An institutional and policy framework to foster integrated rice–duck farming in Asian developing countries

Asia has accounted for the vast majority of the world's rice and meat-duck production. In the integrated rice–duck farming (IRDF) system, ducklings are released into rice paddies in order to maximize the use of renewable resources in a closed-cycle flow of nutrients during rice vegetation periods. Rice–duck farming used to be widely adopted in tropical and subtropical eastern Asian countries, but has remained unpopular in the wake of prevailing agricultural productivism characterized by specialization, intensification, mechanization and excessive dependence on agrochemicals. This paper sets out institutional pathways that can redevelop IRDF in Asia. These include organic food certification systems, organic farmers' cooperatives, community-wide organic farming, localized technical extension and educational services, and between-farm rice–duck integration. A comprehensive package of these institutional tools would further expedite the expansion of IRDF particularly in low-income Southeast Asia where the rice or duck farming landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by smallholders.     

The problem is the solution: Can permaculture management regenerate social economy enterprises?

We consider the degeneration of social economy enterprises (SEEs) and develop a thesis that SEE regeneration may be inspired by living systems. Within the paradigm of living organizations, we propose an approach inspired by permaculture. This study's purpose is to understand how SEEs might apply permaculture principles for their regeneration. We identify the main degeneration issues in SEEs. We then present the permaculture approach through its theoretical background, application to living organizations, and core design principles. Finally, we show how permaculture relates to management models appropriate for alternative organizations, and we underline specific links with degeneration issues in SEEs. We make a theoretical contribution by binding two distinct conversations: permaculture management and SEE degeneration. This work also provides an original framework for future empirical research.     

Business model based on strong sustainability: Insights from an empirical study

The extant literature on traditional and sustainable business models lacks insights into how strong sustainability—that is, constraining economic and social activities within the limitations of natural resources—can shape business models. Thus, the purpose of this article is to propose a business model framework based on the principles of strong sustainability (SSBM). The proposed framework is developed combining available literature and empirical insights from a qualitative abductive study of 12 permaculture business ventures in Sweden. The results identify nature as the primary stakeholder and recommend strong local anchorage, the creation of diversified income sources, deliberate limitations on economic growth, the infusion of the business model with a systemic and ecosystem perspective, and the design of value flows beyond financial aspects. The discussion reflects on the most important results, provides practical implications and managerial guidelines, and suggests future research in the SSBM.     

Institutional entrepreneurship and permaculture: A practice theory perspective

Permaculture is a growing but little researched phenomenon emphasising care for the environment, equity, fair treatment of people and working with—and not against—nature. It thus represents a potential alternative to business as usual, capable of addressing fundamental challenges posed by human-made climate change. The paper examines a previously ignored site of entrepreneurship by taking a practice perspective, exploring connections between the practice and growth of permaculture and institutional entrepreneurship. It assesses practice-related and institutional factors affecting the start-up and operation of permaculture enterprises in the United Kingdom. The study maps and surveys UK Permaculture Association members who have started up their own business and reports on qualitative data from personal interviews with twenty of them. Data analysis employs NVivo software and involves thematic analysis pertaining to the practice, institutional biographies and institutional portfolios of permaculture entrepreneurs. The findings show the importance of permaculture activists' institutional biographies and institutional portfolios to the start-up and operation of permaculture enterprises and for shaping permaculture-related practice. The contribution of the paper lies in how it balances attention to individual agency with subfield-specific, organisational field and macrosocial factors in understanding ‘beyond profit’ entrepreneurship.     

朴门永续农业在城市生态住区的发展策略与途径研究

[目的]城市扩张带来的全球环境危机和人们对健康生活方式的期望,引发了人们对城市可持续性发展战略的思考。朴门永续农业将食物生产系统重新引入城市空间,以期为生态住区建设和可持续城市发展提供一定的理论支撑和设计指引。[方法]基于文献和相关案例研究,从设计理论和实践方法两个方向探索了朴门永续农业在城市住区环境中的整合模式与方法。[结果]朴门永续农业在可持续发展、绿色基础设施、宜居社区、城市与社区建设4个维度均能产生积极作用;朴门永续农业在城市生态住区的构建必须明确相应的设计策略、设计目标和原则,并从分区规划、空间设计和物种选择3个方面重点阐述朴门永续农业在城市生态住区的设计内容和方法;在城市住区可以从节点型景观层、组团级景观层以及中心景观层3个层面渐进式地展开整合设计。[结论]基于朴门永续理念的城市生态住区建设可使住区环境成为一个具有复合生态效益,宜居又可持续的环境系统,并为生态城市建设提供了新的思路。     

The effectiveness of a permaculture education project in Butula,Kenya

In the 1980s, agricultural development organizations began promoting permaculture, an agroecological approach that emphasizes local autonomy, through training programmes in the developing world. Few assessments have measured the effectiveness of such projects. Here we surveyed and interviewed small-scale farmers to assess the perceived impacts of a Canadian permaculture non-governmental organization’s (NGO) project in Butula, Western Kenya. Two types of projects are evaluated and compared: community projects (CPs) at six primary schools, and an intensive two-week permaculture design certification (PDC) programme. Our results suggest that both PDC and CP participants felt that they had benefited from the projects. However, PDC participants developed a more comprehensive understanding of permaculture, felt empowered and frequently related permaculture to their own traditional cultural values whereas CP participants often misunderstood permaculture, felt frustrated by the limited immediate economic benefits and frequently contrasted permaculture against traditional cultural values. These differences may have occurred because CP participants had fewer opportunities to interact directly with the permaculture teachers, to ask questions, or to clarify points of uncertainty. This study emphasizes the importance of direct, reciprocal communication between NGOs and project participants for fostering feelings of autonomy and competence, thereby strengthening resilient agroecological systems.