What is "Biointensive"?
Biointensive is a highly productive system of growing food in small spaces. 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 -What is Biointensive Growing?
Growing biointensively relies on careful planning of beds that are deeply prepared. These beds are maintained by rotation and by growing fertility thoughtfully to ensure the sustainability of the system. Each element stacks on the other elements.
The first task is to choose efficient bed shapes and locations to optimize the use of space for growing. Once bed locations are chosen, 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.
Seedlings are spaced close together and their will fill in to shade the ground, 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 raise compost crops will provide abundant compost ingredients. The plants thrive in this synergistic cycle.
The remaining bed space is used to grow calorie crops and a lesser amount of vitamin crops (think salad vegetables) to form a complete diet. 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. Altogether, these practices achieve something very close to a sustainable, closed system; perpetual with almost no outside inputs.
