What is "Biointensive"?
Biointensive is a highly productive system of growing food in small spaces. This system combines deeply prepared soil with close plant spacing. The "bio-" refers to the growing plants, and "intensive" refers to the high density planting. There are some biointensive growers who have achieved 6-8 times the productivity per square foot compared to a typical farm. Even very small farms and gardens can produce a lot of food using these methods.
Origins & Examples of Biointensive growing
John Jeavons & Ecology Action
John Jeavons drew on the methods of French intensive agriculture, combined with his relationship with the famous gardener, Alan Chadwick, to develop a systematic approach to feeding the world. His most famous book, How to Grow More Vegetables *(and fruit, nuts, berries, grains and other crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine, describes in detail a closed loop system for biointensive vegetable production. This remains the best reference book on the topic.
Ecology Action/Grow Biointensive, http://www.growbiointensive.org, continues John's work as a demonstration and education site, supporting teachers and projects worldwide, broadening access to healthy, fresh food. While this site draws information and inspiration from the work of John Jeavons and Ecology Action, it is not affiliated with them.
Farm plans for 3 sizes of Grow Biointensive demonstration farms are provided at their web site.
Biointensive Commercial Farming
While John Jeavons focused on personal food production, biointensive systems can also be used for market farms. Jean-Martin Fortier, who teaches market farming through the Market Gardener Institute, is one well-known farmer to use biointensive methods. https://themarketgardener.com/
Digging Deeper on Biointensive Growing
Bed layouts for biointensive growing optimize growing space by minimizing unproductive spaces. Once bed locations are set, they are double dug to a depth of 18" to 2'. This allows closely spaced plants to send their roots straight down rather than competing for side to side space.
As the plants grow, they spread their leaves to form a canopy, reducing the soil temperature, evaporation and weeds. Generous use of compost keeps the plants healthy and pest resistant. Dedicating a portion of bed space to cover compost crops will improve soil and provide abundant compost ingredients. The plants thrive in this synergistic cycle.
The remaining bed space will be used to grow calorie crops and a lesser amount of vitamin crops (think salad vegetables). By planting diverse crops and filling empty space with new plants, the gardener has continuous harvests and variety. Including plants for pollinators ensures good harvests and seed quality.
Choosing open-pollinated crops and saving their seeds enables the grower to have crops that adapt over time to the local conditions. The free seeds and compost material allow growers to keep growing each season without having to purchase seeds and fertilizer. The nutritious food can nourish the grower, their family and their community with shared bounty. In this way the whole community moves toward greater food security and dietary health, at very little expense.
