Natural Sequence Farming in a Nutshell

 By Jim Arnold - President of the local Chapter of the Natural Sequence Association

Before European settlement, rainfall rarely channelled into incised streams but spread across the landscape from interconnected ponds and swamps, often described by the early explorers, sometimes in chagrin. The slow drainage allowed it to soak in, and along with the evolved biodiversity, kept the countryside fertile and virtually drought-proof.

Due to our farming practices since, all this has practically disappeared, Mulwaree River (South of Goulburn) now unique in much of its meandering length still being of the chain-of-ponds type. Elsewhere the water quickly rushes away, taking topsoil with it, inexorably degrading what's left into vulnerability to drought, erosion and salination.

  Former floodplain

Of course impossible to completely restore the landscape to its original topography and native biodiversity, but Peter Andrews' insight, condensed into his Natural Sequence Farming principles, strives to emulate the ancient natural system, on the two keys of hydrology and vegetation; fertility follows, without recourse to artificial inputs. Unmystical (beyond Peter's admirable gift for reading groundwater flows) and summarised as:

1. Hydrology

1. Slow the flow
2. Spread the flow
3. Let it soak-in
4. Conserve the moisture

1. Biodiversity

1. All plants beneficial
2. Symbiotic enrichment
3. Natural succession

1. Fertility

1. Spread nutrients
2. Cover ground
3. Slash for mulch

Hydrology

The drainage of the landscape over the floodplains was effectively step-wise, ie, terraced, with reedy bottlenecks between. The gully-drains now short-circuiting them are most in need of restoring to this benign state, essentially by slowing the erosive rush of water. Simply done, by emulating the former scenario in miniature; leaky (but rock-solid, ie, boulder) barriers, so that entrapped debris slows the current, allowing silt to settle and form the base from which vegetation grows, to further slow the flow. Typically, several of these need be placed to recreate the terracing, spaced so that the resultant back-pools reach the base of the next such weir. Eventually the silt accumulates to fill these ‘mini-flood-plains', thereby restoring the surrounding ground-water-table to that degree.

Beyond the gullies, where the gradient threatens scouring and channelling by the runoff, light contouring, either by grading or windrowed mulch, gives it time to soak in.

Biodiversity

No plant is a weed to Nature; every one contributes to its soil health and fertility, especially in combination. Deep-rooting perennials assist water- and carbon-penetration; shallow-rooted annuals aerate the soil and provide carbon (mulch) for microorganisms, worms etc to convert into plant-food, and they all add protective cover against the weather. ‘Weeds' which tolerate poor fertility build it to the stage where other more desirable species take hold and ultimately proliferate. The less-palatable ‘weed' offers bridging protection to the soil when others are heavily grazed, and by timely slashing, hastens its contribution to mulch cover. Often the ‘hayed' offcut provides palatable (eg, thorns soften) and more nutritious fodder than the grass.

Fertility

The fertility-enhancements can be further augmented by recycling strategies; for instance, inducing stock to resort to the high ground (with shade, troughs, handfeeding etc), so that manure gets disbursed from there by the surface runoff.

Weathering by the sun not only dries out the topsoil but devastates the microbiota, whose diversity is equally important. An allied principle is to disturb the protective cover (dead or alive) as little as possible - rip rather than plough.

Though these principles are commonsense, they face an entrenched academic and bureaucratic orthodoxy. For instance, recipients of millions fruitlessly spent for a realistic remedy to salination, naturally discount Peter's relatively-cost-free solution, based on freshwater-overlays.

His first book "Back from the Brink" found a ready audience, with over 50,000 sales, and its more pointed successor, "Beyond the Brink" is still a hot item; enlightening reads for those receptive to his plain-speaking wisdom.

See also www.naturalsequencefarming.com

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