Published 10:04 am Friday, March 15, 2024
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Though he thinks the global outlook for agriculture appears increasingly alarming, Andrew Millison doesn’t consider himself a pessimist.
As a practitioner, instructor and chronicler of the permaculture movement, he simply believes the situation will likely get worse before it can get better.
“It’s not something that goes on in perpetuity,” Millison said, referring to the widespread loss of plant pollinators, diverse species, healthy topsoils, mountain snowpacks and groundwater supplies.
“If we’re going to maintain humanity for another 500 years, this is not how we’re going to do it,” he said.
Delaying reform until it’s absolutely necessary may not be the wisest course of action, but Millison also said he’s “not optimistic masses of people will do the right thing because it’s the right thing.”
Rather than wait for disaster, however, Millison has dedicated his career to implementing and promoting the principles of permaculture so people are ready when the “tipping point” does arrive, he said.
“At the point of necessity, we will have the tools ready,” he said. “If I could move the needle of human understanding of how to live on the land that’s harmonious with nature, that’s all I can ask for.”
The sentiment may be idealistic but Millison emphasizes pragmatic solutions rather than high-minded rhetoric in his design work, online videos and university classes.
During his worldwide travels, Millison has documented major environmental projects that demonstrate the practicality of the permaculture philosophy, in which farm practices are integrated into the natural world and enhance local and regional ecosystems.
“There are massive landscape-scale transformations going on the world should know about,” he said. “I am amplifying the good work of others.”
For example, Millison has filmed the campaign to plant trees across the width of the African continent to counter the effects of deforestation and obstruct the Sahara Desert’s southward expansion. The “Great Green Wall” initiative means to restore vegetation to 250 million degraded acres by 2030.
“If you’re going for large-scale landscape design, that’s about as big as it gets,” he said.
He’s also showcased the work of the Paani Foundation, an organization started by a Bollywood actor. It organizes competitions among thousands of villages in India to install the highest number of water-harvesting structures.
“They’re gamifying land restoration,” Millison said. “It’s a context where everyone wins because they’re solving their water problems.”
The time people have spent watching his online videos adds up to about 250 years in total, greatly magnifying Millison’s ability to spread the word about permaculture.
Those who want to explore the topic in greater depth attend his online classes, offered through Oregon State University.
While much of his teaching is done remotely, Millison does offer students on-the-ground experience with an ongoing permaculture project at Confluence Farms, a 112-acre property near Corvallis, Ore., that leases tracts for various crops and livestock.
“The model I wanted was to get a bunch of tenants who are small farmers,” said Jason Bradford, its owner, who maintains an active role as their landlord. “I’m a lot more management-intensive, where I am finding tenants and finding out how they fit in.”
Confluence Farms acts as a client of Millison’s classes, with students learning to design and apply permaculture principles on the property.
The goal is to manage different areas according to their most appropriate agricultural purpose, depending on drainage and other factors, rather than “fit a monocrop onto a diverse landscape,” Bradford said.
“What’s the best thing to do with this soil type that will reduce the risk and make it more productive?” he said.
Having grown up in Philadelphia, Pa., Millison was drawn to farming after realizing he “had no idea how to actually live” outside the urban environment.
After graduating from high school, he spent a year on a farm in Israel and then began studying ecological architecture in college.
“I came to agriculture through architecture,” Millison said. “Designing with plants, there’s a certain artistry to it.”
Unlike other building materials, plants are constantly adapting to their surroundings and don’t remain static over time, he said. Those characteristics continue to fascinate him three decades later.
“You’re working with this element that has a life of its own,” Millison said.
His academic career and early working life were spent in the high desert of Arizona, where he was introduced to permaculture principles due to the scarcity of water.
The agricultural philosophy centers on slowing the flow of water across the landscape, reducing erosion and maximizing the resource’s judicious use.
“Water management is the basis of any permaculture design,” he said. “That’s when my focus on water really developed.”
As an ecological landscape designer, Millison was also captivated by the ability of certain fruit trees to thrive in the harsh Southwestern climate while others withered and died.
He learned the successful specimens sprang from cultivars imported by Spanish missionaries, which were then cultivated by Native Americans from seed. Over centuries, the process selected for those trees best able to withstand the dry, inhospitable conditions.
“Now you have these high desert-adapted varieties,” Millison said. “Some of the things that hooked me into agriculture are the stories. When you’re doing this, you’re suddenly part of history.”
In 2008, Millison’s “survivalist leanings” convinced him to move to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, which he judged more resilient to climate change.
He was recruited to give a talk to a recently formed permaculture club at OSU, after which one of the students petitioned the university to hire Millison as an instructor.
Administrators agreed to the request as long as he raised the funds to sustain the position himself, giving rise to the online permaculture classes for students and others.
“You might say I’m crowd-funding by offering courses to the public,” Millison said.
As a teacher, he began organizing and attending conferences on permaculture, leading to his far-flung journeys and coverage of major projects.
Millison ascribes the series of events that led to his current position to “fortunate synchronicity or destiny.”
“I didn’t try to make any of this happen,” he said. “It just happened.”
Andrew Millison
Occupation: Permaculture designer, documentarian, instructor at Oregon State University
Age: 50
Education: Prescott College in Prescott, Ariz., bachelor’s degree in ecological design in 1997, master’s degree in horticultural preservation in 2000
Family: Wife, Shalisse, two grown daughters and a teenage son
Hometown: Corvallis, Ore.
