Careers in Permaculture
Careers
A permaculture design certification can open up several career opportunities related to sustainable agriculture, ecological design, and environmental stewardship. Here are some careers that someone with a permaculture design certification can pursue:
- Permaculture Designer: you can create sustainable and regenerative systems for farms, gardens, and landscapes. What you’d do is assess the site, design efficient food production systems, integrate renewable energy solutions, resilient systems, and implement sustainable water management techniques. This may involve designing regenerative agriculture techniques, implementing water harvesting systems, integrating renewable energy sources, and utilizing companion planting strategies. You’ll work closely with clients to understand their goals and design customized solutions that align with permaculture principles.
- Organic Farmer: you can establish and manage organic farms that focus on regenerative practices, biodiversity, ecological balance, and farming that involves cultivating crops and raising livestock without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or genetically modified organisms while employing permaculture principles to cultivate food crops, raise livestock, and maintain sustainable farming practices.
- Landscape Designer: You can specialize in designing ecologically balanced and sustainable outdoor spaces for residential, commercial, or public spaces. By incorporating permaculture principles, you can create aesthetically pleasing environments that conserve resources, support wildlife, and promote biodiversity. You’ll consider factors such as soil health, water conservation, native plant selection, wildlife habitat creation, and efficient use of space. By incorporating permaculture principles into your designs, you’ll aim to create beautiful landscapes that also serve functional purposes such as food production, erosion control, or rainwater harvesting.
- Ecological Restoration Specialist: This career involves restoring damaged ecosystems by applying permaculture principles. You’ll work on rehabilitating degraded lands, reestablishing native plant and animal communities, implementing water management strategies, and promoting ecological resilience. You’ll assess the ecological conditions of a site, identify key challenges, and develop restoration plans using permaculture principles.
- Sustainability Consultant: As a sustainability consultant, you can provide guidance to individuals, organizations, or communities seeking to adopt sustainable practices. You’ll assess their current systems, develop strategies for improvement, and implement permaculture-based solutions for resource conservation, waste reduction, sustainable energy solutions, and reduce their environmental impact.
- Educator/Trainer: With a permaculture design certification, you can teach the basic framework for all regenerative and holistic understanding – prepare and shape young minds and those unfamiliar with the three ethics and nature’s patterns, systems, and principles. Help spread the lens through which all can see a brighter future to aspiring designers, farmers, or community groups. This can involve conducting workshops, training sessions, or educational programs focused on sustainable agriculture, ecological design, and permaculture ethics.
- Teaching & Consulting – Were you born to facilitate learning & help others find their path? Passionate and professional regenerative teachers are needed all over the world today! If you love teaching but are stuck teaching subjects that don’t further the regeneration or the progress of our culture, it’s time for a change. The good news is you’re already in demand. The public education system is trying its best to adapt to extremely trying circumstances, and there are many examples of schools testing radically different methods and even using permaculture to enhance their campus and educational experiences. These institutions sense permaculture and regenerative systems can provide what they are actually seeking: career paths that lead to lives of fulfillment and meaning for their students. Inevitably permaculture concepts and regenerative practices are going to find their way into the core of academia – the market demand for solutions to our economic stagnation and environmental degradation are too great. You can teach children about permaculture and help them lead lives of joyful restoration and regeneration. You can educate professionals of all sorts of trades and niches in how regenerative practices can help re-skill and keep them competitive in the new regenerative economy. You can visit and teach those with the greatest needs in areas of distress all over the world. Teachers are needed everywhere at all levels.
- Regenerative Agriculture & Horticulture Instructors – Teach professional applications for regenerative concepts and help students find their way into rewarding and beneficial career paths.
- Holistic Management Instructor – Teach students how to use holistic management for life planning, business planning, site planning, cattle management, and decision-making.
- Non-Violent Communication Instructor – Teach nonviolent communication. Help others learn to resolve conflicts quickly and positively. Help spread peace with your work as you empower individuals and communities to transcend their circumstances, the past, and their old patterns to become more compassionate, understood, giving, and free.
- Site & Business Consultant – Help businesses and land owners of all types become more regenerative or retrain their staff to adopt regenerative practices and ethical patterns. You can help retrain staff in compassionate communication, waste management, project design and management, and so much more! These organizations need help transitioning, and you can be that facilitator!
- Community Development Coordinator: In this role, you can work with communities to develop sustainable and resilient practices. You’ll facilitate community engagement, such as community gardens design and implement permaculture projects, promote local food and networks, renewable energy, and sustainable water management practices.
- Urban Agriculture Specialist: Urban agriculture focuses on growing food in urban environments. With urban farming gaining popularity, you can specialize in designing and implementing permaculture-based systems for urban environments. This may involve rooftop gardens, vertical farming, community gardens, edible landscapes, or urban food forests, utilizing limited spaces efficiently. You’ll address challenges like soil quality, water availability, and community engagement to promote local food production and food security.
- Green Building Consultant: By combining your permaculture knowledge with building design principles, you can guide architects, builders, and developers toward sustainable and environmentally friendly construction practices. This includes incorporating renewable energy systems, sustainable materials, and regenerative landscaping into construction projects.
- Environmental Policy Advisor: With expertise in permaculture and sustainable practices, you can work as an advisor or advocate for environmental policy development that promotes sustainability and ecological resilience. You can contribute to shaping policies related to agriculture, land use, conservation, and ecological restoration. You may work for government agencies, non-profit organizations, or research institutions to influence policy decisions related to agriculture, land use, conservation, and restoration.
- Compost Production – “Compost is a soil amendment produced through the metabolism of an organic substrate by aerobic (oxygen-requiring) microbes under controlled conditions. Composting is an ancient agricultural technology going back to biblical times that still has important applications in modern agriculture. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in compost for modern cropping systems. In organic cropping systems, compost provides a primary source of nutrients for the crop. In conventional cropping systems, compost provides a supplementary nitrogen source that compliments fertilizer nitrogen to provide a more sustainable farming system.” As farmers and ranchers embrace regenerative organic standards, the need for increasingly higher-quality compost with specific populations of soil life will rise dramatically as their effectiveness is recognized more widely. Compost: Production, Quality, and Use in Commercial Agriculture
- Soil Life Production – EM, Bokashi, Korean Natural Farming, Biological Farming and Bioremediation focus on promoting specific populations of soil life for higher quality products and for targeting specific problems or situations. Bioremediation of the most toxic and damaged soils, unlocking soil nutrients to save an entire harvest, battling infamous pathogens and pests, and gaining the highest yields, nutrient densities, and levels of medicinal compounds can be achieved through specific partnerships with focused populations of soil life.
- Soil Testing Laboratory & Consultation – Along with more sophisticated soil building and soil life-generating practices, advanced soil testing methods have arrived, but few are trained in the microscopy needed. https://matt-powers.mykajabi.com/regenerative-soil
- Perennial Farming – “Perennial species (crops, forages, shrubs, and trees) are those able to regrow and continue to reproduce grains, seeds, fruits, and biomass after a single harvest. They can be harvested numerous times for up to 10 years for crops and much longer for forages, shrubs, and trees. Building perenniality into agriculture systems is the intentional integration of perennialized crops (grains, oilseeds, legumes, etc.), forages, shrubs, and trees in diverse farming systems, landscapes, and agro-ecosystems to:
• provide more consistent, abundant, and affordable food, feed, fibre, and fuel;
• enhance the natural resource base and environment that underpins productivity;
• make farming more financially viable; and
• contribute to the overall well-being of farmers, farm workers, and rural communities.” Become a perennial farmer, sequester carbon by design, build soils, support biodiversity, and grow food, fiber, fuel, and medicine in a system that only improves with age. What is Perennial Farming?, Policy Brief PDF - Silvopasture – Silvopasture is the deliberate integration of trees and grazing livestock operations on the same land. These systems are intensively managed for both forest products and forage, providing both short- and long-term income sources. Well-managed silvopastures employ agronomic principles, typically including introduced or native pasture grasses, fertilization and nitrogen-fixing legumes, and rotational grazing systems that employ short grazing periods that maximize vegetative plant growth and harvest. The annual grazing income helps cash flow to the tree operation while the tree crop matures and creates easy access if and when the trees or tree products are harvested. While these systems can require a number of management activities, the benefits can make them worthwhile.
- Orchard Permaculture – What if I told you that it is possible to make a living from a 4-acre orchard and you can even do this with less work, more yield, and more fun? What if I told you that the secret to doing this is already known, but the information about how to go about it has not reached you? You can find the answer here at the Permaculture Apprentice.
- Agroforestry – Mixing forestry with regenerative agriculture is also possible – many of these systems can be found ‘stacked’ on one site. You can have grazing, orchard crops, perennials, and annual systems all on one site: you are only limited by your imagination.
- Beekeeping– Sweet on bees or curious about worms?
Partnering with bees and worms has never been as profitable. High-end dry mead is taking the market by storm and creating a demand for higher quality honey at a higher price, and worms of all kinds are being used to recycle waste and enrich garden, ranch, and farm soils. Beyond bees and worms, other insects are now entering the market and disrupting previously fixed feed-to-egg ratios in chicken operations, styrofoam recycling, and organic farming and gardening solutions. Bees also open up a great deal of possibilities including pollination, wax production, and medicinal qualities of honey and pollen. Land can be regenerated by partnering with these small creatures who do so much in the environment around us. - Honey, Beeswax, & Pollen Production – Perhaps the sweetest endeavor of them all – honey production leads to limitless value-added products that are well-loved and increasingly in demand as a natural sweetener. Regenerating a landscape to produce high-quality honey is a lower ceiling to entry than most farming endeavors involving land. The byproducts of honey production: wax and pollen are also incredible in their own applications. Become a Beekeeper and be a regenerative steward over your hives and land.
- Beekeeping Services – Tend farmers’, homeowners’, and orchardists’ pollinators for them – arrangements range from the site keeping all the honey, being part of a CSA, or taking none of it, leaving it all to you – they may value the pollination of their orchards over any honey at all
- Permatecture – Build with natural materials using regenerative local inputs and ethical labor – be a leading local example of regenerative architecture. Design homes that heat and cool themselves passively, harvest and purify their own water, have natural swimming pools, have indoor greenhouses, compost all their waste, clean their own gray and black water on-site, and much more. Beyond LEED is Permatecture!
- Ecological Engineering – Almost everything needs to be reimagined from a new regenerative perspective. Our one-time-use culture is coming to a crashing halt – we need to fill the gap it will leave. You can take part in shaping the world to come by being a regenerative engineer – partner with nature & design a world beyond current understanding. With the advent of such advances as nano clay, industrial trompes, drones, and automation, we can now do what was impossible only a few years ago. Our cities, our homes, our toilets, our municipal waste, water treatment, and everything in between can be improved with your contribution – be part of this sea change in our culture.
- Alternative Energy – Solar, Wind, Hydrological, Pneumatic, GeoThermal, Biodigestion, & Human Power – the technologies rising to meet the challenge of a world beyond fossil fuels are abundant and exciting. It is a thrilling opportunity to improve how we all live our daily lives – you can help make this huge step easier!
- Alternative Transportation – What comes after Combustion Engines?
We are about to witness pedal-based vehicles, solar-powered planes, and alternative transportation of all kinds fill the air and roadways around us in the cities, farms, and everywhere. Just as it took over a thousand designs to arrive at a superior automobile model, it will take another technological revolution to fill the gap left by fossil fuel usage once it is fully phased out. Making these technologies more open-source, easy to maintain and repair at home, and accessible to all will do more than just decentralize control over transportation, but switching to something like pedal-powered vehicles will increase overall health, lower healthcare costs, lower accident rates, lower mortality rates, empower drivers to maintain their own vehicles, & lower emission rates dramatically. New designs are needed on a mass scale from drones to buses to boats to family cars – you could invent the Model-T of the regenerative transportation age! - Electric Vehicle Design & Fabrication – Though Tesla grabs headlines, the entire car industry has its eye on the future as well. Inventors, engineers, skilled craftsmen, and researchers are needed to design, build, and test prototypes for what will become the car, truck, or municipal transportation of tomorrow.
- Alternative Fuel Vehicle Conversion & Design – Converting the existing fleet of vehicles to alternative regenerative fuel sources or a hybrid of electric and alternative fuel will save energy and resources, and it will prevent an enormous amount of waste. With the multiplicity of engines and car designs already in place, it will require an equally detailed response to the problem: the need for courageous designers is incalculable!
- Alternative Public Transit – Our trains, buses, trolleys, subways, and more need to be retrofitted or redesigned altogether – we now know so much more. Many cities are already embracing emission-free public transit – it’s becoming increasingly popular as demand continues to rise. Rethink the way your city moves people!
- Foot Pedal Vehicles – “Bicycle Cars” are another potential future that has incredible merit. It’s the healthiest option for everyone – fewer accidents, slower speeds, more control, more repairability within the car owner’s range, & greater health. These designs will completely displace the fuel-based paradigm and embrace a healthful alternative path.
- Solar Planes, Drones, & Gliders – The demand for a drone-based delivery system is high but designers & operators are needed. Solar planes and gliders are also showing great promise, but both are still in the early days of knowing what’s possible. The first nonstop flight around the world in a solar plane only recently occurred.
- Vermiculture – Worm Farming – Raise worms to supply to farmers, ranchers, home gardeners, and compost operations.
- Bioremediation & Recycling with Worms – Mealworms can eat styrofoam and transform it in their digestion back into compostable organic matter. Earthworms can help recycle paper and cardboard waste as well. Teams of worms and insects can break down complex mixtures in situ that are too hard to remove, filter, and process.
- Vermicomposting – Composting agricultural and municipal waste can provide incredible byproducts that are valuable to farmers, gardeners, landscapers, and more. The future of municipal waste will be rooted in partnerships with earthworms of all kinds.
36. Black Soldier Fly Larvae & Other Insects for Animal Feed – Worms and larvae of all kinds are used as animal feed because they are incredibly high in protein. Some companies even sell kits to produce insects for animal feed at home! For chickens, it is an incredible protein source that lowers feed costs immensely! You can scale up and serve your area’s need for alternative feed solutions!
Mycology & Fungi Cultivation – Are fungi fascinating to you?
Perhaps the fastest growing and one of the most profitable industries in the regenerative economy, fungi farming is capturing the imaginations of many as they see what prices shiitakes and other fungal delicacies get in the market and how easy they are to cultivate. Additionally, medicinal mushrooms have recently seized the spotlight – making strides with FDA testing for cancer treatment and even patents for neural regeneration. Recent discoveries in fungi are also breaking down our understanding of taxonomy and the origins of life on earth itself. Humans, all animals, and all plants are all part and partner with fungi – it is an inescapable thread to our reality that is why it is so shocking that Mycology as a branch of scientific study is less than 100 years old! We only cultivate a small group of mushrooms though we partner with a wide diversity of fungi – including the more familiar yeasts and molds. Though Asia has long used mushrooms medicinally, the West is finally catching up just as interest and demand is sparking. You can grow fungal medicines, gourmet mushrooms, remediate toxins from soils, brew probiotic drinks, or break down excess waste – All with Fungi!
Careers In Fungi
- Fungi Farmer – Farmers are needed to grow gourmet mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms, mycelium in bulk, and mycorrhizal inoculants for other farmers. You can grow mushrooms that fight cancer or are served at local restaurants. You can help others grow their own mushrooms or improve their farm.
- Fungi Fiber & Dye – Faux leather, fireproof building materials, dyes, paints, and more – fungi are incredibly diverse in their expression both in life and in preservation. We are discovering new applications daily for fungi, and it is constantly opening doors to regenerative niches.
- Mycoremediation – Fungi are nature’s most talented and creative chemists – they can remove, rearrange, and embody many heavy metals and toxins of all kinds. Remediating soils and water often relies upon fungi even when using plants in an ecosystemic remediation design. You can work with fungi and heal the earth and get paid to do it. Many communities facing serious environmental toxins don’t know about the new solutions they can source and just need local businesses to help – you can be that presence!
- Nutritionists & Medical Practitioners with a Fungal Focus – Partner with fungi in your medical or nutritional consultations. While Asian medicine has long led the way with medicinal mushrooms, current research leaves no room for doubt: fungi provide medicinal compounds unlike any other source and they can be cultivated at home inexpensively. Help patients get the treatment they can afford and thrive on!
- Breweries – All over the world in almost all cultures, fermentations of all sorts have been made partnering with yeast and other microbes to make alcohol and probiotic drinks.
Regenerative Farming & Ranching – Help your community, and your country by expanding the number of farms that practice soil building, composting, no-till methods, cover crops, bacterial and fungal inoculants, and more. All of America’s farmland could be regenerative.
- Carbon Farming – Build soil and earn money doing it via carbon credits. Some farmers are just building soil and sinking carbon that they no longer even grow produce! You can do this through either ranching or regenerative farming
- Market Gardening – This can be done near larger towns, small and big cities. Online market coops are also possible by advertising your crops and selling them by preorder. You can create a delivery service or have them pick up at your garden/farm.
- Holistically Managed Grazing – Holistic management is a method of managing the land in a way that mirrors nature. With fewer artificial inputs and actions, which add to the cost, advocates believe that by managing holistically, the land, animals, water, and world will be healthier. By following these practices you will sequester carbon while improving the soil and animal health.
- Pasture Cropping – This is a technique that blends several disciplines. You build soils in a no-till system and graze animals strategically to prepare areas for field crops which are planted among the native pasture crop which is then harvested. The grazing animals return to the pasture again to clear up the standing biomass, deposit soil-enhancing manures, and prepare the area for planting again. This allows for pastured animals, field crops, and native plants to share the same space in a syntropic orchestration that gives a much greater yield overall.
EDUCATION
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Regenerative Soil by Matt Powers – Understand the Scientific Principles Behind All Successful Techniques Anyone can Google or YouTube a technique today, but can they explain the Why, the How, and the When behind the Methods? Learn to understand and develop a fluency in the science of regenerative soil, and you can begin to see the overlaps, limitations, and contexts for all methods and perspectives.
Learn The Actions – Learn What Works & Why + Where, When, & How To Use The Methods & Techniques Regeneratively
From Gardeners to Farmers – These Techniques Range & Scale, so No Matter Your Context You Can Regenerate Your Soil while You Save Money, Get Higher Yields, and earn more https://matt-powers.mykajabi.com/regenerativesoil
- The Savory Institute – Founded by Alan Savory, the Savory Institute trains farmers and ranchers in holistic management and has an accredited professional development track for those looking to teach and consult. Savory.Global/network/#applications
- Holistic Management International –Helps family farmers/ranchers/pastoralists become more prosperous, helps strengthen local economies, improves local food quality, and heals the environment by mimicking what nature would do. They also improve wildlife habitats, foster community ties, and preserve local culture. Whether for your social, business, or ecological considerations, holistic management systems provide clarity in decision-making and offer many educational programs in these areas – some have FSA
Approval. HolisticManagement.org - Regenerative Studies, California State Polytechnic University (Pomona) – Courses are held on a “16-acre Living Laboratory.” The John T. Lyle Center researches and demonstrates regenerative strategies such as energy production technology, organic agriculture, ecological restoration, and sustainable community development. It has one of the largest environmental design programs in the country covering everything from urban and regional planning to sustainable architecture to regenerative farming and ecological restoration. Nal.USDA.gov/afsic/edtr/categories/regenerative-farming
- Polyface Farms Master Program & Summer Internship –Polyface offers two different educational opportunities
- 5-month summer stewardship is open for six to nine persons (Spend a summer with us and leave years ahead, or stay on to move up in the Polyface team.)
- A full-time one-year Polyface Master Program* open to two hand-picked summer stewards (masters program may include: Cattle handling, fence set up and design, winter animal care and housing (layers, rabbits, cows, pigs, etc), forestry, customer interaction, and much more)
- The Salatin Family Farm is located in Virginia. PolyfaceFarms.com/apprenticeship/
- 5-month summer stewardship is open for six to nine persons (Spend a summer with us and leave years ahead, or stay on to move up in the Polyface team.)
- AgroForestry & Horticulture -“Agroforestry is the science and art of judiciously managing agricultural crops with woody perennials in a unit piece of land to enhance the productivity and profitability for combined goods and services while horticulture deals with the cultivation and management of fruits, vegetables, ornamental flowers, etc and their post-harvest management. The rising population forced the upsurge in demand for food, wood, and other goods which can be possible by the scientific and modern interventions in the agriculture sector by enhancing the productivity of farms with the integration of Agroforestry and Horticulture. This sector has the potential for good employability with an eco-friendly option to cater to the needs of agro-entrepreneurs, forest-based industries like paper & pulp, timber, plywood, plantation companies, orchard managers, manager for protected cultivation of vegetables and flowers, landscape and golf court managers and processing and value addition units of horticultural produce besides CSR activities of corporate and NGOs are few to mention.” – Agroforestry and Horticulture: An Employable and Eco-Friendly Option by Arvind Bijalwan and Manmohan J. R. Dobriyal
- The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic (DVD) – Featuring Stefan Sobkowiak and Miracle Farms, “this
documentary is a feature-length educational film that will teach you how to set up your own permaculture orchard at any scale. We recognize the limitations of the organic model as a substitute to conventional fruit growing, and want to propose a more holistic, regenerative approach based on permaculture principles.” It shows how Stefan designed, installed, and managed his permaculture orchard in Quebec, Canada. PermacultureOrchard.com/shop/ - Restoration Agriculture Design’s Agroforestry & Farm Training – RAD offers training for large-scale regenerative farming and agroforestry design and management featuring Mark Shepherd and a diverse team of experts. “Restoration agriculture isn’t about restoring ‘historical’ plant species but instead presents an opportunity to farm in nature’s image while producing recognizable, marketable products with large, consistent markets. It’s about regaining ecological balance: RestorationAg.com/#training
- Badgersett Research Corporation – Badgersett has been working on shifting our food system to rely upon woody agriculture staple foods as opposed to annual staples. Instead of wheat, soy, corn, and rice, Badgersett focuses on hazelnuts, hickory-pecans, chestnuts, and hazel hybrids – you can source their genetics directly from their catalog, order one of their Woody Agriculture courses, or join them for a learning field day at their site in Minnesota, USA. Badgersett.com/learning
- Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web Inc. – Featuring everything from soil life identification to microscopy to composting professionally, this series of courses and soil food web certification are the regenerative industry standard of excellence in soil science. Taught by USDA Soil Primer author and world-famous soil scientist, Dr.Elaine Ingham, this program will give you the ability to dramatically transform landscapes, make the best compost and compost teas, troubleshoot real-life soil problems, start your own soil laboratory, and become a professional soil consultant. Learn from the woman whose PhD was based on coming up with a simple and clear methodology for testing the soil foodweb populations from a living system! SoilFoodWeb.com
- Ohio State University’s Soil Science Undergraduate & Graduate Programs – The OSU soil programs are in the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) where graduate students learn the practice and methodologies of modern soil science as they study current research and discuss their insights with experts like distinguished professor Dr. Rattan Lal, one of the leading experts in soil science and carbon sequestration www.Senr.osu.edu/graduate/soil-science
- Cornell University’s Graduate Field of Soil and Crop Sciences – An esteemed and established program that has adopted regenerative practices increasingly and leads to Phd, MPS, & MS programs. It has a focus on agronomy, soil science, crop science, and environmental science. Scs.cals.cornell.edu/graduate
- MycoLogos, School of Mycology – The first mycology school EVER! Serving students of all levels of expertise both in-person and online, this Portland, Oregon-based school will provide critical teaching and training that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Led by author, educator, and entrepreneur, Peter McCoy of Radical Mycology, this school will provide professional development and mastery level courses as well as introductory training and education in fungi through a diversity of contexts and career paths. https://mycologos.world/
- Golden Coast Mead – Learn with dry mead creator and Golden Coast Mead founder, Frank Golbeck, in person at his Meadery or through online courses. Frank has helped start 5 successful meaderies, each under different owners, in the San Diego area and plans on spreading the magic of dry mead to fermentation connoisseurs everywhere! See what yeast can do with regenerative sources – you can heal large landscapes by partnering with bees and native plants. Learn how with Frank Golbeck! GoldenCoastMead.com
- Natural Fiber & the Fibershed – Do you love working with animals or natural fiber?
Have you heard of the Fibershed? It’s an incredible organization based upon a soil-to-soil bioregional concept of fiber production and distribution. It’s the primary way natural fibers were cultivated and used throughout human history – only since the advent of petrochemical clothing and its environmentally catastrophic consequences did we move away from this. Natural fiber-based clothing and textiles solve many problems inherent in conventional synthetic fiber: microfiber pollution in the ocean is out of control with no clear solution in the near future, and toxic clothing and textiles are poisoning our bodies and environment through everyday use. The Fibershed highlights a path of beauty and natural harmony – one of rich heritage, beauty, utility, and cultural value. Whether raising animals for meat or for fiber, a holistic approach is needed to regenerate and preserve landscapes all over the world. Overgrazing has been and continues to be responsible for desertification in many regions. We need ranchers and all owners of grazing animals to rotate their animals constantly to regenerate the landscape – this requires new thinking, retooling, and young and able-bodied people to join the ranks and start making this happen everywhere! Join the Fibershed movement & start a soil-to-soil fiber shed system in your area. This amazing organization hosts the annual Wool Symposium, workshops, and classes on all aspects of the fibershed system. They are helping communities all over the world reconnect to their local fiber sources and celebrate them. Support & learn from this incredible organization – Take Part in the Fibershed Economy!Fibershed.com
- Raising Natural Fiber Animals – Fleece, wool, mohair, and more – sustainable animal fibers are durable, unique, regenerative, and timeless. If you love animals and their fiber, this is an undeniable win-win!
- Fiber Processing – Natural fibers need to be cleaned and processed before they can be spun, knit, sewn, or woven. Every bioregion needs machine-minded individuals to design and run processing facilities for a huge spectrum of fiber sources with specific requirements.
- Natural Dyes – Gardeners, wilderness foragers, mushroom cultivators, and more can participate in the dye and ink market. Many of the most vibrant natural dyes still come from plant sources like true indigo blue. If you are looking for guilt-free, dazzling colors, you might love developing and selling natural dyes.
- Local Textile Producers – Local designers & fabricators are needed to take locally processed and raised fiber and refine it into products to sell in the market. We need local fashion, small-scale textile operations, and designers everywhere who source alternative energy and return their valuable waste to the soil in their biome.
- Renewable Energy Engineering Degree – Oregon Tech offers the first North American renewable energy 4-year bachelor’s program! This incredible flagship program is perfect for those serious about being a leader in the future of energy. Oit.edu/academics/degrees/renewable-energy-engineering
- Energy & Clean Technology MBA – Berkeley Haas offers a celebrated, full-time MBA program that blends engineering, environmental science, renewable energy, and clean tech with regular annual events, organizations, and gatherings to support and facilitate career development. Mba.haas.berkeley.edu/academics/energy.html
- Environment & Sustainability Minor – Known to engineers everywhere as the standard in excellence, MIT also has an academic track for engineers wanting to focus on the environment and designing for the future. Sustainability.mit.edu/study-classroom-opportunities-students
- Eldenbridge – Learn permaculture from an engineer’s perspective with Alan Booker in Huntsville, Alabama. Classes range from traditional permaculture to more technical aspects like drones and mapping technologies. Eldenbridge.org/classes-and-events/
- Sustainable Energy Systems Engineering Ph.D. Program – This incredible program from Texas A&M University- Kingsville focuses on facing the future with sustainable and regeneratively powered solutions. Get your Ph.D. in sustainable energy systems & design the future! Tamuk.edu/engineering/SESE/
- CalEarth – Take a course or become an apprentice with the California Institute of Earth Architecture. Learn about Superadobe and how we can we can all safely participate in building our homes and community structures using natural building materials. CalEarth.org
- Eco Construction School – Join the Earthship Academy Program in Taos, New Mexico, and intern at the Eco Construction School which is accredited through Western Colorado University. Learn to turn trash into artful architecture that supports people and the planet. EarthshipGlobal.com/academy-sessions
- Traditional Indigenous Systems – All over the world, indigenous peoples have handed down natural fiber systems for generations beyond written memory, and we can still learn from their example today. In your area, there are indigenous teachers with information that can help you give back as you get back to basics by partnering with nature using proven patterns and ethical systems.
- Natural Fabric Dyeing: Eco Colour, Print, & Pattern – A seasonal online introduction to natural dyes using plant sources for prints and making traditional patterns with Justine Aldersey-Williams of The Wild Dyery. Explore the rainbow of possibilities with natural dyes: NaturalFabricDyeing.com/study/
- Permatecture, Ecological Engineering, & Alternative Energy – Partner with Nature in Power, Building, & Technical Design
You can partner with nature and still be highly technical – in fact, we need a lot more of that in the regenerative space! There is a need for new machines for new and old crops – these have to be made by professional designers and fabricators. New products and industries readily come out of these kinds of creative environments as new technology makes marketable goods profitable to explore. An early leader in the organic movement in the US, Elliot Coleman is widely known for his line of tools designed specifically for the organic market gardener. These tools and machines are in demand – we just need more engineers, builders, and designers to meet that demand. New designers are also needed for large-scale projects including alternative energy, architecture, and water harvesting.
Design homes that are completely off the grid – or even better, design homes that power the grid itself! Water harvesting purifying and managing our waste at home has to come easily, and new engineering minds are needed to create a future that partners with nature inside and outside the home in all settings ranging from the rural to the urban. New and old technologies are all being considered as our civilization considers a world without fossil fuel reliance. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/featured/eliot-coleman-inspired-tools/
- Solar Car Project – Considered America’s best solar car program and internationally ranked, the University of
Michigan leads with a serious focus on solar transportation, nearing two decades of sustained leadership. If you are interested in designing with a team of enthusiastic and committed like-minded engineers, look into this program. Solarcar.Engin.umich.edu - ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) chapter at Ohio Northern University has been working on a pedal-powered vehicle and has gained some recognition for it, but you can join ASME and take part in this challenge from anywhere – you only have to be enrolled in an engineering program and be part of ASME! Asme.org/events/competitions/human-powered-vehicle-challenge-(hpvc)
- American Solar Challenge – A distance race across the US using only sunlight to power the vehicles, this race is one that collegiate-level student teams can take part in from around the world. AmericanSolarChallenge.org/about/american-solar-challenge/
- Electric Drivetrain Technology – The University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs’s graduate programs together provide a graduate certificate program to enhance a master’s degree with a focus on cutting-edge, professional automotive technologies. Colorado.edu/graduateschool/distance-education/certificate-programs/electric-drivetrain-technology
Food & Beverage – Do you crave the best in food and drink?
The science is in: the best foods are hyperlocal, regeneratively grown in living soils, perennial, native, and seasonal. Indigenous traditions lead the way with indigenous recipes, plants, and techniques. To top it off, you can now learn directly from indigenous chefs, leaders in the seed-to-table culinary movement, and adventurous chefs from all schools adopting new heirloom and traditional ingredients. The palette with which a chef can work with is now diverse and broad-ranging. Foraged foods, wild foods, and new foods of all kinds especially in the world of fermentation are being welcomed onto plates all over the world. After years of seeing the adventurous chefs in our media dream up new recipes and techniques, consumers want new flavors, textures, and colors. Partnering with nature is always going to lead to innovation, the most vivid flavors, and the highest nutrient densities – a sure foundation for a rewarding career in culinary arts especially as consumers need healthier foods that support their local environment.
Careers
- Indigenous Chefs – As indigenous food systems education becomes more widely available through organizations like NATIFS, more opportunities will be available to become a chef focused on indigenous ingredients and methods to meet the huge demand for authentic indigenous foods. Though people all over the world celebrate cuisine and culture, there are at the same time hundreds and thousands of indigenous cultural traditions being neglected that are waiting to create a new sensation and broaden our understanding of food, health, the earth, all life, and culture.
- Seed-to-Table Restaurants – While farm-to-table restaurants are increasingly common, the next stage is to focus further up the genetic chain of events and have food only grown from locally adapted seeds for the best possible food. It’s not just local – it’s rooted in the history of the local area, just like the people living there. Become a deep part of your community by starting your area’s first seed-to-table restaurant!
- Foraging – Many don’t realize that their wild mushrooms imply foraging, but they certainly do! As more wild foods are experienced, the higher the demand will become. Foragers will be needed! Do you like to get lost in the forest while hunting for hidden edible gems? Become a Forager!
Education
- NATIFS: North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems – This amazing nonprofit organization focuses on spreading North American traditional indigenous food systems education, food access, and research – be part of the North American indigenous renaissance and spread healthy and regenerative foods and practices. Natifs.org
- Urban Outdoor Skills – Pascal Baudar’s school for foraging, wildcrafting, and culinary alchemy features a broad range of wild cuisine blending traditional insights from many different cultures. Learn to see the abundance everywhere with Pascal! UrbanOutdoorSkills.com
- Elliot Coleman – An early leader in the organic foods movement, his catalog of works teach the foundation of regenerative market gardening and farm-to-table, seasonal cooking, and his suite of tools sold through Johnny’s Select Seeds is unparalleled. Pick up one of Eliot’s books and you’ll be amazed!
- The Sioux Chef – Ever imagined what it would be like to use indigenous ingredients in a 5-star restaurant setting? That’s what Sean Sherman is all about: he creates incredibly beautiful and delicious dishes using only indigenous ingredients and teaches others how to do it too. Learn with Sean, an incredible example and teacher – become an indigenous chef! Sioux-Chef.com
Medicine & Therapy – Do you want to heal people using Natural Cures?
Do you use essential oils? Kelp? Herbs? Chinese medicine? Naturopathic medicine? Do you juice or make smoothies? More and more doctors, patients, and people in general are realizing food is our medicine as Hippocrates wrote over two thousand years ago. It might be more accurate to say nature is our medicine since studies show that immersing ourselves in nature, using wild plants, and living as part of natural cycles enrich and lengthen our lives and our resiliency. In fact, all medicines are derived originally from natural sources and then often synthesized from coal tar or other petroleum-based products. As fossil fuels become more scarce and more damaging in their usage, natural medicines will once again become the medicine of choice. Naturopathic doctors have begun to source wild and local, native plants for medicinal applications over what they are learning to source in their standard training since local, wild foods have sometimes thousands of times the nutrients or active medicinal compounds in them compared to common store-bought foods.
Mushrooms both wild and cultivated are also being used increasingly in medicinal applications in the Western world – in a mirror to the longstanding tradition in Asia. As the power of nature and food is more fully realized, we’ll see a huge shift from conventional medicine to local, regenerative natural therapies and medicines. Join the revolution, and start healing the planet and people at the same time!
Careers
- Regenerative Nutritionists – Nutritionists don’t have to be an echo of a textbook – they can apply the same principles they learned in their schooling but with wild foods with the same but more abundant or effective medicinal attributes.
- Regenerative Doctors – Naturopaths are gaining ground in the medical field because of the high demand for natural cures. You can source regenerative foods and medicines in your medical practice. Learn your area’s potent medicinals and how they are used, so you can serve your patients at a higher level. Start a health retreat or a medicinal food forest at your doctor’s office or homesite. The future of medicine is found in fertile soil – plant your seeds wisely and become a doctor focused on regenerative solutions.
- Regenerative Therapist – Help patients get their lives back on track using the natural world as a source for healing their bodies and minds. Teach people to partner with nature to keep themselves healthy and to heal from trauma.
Education
- Nutritional Solutions – Jeanne Wallace Ph.D. is a leading expert in nutritional oncology, yet many don’t know that she’s relied upon her homesite’s food forest for powerful health solutions for almost two decades. Learn from a leader in nutrition focused on regenerative sources – become a health expert that heals the planet too! Nutritional-Solutions.net
- Thallaso Therapy: The Longevity Revolution – Learn about thallaso therapy from Antoinette Marquez, owner of AMA Sea Beauty, and its long tradition of healing people in Europe. Part beautification and part therapy, thallaso therapy uses the ocean to heal in a joyful, regenerative, and invigorating way. Forage from the seashore, sequester the lost minerals from land back into the soil and our bodies and help people heal in a natural, gentle way.
- Chestnut School for Herbal Medicine – Learn how to grow, forage, harvest, transform, and store medicinal herbs in this beautiful, clear, and fun online course with a large team of instructors. They’ll even dive into how to help you start your own business! Learn with a manual or strictly online – the course structure and breadth are amazing! https://chestnutherbs.com/
Do you love transforming sites?
Are you always sketching out designs or using your computer to generate your dream site? You can make dreams come true for yourself and others and follow a path of designing regeneratively. Your work and contribution will be invaluable as it enriches the landscape and landowners everywhere you serve. Help others see your vision by honing your skills in graphic design, mapping, drone operation, CAD, GPS technologies, and more. Not only that – you can help farmers and ranchers make wise decisions that will affect landscapes, lives, and livelihoods for decades if not centuries. Help plan, organize, and design restoration in both commercial and governmental settings. Reimagine and heal large landscapes like the Loess Plateau Project which was a World Bank project along with America and China. There is funding, understanding, and need for this work – you can help and make a living restoring landscapes all over the world. The need to regenerate degraded or damaged areas will only increase as the powerful effects of making these changes become more widely recognized.
Careers
- Permaculture Homestead Consulting & Installation – Help homeowners get off the grid in style with a permaculture design and installation business – create a team of specialists and start flipping homes into the regenerative future!
- Regenerative Farm & Ranch Planning – Help farmers, ranchers, and orchardists transition into the regenerative economy by transforming their businesses, properties, skill sets, and routines.
- Large-Scale Land Restoration – The return on investment in The Loess Plateau Project is setting the stage for a huge focus on large-scale restoration plans for all the areas humans once thrived. Even deserts like the Sahara can be restored to their rich savannah past, and even cities will need to be rethought and remade. It will take time and investment, and you can provide the expertise and vision.
- MapMaking – Use the latest programs and technology to generate amazing maps – or use your artistic talent to create beautiful renditions of your vision. There is a real demand for expertise with CAD, Google Earth Pro, GPS, and Drones – you can provide technical, artistic, and/or computer support for a project that changes our world for the better.
Education
- Ecological Landscape Mastery Course – Permaculture Skill Center’s co-founder, Erik Ohlsen, along with a team of guest expert instructors take students on a regenerative educational journey, so they can help transform their community into one of abundance, beauty, functionality, and regeneration by design through landscaping. Erik even has a free video series to introduce the program: ErikOhlsen.com/elm-free-video-series/
- United Designers – Expert designer and permaculture educator, Daniel Halsey of Southwoods Permaculture,
teaches the United Designers online video course series which focuses on professional site designs that are easy to navigate and use to showcase to clients and the public detailed plans quickly. Daniel’s style of mapmaking and design are superb and iconic – there’s no better example or teacher on this topic. SouthwoodsCenter.com/designresources.html - REX Online – The most comprehensive online farm planning program in the world. Darren Doherty and his team of Regrarians have transformed thousands of sites across the globe. Their program is superbly thorough in its approach to site design, especially in terms of technical details and tools. It also includes lifetime access, so continually learn and progress with a global community of designers. Plan out a regenerative farm with a proven method rooted in PA Yeomans Scale of Permanence and nuanced with permaculture and dozens of other professional disciplines and methodologies. Darren’s lifetime of experience terraforming thousands of farms and landscapes in diverse climates has given him a professional regenerative lens like no other. http://www.regrarians.org/
Regenerative Ocean & Wetland Farming – Want to heal the oceans?
You’re not alone – we do too! For a long time, there wasn’t a clear path to regeneration in the ocean setting, but that time is over. We now know what we have to do: sequester the excess carbon and nitrogen into biology like kelp and shellfish and then bring it back on land to return it to the soil. We need people who love the ocean to farm it, to help regenerate and restore the damaged shore, wetland, riparian, and reef ecologies, and to protect them from further degradation. Though we do not yet know how to measure how much of our oxygen comes from ocean phytoplankton exactly, it is clear that half to two-thirds of all our atmospheric oxygen is generated through the life cycles of these tiny ocean plants. The health of the ocean is our health, and more and more people are figuring that out and using products from the sea. You can forage and work with the bounty of the ocean, but only if it is a wild and abundant system. We need regenerative farmers, stewards, and businesses to support them and connect them to the consumers on shore who need these products and want to help heal the ocean too. We all can do our part but some of us get to grow new kelp forests – join the regenerative farming movement and start your own forest under the waves!
Careers
- Regenerative Ocean Farming – Food, beauty, fertilizer, supplements, & health products of all kinds from the
ocean can be regenerative as long as they are taking the excess nutrients that came from the land back onto the land – these leached minerals and nutrients can be from natural sources or conventional farming and ranching practices that destroy habitat and soil. Every shore and river that meets the ocean must be tended and rewilded strategically – you can foster the return of wildness to these areas and turn the problem into a valuable solution. - Regenerative Wetland Farming – Before arriving at the ocean, water has always had places for life to work on and benefit from, but for centuries we’ve drained wetlands and simplified riparian areas. We need wildlife specialists, rewilding installations, and deep ecological understanding to restore the riparian areas and wetlands that are used to sequester and store carbon and purify our water. You can create a thriving ecosystem of amazing edge effects between land and water that feeds people and heals the environment.
- Wetland & Shore Restoration – In many, perhaps most, areas, restoration needs to precede any farming activities. The waters are too toxic, the life too sparse, or the system too fragile to make a commercial profit yet, but the promise of what it can be will bring investors, restoration, and abundance. You can be the one to bring that change and set things in motion for a brighter future for all involved.
- Artificial Reef Installations – Design, plan, create, and install reefs to protect fragile new shore systems and provide habitat for an incredible diversity of life.
Education
- Pharmersea – Learn from ocean regenerative farming expert Dan Marquez who’s consulted and worked with experts and ocean farming operations on both North American coasts. His vision encompasses the most complete regenerative plan for ocean restoration. Pharmersea.com
- Watershed Artisans – Craig Sponholtz and his team of watershed restoration and water harvesting experts are based in New Mexico, USA. They offer courses, workshops, professional training, consulting, installation, and restoration services – if you are interested in healing riparian areas, visit Watershed Artisans! WatershedArtisans.com
- Riparian Restoration Program – This Canadian program is hosted by Sustainability Resources in Alberta in
conjunction with local and state government and commercial organizations. Their program has spread riparian
restoration education and actively restored riparian areas since 2014 with hundreds of volunteers using native
plants. SustainabilityResources.ca/resources/community-learning-events/riparian-restoration-conservation - Statewide Riparian and Stream Ecosystem Education Programs in Texas – Involving a huge team of different
riparian and educational institutions, this statewide program seeks to educate everyone on how to heal, manage, and read riparian landscapes. https://riparian.twri.tamu.edu/
Large-Scale Design & Restoration – Want to terraform our world?
Can you imagine a completely different global landscape? Maybe it’s just your area that you can visualize as regeneratively thriving, but do you feel called to make big changes? If you do, you need to follow that feeling. We need you to dive deep, take that leap, and dream bigger than you thought possible. Your contribution could change the course of history, and that’s no exaggeration. Already designers have changed an entire generation’s outlook and prospects in degraded areas all over the world. You can too. The tools, knowledge, and proven models are already in place – we just need courageous designers to create and inspire the world to embrace large-scale restoration. Forget terraforming Mars – the Earth needs you!
Careers
- Ecological Civil Engineers – We need our streets, parks, lights, and more to be rethought from an ecological perspective. Going beyond landscaping, this role will take traditional civil engineering into the regenerative space. Envision new cultural and behavioral patterns on a macro scale!
- Large-Scale Land Restoration – Green the manmade deserts, restore agricultural soils all over the world, and create resilient landscapes of plenty – you can be part of the global shift towards a syntropic system of abundance. We can reverse the desertification process by restoring and removing imbalances in the natural cycles and bringing back the biodiversity that once supported our world.
- City Planning & Design – Many struggle with how to adapt our current systems to get us into the regenerative future, but it will take grand visions that disregard current limitations or perspectives to guide us out of these stormy waters. Make the city of your dreams real – it IS possible!
Education
- Sustainable Design Masterclass – Neal Spackman and Raleigh Latham host a weekly webinar series that provides exclusive interviews and webinars with experts from all over the world in regeneration, focused on successful businesses and leading models. Learn from the cutting edge from the comfort of your home! Subscribe & watch when they air live online or go back and rent past webinars on an individual basis – dive deep into their incredible library and learn from some of the best regenerative examples in the world!
- Ecosystem Restoration Camps – Sourcing volunteers from around the globe, this nonprofit organization is setting up camps of volunteer workers and volunteer expert designers who will create regenerative example sites all over the world. The first site is in Spain and work is currently underway – join the movement to demonstrate to the world what is possible! Show government agencies, non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, & humanitarian aid what we can do with the right tools and understanding. EcosystemRestorationCamps.org
• REX Online – As mentioned earlier, this online program taps into a wealth of knowledge through its network of experienced designers, many of whom have worked on large-scale restoration projects with governments and NGOs. If you are looking for a spectrum of professional experience in this arena, check out the REX! http://www.regrarians.org/
Seed Farming & Plant Breeding
Did you know that almost all the seeds sold are not grown by the company selling them? They source seeds from giant seed houses and independent farmers all over the world. You often never know what climate your seed’s parent plant grew in! Seed savers, home gardeners, and commercial farmers are all seeking locally adapted seeds, which opens up the possibility for bioregional and local seed libraries and companies everywhere! Thirty years ago seed houses and companies didn’t carry heirlooms in any great volume – the only remaining heirloom seed keepers were home gardeners, independent seed collectors, and plant breeders. Since that time there has been a renaissance of heirloom seeds and traditional farming methods (often termed organic or biodynamic), which has been facilitated by the ever-growing demand for new varieties and more diversity from the public. They want new colors, tastes, and looks. This also coincides with the growing instability of conventional agriculture’s methods and genetics, causing crop failures and market instability globally. Farmers are looking for resilient seeds with adaptable genetic libraries of experience built into their genes by experience rather than questionable, costly, and narrow pre-programmed genetics, designed by scientists in a distant greenhouse. Farmers, families, and foodies alike want their seeds and plants to be connected to the places they are consumed – they are all craving authenticity and connection that can only come through adaptation and localization. Plant breeders and seed farmers who create the most resilient seeds will find top dollar for their germplasm. Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms rewilded the tomato and in doing so has created an entirely new branch of the tomato family that is disease-resistant, vigorous, pest-resistant, more delicious, shockingly beautiful, diverse, and improved in overall nutritional value. He’s created 60 varieties in 20 years, and his tomatoes are grown all over the world. Learn how to create new varieties – it’s EASY: you can change our diet, world, and understanding of what’s possible with a new plant or new branch to a plant family. You can make history with your seeds! Join the exciting cutting-edge of food and seed where backyard breeders have long dominated as the leaders!
Careers
- Regenerative Seed Farmer– Regenerative farmers are needed to grow the seeds of tomorrow today. Seed saving is incredibly gratifying, and creating the most resilient adaptation of a variety is even more so. Be a seed grower & saver, supply the new regenerative farming movement from the ground up!
- Regenerative Seed Company – Help dozens of regenerative farmers sell their seeds by starting a seed company or partnering with several growers and growing it all yourself – it’s all possible!
- Regenerative Plant Breeder – More than tomatoes need to be rewilded – we need to breed back the diversity we’ve lost. Become a regenerative plant breeder and show what nature really can do!
Education
- Native Seed Search – This Southwestern USA organization preserves incredibly rare and sacred native seeds, and they also offer workshops and training in seed saving and growing. Learn from a long cultural heritage of master plant breeders and seed savers. https://shop.nativeseeds.org
- Seed Savers Exchange – This organization is uniquely special: it connects US backyard seed savers in a cooperative that shares information and allows them to sell their seeds without starting their own business. Find the rarest and well-tended seed genetics, learn from their programs and workshops, and learn from the seed savers themselves as you connect through the network. Their book The Seed Garden is a superb reference \manual for all levels of seed saving – learn how to save all varieties of seed with this beautiful and well-written guide that every seed saver should own and cherish! https://seedsavers.org/
- Seed Seva Seasonal Journey – This is an online distance learning seed-saving course through Sierra Seeds focused on indigenous techniques and permaculture. Learn from Rowen White, an inspirational and engaging teacher and expert seed saver, in a seven-month immersion program starting April 2018. https://sierraseeds.org/seed-seva/