Sustainable Dryland Farming
Combining Farmer Innovation and Medic Pasture in a Mediterranean Climate

Describes a sustainable system of dryland agriculture based on medic pasture.

Lynne Chatterton (Author), Brian Chatterton (Author)

9780521337410, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 November 2005

356 pages, 17 b/w illus. 3 tables
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm, 0.498 kg

'I enjoyed reading this text, partly because the enthusiasm of the authors comes through in their writing. It is well presented with good quality black and white photographs, text figures and tables.' Stephen Nortcliff, Annals of Botany

Sheep and wheat are the staples of dryland farms in the Mediterranean zone of the Northern hemisphere. The commonly used dryland farming system introduced in the 1950s is proving unsustainable. Erosion has reached a critical level and pastures have all but disappeared. Experts advise more cropping (forage crops for instance) and more fertiliser. Yet intensification of the present system will only hasten erosion. Is there an alternative system that is both environmentally sustainable and within the means of most farmers in the region? Innovative farmers in a similar climate in Australia discovered a sustainable rotation using annual medics as both fertiliser and pasture. Attempts to transfer their knowledge have often foundered. Why is this so? How much do the experts know about this system? This book pulls apart the warp and weft of development on dryland farms to try to find some answers to these questions.

Preface
Part I. Medic and Other Systems: 1. Why use medic?
2. Farming in South Australia before medic
3. Medics and sub-clover on the farms
Part II. The Projects: 4. A demonstration medic farm in Libya
5. The grazing phase and farmer training
6. A medic project in Algeria, 7. A medic project in Jordan
8. Two medic projects in Iraq
Part III. Institutions, Agencies, Local Farmers and Technicians: 9. Institutions, agencies and medic 1950–1980
10. Institutions, agencies and medic 1980–1993
11. On the farms in Tunisia
12. On the farms in Morocco
14. The future of medic
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Agricultural science [TVB], Sustainability [RNU]