What is the difference between Permaculture and Organic Agriculture?

Answer 1

I know quite a bit about organics but less so about permaculture. Both traditions take a "systems" approach to land/water management but permaculture is a more holistic approach of systems managed over the longer term. Thus: Perma[ment agri]culture. At some point, the differences between the two method may seem to merge where the organic farm may plant similar tree and row crops, manage the landscape for maximum soil retention and water storage/availability. The permaculture farm may not be organic at all if the farmer uses any synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. This is a sensitive issue with a lot of permaculture activists.

Organic largely focuses on working crops and livestock using natural (nonsynthetic) materials and traditional agronomic practices that enhance soil building and maintain biological diversity. By maintaining diversity of cropping and even incorporated beneficial habitats, the farmer may avoid major outbreaks of pests and diseases while the vibrant soil gives sustenance to the crops. The organic operation is often a commercial endeavor for the farmer rather than a livestyle commitment, and he or she might not even live on the farm. (As I do not)

I'll let the permaculturists add to this point: It is my experience with practitioners of permaculture that committment to place is paramount. Also large and small modifications of the qualities of the site figure strongly in long-term evolution of the property to maximum productivity. Diversity of productive activities and resources is a goal of a permaculture site.

In many respects this system emulates older agrarian systems of ecological and economic zonation from the farmstead. The most labor intensive and often more productive zones lie closest to settlement. The further from this core one ranges, the less intensive the management but often the more important the useful changes in drainage and water storing qualities of the ground. The model often seen in well watered regions include a wooded outer rim of mixes of useful trees and shrubs.