Resilient Smallholding is an approach to smallholding that focuses upon – indeed is driven by – concerns about resilience. What does this mean? Well, the concept of resilience concerns the capacity to bounce-back and recover after set-backs or disasters – it can refer to people who possess this characteristic, for instance, or to systems in general. It involves a robustness that enables people and organisations to not just survive, but to thrive, despite adversity.
A Resilient Smallholding, then, is a smallholding that is designed and managed in such a way that it can rebound from setbacks including: adverse weather, market and financial system problems, oil/fuel/resource-shocks, and a host of other problems. In practical terms this means addressing questions such as:
- which livestock are more suitable for a resilient smallholding – and how are they best managed?
- which crops should I grow? (e.g., fodder crops for livestock as well as food crops for people; perennials as well as annuals)
- what particular varieties of crops are more resilient?
- which crops would be more useful in a crisis?
- how should these crops be grown to cope with too much or too little water – and other weather extremes?
- how do I best manage fertility on my smallholding?
- what if the fuel pumps run dry?
- how would I deal with getting supplies in and dealing with produce in a financial crisis?
My smallholding has been developed along permaculture lines, and I am now consciously designing-in resilience to the land and operations. My approach to smallholding resilience includes use of:
- the Resilience Building Cycle for Smallholders (equally applicable to other land-based projects);
- a model of the smallholding that sets out elements/components, inputs and outputs;
- SOPRES – Scale of Permanence for Resilient Smallholdings – a tool that can be used for prioritising works or as an analytical tool;
- a permaculture perspective and associated tools.
Resilience and permaculture are very much foundations of the Transition Movement. If you are interested in learning about Resilient Smallholding, then consider attending one of my courses.