Ecology Action of the Mid Peninsula

Our goal is to equip individuals and organizations with the information, skills and inspiration that enable them to take the next step in sustainable food production. We remain the core of this expanding global network, finding ways to make crops grow well in non-optimal soil and climatic conditions at our Research Mini-Farm/Garden, providing technical expertise, acting as an information bank, maintaining quality assurance of the GROW BIOINTENSIVE system, and catalyzing new projects as opportunities arise.

Education and training are the keys. Publications based on our research are disseminated globally. We give trainings in the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method all the way from the basic level up to the training of trainers. Our publications and trainings have inspired demonstration and teaching projects in Mexico, Kenya, Argentina, Ecuador, Russia and Uzbekistan, with other trainers in place in the U.S. and around the world. As a result, millions of people have learned new techniques and have been taught to grow a nourishing diet for themselves while protecting the Earth's fragile resources.

Ecology Action provides "how-to" publications and training for GROW BIOINTENSIVE practitioners and projects throughout the United States, Mexico, Kenya, Russia, India, the Philippines, and in over 100 other countries, increasing the number of skilled GROW BIOINTENSIVE teachers. EA also researches complete economic, nutritional, resource, environmental and soil sustainability, increasing the number of highly productive, resource-conserving, low-capital-input, cost-effective small farms using diverse cropping patterns.
In addition to collaborating with independent U.S. and international regional centers, Ecology Action has also provided assistance and taught classes at university programs including ones at Stanford University, the University of California-Davis, and the University of Arizona. The GROW BIOINTENSIVE method is being used to develop urban and rural community projects, serving as models for individuals, organizations and communities to establish sustainable GROW BIOINTENSIVE mini-farms.

Accomplishments:

In many projects we have been able to achieve up to a 200 - 400% increase in caloric production per unit of area, 67 - 88% reduction in water consumption per unit of production, 30 to 100% increase in soil fertility while productivity increases and resource use decreases, a 50% reduction in the amount of purchased fertilizer required per unit of production, a 99% reduction in the amount of energy used per unit of production, a 100% increase in income per unit of area.

We have the intention of establishing at least one GROW BIOINTENSIVE demonstration site in every country of the world in order to provide access to this knowledge. We are interested in expanding in Africa and Asia, especially in Himalayan communities.