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Sustainable Resource Management Program

Permaculture

Natural resources have been the foundation of economic development in The Bahamas for hundreds of years. In the 19th and early 20th century, agriculture prospered, especially on islands such as Eleuthera, because of a favorable climate and red lateritic soils that allowed large-scale production of crops such as pineapple, vegetables, and grains. In fact, the island of Eleuthera was a major supplier of pineapple to the United States until Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900. Unfortunately, changes in market demand, in combination with intensive growing practices reducing the land’s ability to sustain agriculture at a commercial scale, eventually relegated agriculture to small-scale operations that only support local demands and subsistence living. These trends in production have resulted in a large percentage of the food available in The Bahamas being imported from other countries, which has increased food prices and influenced diets. Moreover, even small-scale agriculture is dependent upon chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are costly and have significant environmental and human health risks.

Permaculture is a design system that incorporates plants, animals, buildings, and infrastructures such as water, energy, and communication to create sustainable human environments. The focus of permaculture is on the relationships created between these elements by the way they are grown or placed in the landscape. In essence, permaculture is based on mimicking the natural environment and using the inherent qualities of plants and animals within their natural landscapes to produce a regenerative life-supporting system. With the limiting factors that influence food production in The Bahamas, including nutrient-poor soils, high solar intensity, high winds, salt spray, and limited freshwater, an innovative design based on the principles of permaculture may provide an effective model for low-input, viable, and sustainable agriculture.

The objective of the permaculture program at the Cape Eleuthera Institute is to create systems which are ecologically and economically sound; systems that provide for our needs without exploiting or polluting our environment. The designs we have employed at the Cape Eleuthera Institute aim to harmoniously integrate the landscape and people, using modern technologies and holistic site planning alongside traditional farming systems to create a community that supports and regenerates itself.

With this in mind, a goal the Cape Eleuthera Institute is to bring these successful innovations into local communities by disseminating information to farmers. In collaboration with the Bahamian government, we are working to establish an agricultural resource center to collaborate with local farmers on tackling the environmental and political challenges of farming on Eleuthera. The Cape Eleuthera Institute also hosts an annual Permaculture Design Course. Using our unique site and its accompanying challenges, we teach students to find the strengths of each location and capitalize on them. Past course instructors have included Chris Shanks of Project Bona Fide, Michael Blazewicz of Round River Design, LLC., and Ben Falk of Whole Systems Design, LLC. We also collaborate with Sarah Gardner, professor of Agricultural Policy at Williams College Center for Environmental Studies for our design courses. For more information on the Agricultural Research & Experiment Station or our Permaculture Design Course, please email Colleen O'Brien at colleenobrien@ceibahamas.org.