Breaking the Deadlock Between Agriculture

and ForestryBy: Daniel Tatum

Systems Thinking, Entrepreneurship, and Money

• Networking between: • Stakeholders • NGOs • Government agencies • Entrepreneurs • Private businesses

• Approaching markets• Quantify• Empathize

• “[The] binary way of looking at entrepreneurship, either you’re in it to make as much money as you possibly can, or you’re not an entrepreneur, is curtailing this country’s ability to transform its economy.” – Eli Stefanski

Hahai nō ka ua i ka ululāʻauThe rain follows the forest

Non-Timber Forest Products• Food crops• Wild game/animal

products• Handicrafts• Floral Products• Plant Oils/Extracts• Insects• Medicinal Products

Land Use Money Trap• Agriculture generates income• Conventional agriculture precludes forestry

• Mature forests generate income• Young forests generate very little income

• How do we break out of this trap and restore natural forested ecosystems?

Land Use Money Trap

Breaking the Trap

Concept• Conceptually similar to concentrating human populations in urban

centers to allow for more natural space

Panama City, Panama

Aquaponics• High yield per acre• Less water requirement• Multiple products• Self-Sustaining (with energy input)• Increased efficiency• https://youtu.be/mCCN4nq7BlQ?t=178

Larger Systemic Implications• Carbon sink from reforestation• Decreased water diversion for agriculture • Return of perennial streams

• Reduced food importation • More money circulation within local economy• Transition from cash-crops to food crops• Self-contained• Less concern about plants or fish becoming invasive

• Increased food variety

Questions?

References• Diagrams of soil-based and aquaponic systems courtesy of:• https://dystopianpresent.wordpress.com/tag/aquaponics/

• TEDxDirigo - Eli Stefanski - Making Systems Thinking Sexy• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fcYefOHN4

• Elevitch, C. R. and Wilkinson, K.M. Agroforestry guides for Pacific islands. (2000, September). Retrieved from: http://pacificschoolserver.org/content/_public/Science/Agriculture%20for%20Islands/worksheets/Other/Nontimber%20forest%20products.pdf• Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140818223844-80494355-job-is-screwing-may-be-entrepreneurship-is-your-way