Mount Currie Community Development Organisation (MCCDO)
We accept 100% K'Mali
Regenerative Community Farming.
MCCDO focuses on developing community integrated Syntropic agriculture models that are completely inclusive, ecological and regenerative. Food security depends on both small and large commercial food producing systems that vertically and horizontally overlap like in nature and are ethically designed and developed with principles and techniques inherent in Permaculture Design, the Keyline Scale of Permanence, Agro-Ecology (AE), Biomimicry, Bio-dynamic, Intuitive agriculture and Electromagnetic farming. We strive to inculcate an appreciation of Agro-bio-diversity and promote a wholesome culinary heritage which reconnects people to landscapes and each other. We do this by training communities in regenerative production techniques and establishing institutional arrangements that support grass-roots agricultural enterprise development and real food access.
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. Masanobu Fukuokaou.
Permaculture (Permanent Agriculture & Culture) is the conscious ethical design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. The philosophy behind Permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.
Agro-Ecology (AE) - is a method which espouses the application of ecological concepts and principles to the design and general management of and for sustainable agricultural ecosystems. AE emphasizes the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem integrity in maintaining renewal processes and ecological services which are primarily biological. The methods emphasize and promote natural biodiversity through the incorporation of nutrient recycling which maintain sustainable dynamism between crop, animal, soil and other biological components. AE has the ability to regenerate and conserve resources. See case studies
Biodynamic Agriculture – is a method of organic farming that emphasizes the holistic development and interrelationships of the soil, plants and animals as a self-sustaining system in a dynamic relationship with the forces of the cosmos. Biodynamic farmers strive to create a diversified, balanced farm ecosystem that generates health and fertility as much as possible from within the farm itself. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include an emphasis on integrating farm animals, the cultivation of crops, and the care of the land, the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays, an emphasis from its beginnings on local production and distribution systems using local breeds and varieties and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar. http://www.jpibiodynamics.org
Biomimicry is a discipline that studies natural organisms and ecosystem processes and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. It is innovation inspired by nature where the goal is not simply to take lessons from natural processes and manipulate our resources until they mirror those processes; but rather it is to refashion our own processes and retool our resources so that they align with those found in nature. Agriculture has an inescapable relationship with the earth and natural ecosystems, and thus offers ripe grounds for emulating the potential of biomimicry to transform our world into an integrated, cleaner, healthier and abundant home.
Keyline Scale of Permanence involves maximizing beneficial use of water resources on a piece of land. The Keyline refers to a specific topographic linked to water flow. Keyline Design can be seen as a collection of design principles, techniques and systems for development of rural and urban landscapes to buffer against adverse weather and drought.
The Paradigm Shift: Reasons for this approach?
Globally, awareness around the many positive values associated with Agricultural Biodiversity and holistic community farming practices are raising and MCCDO is at the forefront of establishing these trends in the region. There are numerous direct benefits associated with the organic cultivation of the actual food products, fibers and medicinal plants, which hold diverse nutritional values, support local food security and offer diverse ways of consumption and multiple industrial spinoffs. There are also many other indirect benefits related to the eco-system, such as enhancing soil fertility, reducing vulnerability to pests and disease and importantly maintaining diversity so as to adapt to future environmental and climatic changes. Unfortunately at the moment many of these values are not reflected in the market place, creating a bias against conservation and agro-ecological diversity and rather distorted towards import/export, chemical input intensive and industrially high-yielding monoculture cropping practices.
On Mountain View Farm MCCDO supports various technical, institutional and educational initiatives that are aimed at catalyzing communities into becoming conscious and proactive agrarian citizens that "eat their landscapes" ie: The way communities feed themselves determines the nature of their local agricultural production. Farming operations on Mountain View are managed by EG Permaculture Co-operative in partnership with numerous active ICP’s (Independent Co-operative Partners). MCCDO teaches individuals and communities on how to setup permanent agricultural systems as valid, consciously designed, regenerative and complete energy, nutrient and water cycling systems. We share the ethics, principles and techniques inherent in Permaculture Design, the Keyline Scale of Permanence, Agro-Ecology (AE), Biomimicry, Bio-dynamic and Intuitive Farming. We show communities how set up sustainable systems to meet their needs regeneratively; how to embody a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions and wonder, rather than treating any species or area as a single-product system. Everything that can be together is put together, works together, and helps each other. Every unit has many uses: every use is achieved in multiple ways. MCCDO shares this paradigm of collaborative abundance and helps empower people to build fail-safe systems that provide food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a resourceful and sustainable way.
Future Food Security is in the balance unless we take proactive measures to ensure its bounty and independence from centralized Corporate and Government control. Geo-engineering and anthropogenic climate change represent major threats to food security and food sovereignty and there is growing consensus that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are likely to increase under anthropogenic climate change and unabated geo-engineering of weather patterns. Inequality of income and access to resources, both within communities and between countries, is the biggest socio-economic driver behind hunger and the substantive issue of malnutrition or nutrition insecurity at the individual level. Unequal access to resources means that huge areas of land are being used for rich consumers in distant markets, instead of food for local consumption. Industrial Farming with its focus on monoculture production has come at the expense of declining soil fertility, food nutrition, freshwater pollution and depletion, and loss of biodiversity, while also driving millions of farmers into debt and eroding rural communities’ ability to exert control over crucial resources such as land and seeds. Genetically engineered crops are a geo-political and corporate tool for power, profit and control and have not been designed to feed the poor or to decrease prices. GMOs do not increase yields in a sustainable manner, and have failed under extreme fluctuations in temperature and moisture. MCCDO completely avoids the use of GMOs as there is an increasing body of independent scientific evidence which clearly indicates that eating GM food is unsafe, unsustainable and degenerative with links to depopulation agendas. These grounds for concern about the health impact of eating GM food are paralleled by concerns about the negative implications that the dependency on pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizer has for the environment and subsequently human health. Loss and waste of food from harvest to table is another major issue. Enough food is already produced in the world to feed every human being on the planet comfortably, and further gains could be achieved to feed future generations through the application of agro-ecological farming practices. But current estimates suggest that as much as 30 % of the food grown today is spoiled or wasted, an unacceptably high figure. If we do not regulate our own numbers and appetites (Diets), limit the areas we occupy and better manage our natural resources; nature will do so for us, by famine, erosion, poverty and disease. What we call political and economic systems stand or fall on our ability to conserve the natural environment. Better regulation of available land plus very cautious use of natural systems is our only sustainable future strategy.
Traditional foods have been subversively substituted by a ‘modern civilized diet’ that relies on a few commercial crop varieties, it is highly processed, less nutritive and has been engineered to be addictive and unhealthy. There is also a concern that information on the utilization and preservation of many traditional crops is being lost. MCCDO facilitates education programs that focus on the benefits of agro-biodiversity and the links between soil health, plant health and human health to increase awareness about the intimate links between nutrition, dietary patterns and planetary wellbeing. We realize that it is important to introduce knowledge of nutrient dense diverse foods to bring about changes in behavior which are in keeping with traditional culinary habits and are acceptable within the framework of higher value systems. Communities are generally interested in these subjects and want to reclaim lost knowledge and so MCCDO offers capacity building programs and workshops to revive and share this information.
Older and more locally adapted landrace varieties of crops and animal are rarely being sown or have not been raised for a long time - their uses and advantages have often been forgotten vis-à-vis market yield varieties. If we want to secure the existence of these resources and reconnect with our diverse culinary heritages, we need to create platforms and incentives for farmers and communities to maintain these resources for the public good. MCCDO is doing this by raising awareness, facilitating technical training, supporting current farmers, educating and inspiring youth in agriculture, creating cultivation hotspots, linking to dedicated niche markets, establishing fresh food trade fairs, promoting food preservation and processing techniques and creating community seed banks that support the R&D function of naturally breeding locally adapted landrace varieties and improved crop and animal breeds.
MCCDO advocates preserving and processing seasonally diverse and older cultivars of vegetables and crops to increase local food security and create niche opportunities for wider market appeal and increased commercial demand. Through the dissemination of information on the attributes of indigenous and older cultivars of vegetables, such as their nutritional content and anti-oxidant properties consumer value increases. The cultivation of traditional crops is partly associated with less expensive production methods and less external inputs and there is good potential for families to earn additional income from processing and selling surplus production of these crops.
Food security cannot be understood only in terms of food production and it is equally important to also address issues of access to nutritious food and to promote resilience in the face of current vulnerabilities as well as projected possible disruptions to Global and National food supply chains due to the unforeseen effects of climate change. Food security includes mapping the full suite of food production and processing as well as examining equitable access to affordable food, education around nutrition, school feeding programs and elderly care, community gardens and kitchens, enabling policies and zoning by-laws, composting and nutrient cycling programs, food safety certifications, periodic markets and various other dimensions.
Various local measures can and must be taken by everyone to help prevent runaway climate change, buffer extreme weather events (eg: drought, storms…), develop sustainable farming systems, improve the economic position and access links of poor food producers and consumers, and protect the most vulnerable from predatory speculative behavior. Some key steps that are needed to prevent future food crises include stopping geo-engineering, reversing human activities which exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of natural ecosystems services that regulate the weather and support agriculture productivity (eg. insect pollination). Investment needs to be scaled-up in more resilient and ecological agricultural practices, addressing inequalities in income and access to resources, and drastically cutting food waste from field to fork. Local regulators must also be given the power to strictly limit the role of speculative capital in food commodity markets.
National policy directives such as The Comprehensive Rural Development Program (CRDP), and the NDP’s (National Development Plan) promote agricultural expansion and call for agrarian reform through the adoption of an agro-ecological approach to the long-term production of food, fuel, fibre and pharmaceuticals. Both form part of MCCDO strategy to develop food producing systems that are abundant, completely ecological, regenerative and engage with marginalised communities.
MCCDO Youth Workshop in Permaculture Production
Regenerative Design
[Re]Design emulates healthy, productive ecological systems to create human systems which increasingly flourish over time.