Polyculture is the cultivation of several crops and/or animals as a source of food, this is in contrast to monoculture which tends to create imbalances in the environment as specific nutritions are depleted while others are overproduced. While the green revolution with its pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers made monoculture the most popular (though less sustainable) form of agriculture post 1950s the more self-regulating and sustainable option would still be quite attractive to the past.
I'll start off with three:
Rice-Fish Aquaculture
Description:
Small fish & shrimp are raised alongside flooded rice fields. The fields are flooded after planting.
Requirements:
Abundant water supplies, ditches dug for the fish, initial fish seeds, hot and humid climate with fine rich soil for the rice, and dikes needed for water control.
Benefits:
Description:
Maize, squash, and beans are planted in close proximety. The maize gives the beans and squash a structure to latch onto, the beans fixes nitrogen, and the squash prevents weeds from growing by blocking sunlight from reaching the soil.
Alternatives:
Beeplants could be added to attact bees to help pollinate the beans and squash.
Requirements:
Hot-humid environment. Nixtamalisation, a complex process is needed to transform corn into something more nutritionally beneficial.
Benefits:
Description:
Spaced out trees provide shelter for herds, which graze in controlled manners.
Requirements: Startup herd, transition time for trees to grow from pasture/fresh start.
Benefits:
[1] (according to Chinese studies in the 1980s, talbe 3) https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/openebooks/313-5/index.html
I'll start off with three:
Rice-Fish Aquaculture
Description:
Small fish & shrimp are raised alongside flooded rice fields. The fields are flooded after planting.
Requirements:
Abundant water supplies, ditches dug for the fish, initial fish seeds, hot and humid climate with fine rich soil for the rice, and dikes needed for water control.
Benefits:
- Average Rice yield improvement of 11% [1]
- The fish would prey on mosquitoe larve & schistosomiasis agents, reducing endemic malarial regions/certain types of parasites to mostly safe levels.
- Weeding labour needs are reduced as the fish help prune the fields.
- A source of protein in addition to rice.
- System naturally improves as fish species are selected for resistance to low-oxygen, turbulent waters, and high heat.
- Conserves water in contrast to monoculture.
- Fish is a luxury good in contrast to rice; a survival good and could be sold for a higher prenium than grains.
- The fish and shrimp require labour for harvest, their small size makes them less efficient than larger fishs.
- The fish & shrimp needed to be harvested seasonally, often conciding with the harvest and potientially creating labour bottlenecks.
- Snakes, birds, rats, and frogs will prey upon the fish, increasing labour costs.
- Fish stocks require money/barter at planting season where prices are high.
- Fish can be stolen at night with simple nets.
- Fish vulnerable to changes in aquatic heat, oxygen content, and visibility.
- Extensive waterworks required.
- If the system is rainfed then harvests are uncertain (in contrast to wells or major rivers).
- Multi-variable system requires good management skills.
Description:
Maize, squash, and beans are planted in close proximety. The maize gives the beans and squash a structure to latch onto, the beans fixes nitrogen, and the squash prevents weeds from growing by blocking sunlight from reaching the soil.
Alternatives:
Beeplants could be added to attact bees to help pollinate the beans and squash.
Requirements:
Hot-humid environment. Nixtamalisation, a complex process is needed to transform corn into something more nutritionally beneficial.
Benefits:
- High calorie/acre output.
- Fulfills the majority of human nutrition requirements.
- Does not depletes soil.
- Labour saving in weed control and fertilization.
- Low fertilizer requirements.
- Careful planting time is required as the plants have different planting times.
- Can't be mechanized.
- Restricted to hot and tropical climates.
Description:
Spaced out trees provide shelter for herds, which graze in controlled manners.
Requirements: Startup herd, transition time for trees to grow from pasture/fresh start.
Benefits:
- Tree leaves can provide nutrients for forage.
- Higher nuturition from forage as the trees help regulate the soil.
- Trees provide windbreaks and shade for animals to self-regulate their temperature.
- Trees provide nuts, timber, and charcoal as income.
- Well-managed silvopastures yield the same output per acre as pastureland.
- High startup costs in animals and tree-planting.
- Careful management needed to maintain tree spacing that let light through but dense enough to provide shelter.
- Positive-feedback from shed tree leaves could blanket the soil, change its acidity, and make the forest floor chemically hostile to forage plants.
- Drawbacks:
- High startup costs in animals and tree-planting.
- Careful management needed to maintain tree spacing that let light through but dense enough to provide shelter.
- Positive-feedback from shed tree leaves could blanket the soil, change its acidity, and make the forest floor chemically hostile to forage plants.
[1] (according to Chinese studies in the 1980s, talbe 3) https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/openebooks/313-5/index.html