Extending The Growing Season 2009 Asia Conference (No Text)
1. Extending the Growing Season Ideas on how to move toward year-round production through perennial crops and innovative farming practices. Danny Blank, ECHO Farm Manager ECHO Asia Conference, 2009
27. Other reasons may include cultural and personal; off-season jobs such as thatching, construction, brick making; weddings and social activities; and lack of knowledge and capital.
28. We must really understand what are the major constraints to dry season activity and year round production systems before we can promote sensible, sustainable solutions.
29. Extending the Growing Season • Farming practices • Fuelwood • Fencing • Forage • Fruit • Foliage– perennial greens
39. Brian Oldreive No-till, mulch based farming: Foundations for Farming (FFF)
40. Former way of farming ... Burning and tillage High cost Declining yields Low profit margin Results ultimately in a wasteland! Foundations For Farming… Zero Tillage Mulching Biblical Training Management - excellence - on time - no waste Results in abundance!
43. Leave crop residue, reopen planting station during dry season and “give back to receive.” (i.e. soil cover, fertilizer, manure, and/or termite hill soil)
77. 5. Sunken beds and fields This approach involves planting in depressions. Advantages include: 1. Plants are protected from drying winds 2. There is increased soil moisture when planting lower 3. What rain does fall or irrigation added is better conserved 4. Organic matter accumulates in depressions so there can be more fertility ** Compaction is an important consideration
119. Planting a single line of trees on the border of 1 ha at 2 meter apart is around 1/3 the density of a solid 1 ha. plantation planted at 4 m. If you can achieve 30 ton/ha/yr average, then it might be possible to achieve 10 ton/yr by planting the border alone, well above most family’s yearly need.
138. Livestock enclosure formed by a living fence of a thorny and unpalatable Caesalpinia sp. http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/livefence.html
139. Gumbo Limbo and barbed wire, Costa Rica www.tripsource.com/.../Emma/CostaRica/11.htm
140. Fencing is such a critical part of extending the growing season. When animals rule the landscape, scarcity is common and the land’s productive potential rarely achieved.
141.
142. Extending the Growing Season • Farming practices • Fuelwood • Fencing • Forage • Fruit • Foliage– perennial greens
177. Mango– a true gift from God Mango– a true gift from God Begin with in-country resources Don’t forget common fruits and their potential for improvement
245. Basket Vine, Trichostigma octandrum , Edible leaf, also good rabbit forage
246. Extending the Growing Season • Farming practices • Fuelwood • Fencing • Forage • Fruit • Foliage– perennial greens
247. Summary 1) Current challenges facing small-scale farmers… Small farms, declining fertility, low yields, huge wood needs, poor landcare practices, etc. 2) Risk of depending on rainy season alone in tropics. 3) Importance of extending the season beyond the rainy season. * Innovative farming practices Mulch, irrigation cisterns, drip irrig., tire gardens *Emphasis on year round cropping with perennials Fuel, fences, forage, fruit, foliage * Diversification, intensification, and integration of small scale farms 4) Encourage you to help others expand their vision!
My name is Danny Blank. I have been with ECHO since 1994. ECHO is an organization that equips international development workers with agriculture resources and skills to improve the lives of the poor.
Today, I want to speak about Extending the Growing Season. This is a talk about the significance of year round production for farmers in the tropics. how to move toward year-round production through perennial crops and innovative farming practices the significance of year round productin ideas of innovative farming practices and
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
Five years ago, this one acre plot was mostly abandoned and only produced a bit of pasture grass for the Center’s oxen.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.
We are now producing corn, beans, bananas, yuca and forage. We have fruit trees and we have dozens of individual trees that have benefitted from the soil and water conservation resulting from using SALT.