Imagine there is a small island, like Malta, and the ecosystem has no external inputs (no fertilizer delivery, etc).

What does a sustainable plant based agriculture system look like? Are there already existing examples?

I’m very interested in how top soil is maintained without external fertilizer inputs?

One area of concern, I have, with modern monocrop farming techniques is the depletion of top soil, with something like 60 crop cycles left before we are current system falls over.

  • EpheraEnglish
    5•13 hours ago

    The industrial production of fertilizer is only about a century old (Haber-Bosch process for nitrogen fertilizers). Fertilizers are mainly concerned with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

    Before industrial fertilizers existed, people replenished the soil with:

    Crop rotation works, because there are also natural processes which replenish these nutrients. For example, this is the nitrogen cycle:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle

    In particular, you can plant legumes, which will naturally bring nitrogen into the ground.
    Either plant them as part of your crop rotation, or you can also plant e.g. potatoes and beans close together to continually replenish the nitrogen.

  • enkers
    4•14 hours ago

    I just recently got a book on the topic! (The Veganic Grower’s Handbook, by Jimmy Videle)

    It’s a fairly deep topic, and I’ve still got a lot to learn, but veganic farming and permaculture is certainly on the rise. There are quite a few small veganic farms spattered all over the place. Iirc, there are several online directories you can find.

    Here’s a good resource to check out on the theory behind it:
    https://goveganic.net/gardening-how-to/veganic-fertility-growing-plants-from-plants/