(9), 3218.

Ecosystem function, biodiversity; agroecology, permaculture; plants, earthworms; Germany, Luxembourg