Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World

by Carolyn Steel

This is Dartington Forest Garden in Devon, designed and planted in 1994 by British agro-forestry expert Martin Crawford and cared for by him ever since. This two-acre plot may well be the farm of the future. Although not specifically designed to maximise productivity, its low-maintenance, low-input, year-round fecundity is, Crawford believes, the key to how we might one day feed ourselves. Most of the plants here are edible, but by no means all: some have medicinal properties and others provide specific ecosystem services, for example providing ground cover to discourage weeds or aromatics to deter pests. The key to forest gardening, Crawford explains, is to create ecosystems that, like those in the wild, sustain a natural balance between inputs and outputs. The alders, for example, were pioneer trees, planted early for their ability to fix nitrogen, for which they remain the garden’s main source. Valerian, meanwhile, is grown as a mineral accumulator, its deep roots absorbing nutrients that other plants can’t reach. Once it has flowered, it is cut back to release those nutrients into the soil for other plants to use.