Earth And Man plans to establish a self-sufficient 2,5 acre vegetable market garden, addressing hunger and local food sovereignty in South Africa. We will provide meaningful, dignified employment and development, for youth in particular. The farm will serve as a best-practice demonstration farm, showcasing the productivity and viability of regenerative agriculture while simultaneously tackling climate change and environmental degradation. This model can and will be replicated across the country.
Hunger and food insecurity are crippling issues in South Africa with 16 children dying of hunger every day, and between 7-14 million people going to bed hungry every night (14%-28% of population). On top of this, deforestation, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, water-table depletion and top soil erosion are leading to severe climate calamities. All of these issues can be traced back to a broken, wasteful industrial agricultural system and can be solved through regenerative agriculture.
By producing abundant local, nutrient-dense food, according to regenerative farming practices (biodynamic and permaculture), local communities will have access to good clean food. At the same time, local economies will be stimulated through the creation of meaningful employment. By farming in harmony and partnership with nature, natural resources (e.g. soil, water, organic matter) will be preserved and replenished while at the same time protecting and healing environment and biodiversity.
Small-scale regenerative farming is highly productive and efficient using 1 Kcal of energy to produce 2-10 Kcal of food, whereas industrial agriculture uses 10 Kcal of energy to produce 1 Kcal of food. From this 2,5 acres we will produce nutrient dense food for at least 300 local families a week, while creating at least 5 full-time meaningful jobs. In addition, we'll increase soil organic carbon by at least 1% per annum, increasing soil water holding capacity by 62,000 gallons per acre.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
