![]() ![]() But The Land Institute’s undertaking is primarily a scientific and pragmatic one. William Ruckelshaus, the first Director of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, captured a key reality when he wrote: “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” We also explore the cultural and educational dimensions of this new agriculture. At The Land Institute, we seek to develop an agricultural system that uses natural systems – in preference over extractive industrial systems – as the measure of productivity. In this context, agriculture must be completely reconsidered. ![]() Rather than subduing or ignoring the wisdom inherent in established natural systems with short-term technological gimmicks and depleted water and mineral resources, Natural Systems Agriculture matches the principles and insights of evolutionary and ecological science with the applied skills and knowledge of agronomy to partner with and intensify the beneficial relationships within living species, communities, and ecosystems. Natural Systems Agriculture is rooted in the premise that we can work with – rather than against – nature in order to produce the food we need. But we do so at our increasing peril, threatening the very existence of complex natural systems and the human populations that rely upon them for food. In this view, nature is to be subdued or ignored. The industrial agriculture we have developed and now rely upon places us in an unwinnable contest against established natural systems. Nature does all that if we don’t impede or overburden it, and those systems produce ample food and biomass.īut we have spent 10,000 years championing a few crops in isolation, planting them in monocultures of a single variety, breeding them to be increasingly dependent upon larger scales of industrial intervention that keep those natural processes from occurring. Those systems are self-sustaining, powered by contemporary sunlight (as opposed to ancient sunlight in the form of fossil fuels), and maintain multiple important processes like pest control, fertility and nutrient cycling, erosion control, drought resistance and water management, and carbon sequestration. ![]() Natural Systems Agriculture: Solving Agriculture’s 10,000-Year-Old ProblemĮstablished natural ecosystems feature perennials in mutually beneficial relationships known as perennial polycultures. Our goal is to develop an agricultural system that can produce ample food, reduce or eliminate impacts from the disruptions and dependencies of industrial agriculture, and inform cultural change through education. We call this Natural Systems Agriculture. The power plant itself has been connected to the grid by 2016.The Land Institute is breeding new perennial grain and seed crops adapted to ecologically intensified polycultures that mimic natural systems. Sprecher’s control and protection systems in the cavern went into operation until the end of 2013 and secure the auxiliary power supply. connection to protection devices) for the 220 kV switchgear. Sprecher Automation delivered SPRECON-E-P one-box solutions for the 20 kV switchgears, transformer-differential protection for the medium voltage transformer as well as the SPRECON-E control system (incl. Three of the 20 kV systems has been installed in the cavern close to the 220 kV SF6 switchgear. Four switchgears in the area of Kolbnitz followed afterwards. Control and protection system conceptsĪs for the first step, seven switchgears with a total of 30 bays has been equipped with SPRECON-E-P one-box solutions for combined protection and control (overcurrent-time and distance protection as well as transformer differential protection). Sprecher Automation delivered all SPRECON-E control and protection systems. Verbund Hydropower GmbH will modernise and renew eleven SF6 medium voltage switchgears (10/ 20 kV) with 44 bays in several auxiliary systems of the three power plants Kolbnitz, Rottau and PSPP Reißeck II (partially in high alpine locations, up to 2,400 m above sea level). The control system for the 220kV SF6 switchgear and the 220 kV line feeder in Rottau was realised with SPRECON-E-C components. Power transmission to the 220kV outdoor switchgear in Rottau (Malta Hauptstufe) works via a 220 kV line. SPRECON-E Station Control for the 220 kV SwitchgearsĪ 220 kV SF6 switchgear with two unit transformers and one line feeder has been built in the cavern of PSPP Reißeck II.
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