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in our book) and gave rise to the industrial, chemical-based agriculture of today. That marked the beginning of a divorce: Professional farmers progressively adopted techniques that were further and further removed from the gardener’s ways. The competency of amateur gardeners dropped as supermarkets began to offer an abundance of food at low prices. Small-scale farmers ended up abandoning their proven gardening methods. At the Bec Hellouin organic farm, we seek to reinvent the wonderful profession of market gardening. Permaculture: A New Track Permaculture uses nature as a model. Applied to agriculture, the concepts of permaculture make it possible to imagine gardens and farms as places where life thrives in all its forms. Natural ecosystems produce much higher quality biomass than our cultivated spaces, without mechanical tillage, synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, fossil fuels, watering, or weeding. The Bec Hellouin Farm Adventure We moved into the Bec valley in Normandy, France in 2003. A few years later, in 2006, we decided to make organic market gardening our profession. Several gardens were created, fruit trees were planted throughout our property, and a few animals took up residence. The result is a small, lovingly cared for farming business and living space. Along the way, we discovered that it is quite possible to feed our family in all seasons by working these small gardens by hand, and to earn a living by marketing our products. We have even created several permanent jobs, though the area cultivated for market gardening does not exceed a few thousand square metres. The production is abundant, but also tasty, sought after by some of the best chefs in France. We experiment with many innovative practices and each passing year strengthens us in the conviction that nature is generous and that we have everything to gain by putting ourselves at the service of life. By its luxuriance and fruitfulness, each permaculture garden is a tribute to Mother Earth … who pays us back! Contrary to common belief, working entirely by hand on a very small, meticulously cared for area offers many advantages. A techno-economic study conducted by AgroParisTech and the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA) on our farm demonstrated that, working entirely by hand, we produce, in value, as many vegetables over 1,000 square metres as our fellow organic market gardeners produce over one hectare (10,000 square metres) with a tractor. And we create just as much value per hour worked, in a much smaller territory, with a lower initial investment and lower running costs. Other scientific research programmes at Bec Hellouin have revealed that soil biodiversity is improving very quickly by storing exceptionally large quantities of carbon and minerals. The approach described in our three-volume set provides all of the information needed to build a microfarm that achieves true ecological viability, both economic and social. The impact of the research conducted at Bec Hellouin is considerable – almost unimaginable for us, to be honest. When we launched our first hands-on course in market gardening in 2010 and laid out, for our students, the concepts of permaculture-based microfarming, we never imagined that seven years later it would be the main source of inspiration for 80% of all new organic market-gardening operations in France. The English translation of our first book was followed by translations in many more languages and broadened the use of our farming methods across the globe. From China to California, Patagonia to Canada, Holland to Greece. There are farmers who followed the methodology in our book in Spain, Belgium, and Mozambique. issue 118 winter 2023 | 49

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