Agriculture: Connecting Crops, People and Landscapes
A multidisciplinary approach to productive, resilient agriculture that fits local conditions and communities.
Ed van Paassen · Plant Explorer
Agriculture
Field notes, observations and applied knowledge from a living world.
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Pivot Irrigation in Africa: Green Circles Against Food Insecurity
Fly over farmland in a dry region, and you may spot perfect green circles in the sand. These are pivot fields. Pivot irrigation is a modern, low-waste way to water crops, and it is spreading fast across Africa. The idea is simple: a long sprinkler arm turns around a central point, so water reaches every […]
Contour Trenching: Just Dig, and the Desert Turns Green
Can a simple ditch bring a desert back to life? Yes, it can. Dutch inventor Peter Westerveld proved it in Africa. His method is called contour trenching. You dig trenches in dry land, and they catch the rain. As a result, plants return — even in places with less than 100 mm of rain per […]
The Waterboxx: A Passive Tree Growing Method
How do you grow a tree in a desert, without any drip line or water truck? Dutch inventor Pieter Hoff found a simple answer: the Waterboxx. This smart bucket collects dew and rain. Then it feeds that water to a tree sapling, drop by drop. Today, his invention has helped plant 2,000,000 trees in 55 […]
“The visible symptom is rarely the whole story. Observation becomes understanding — and understanding becomes better practice.”