Biointensive for Russia


Degradation of soils and inefficient food production are among the unfortunate realities of agriculture in the lands of the former Soviet Union. An excellent example of a creative, grassroots project to help address this problem is Biointensive for Russia, based in Palo Alto, California. This organization grew out of an effort to provide translated copies of one of the most authoritative books on Biointensive gardening and minifarming--John Jeavons’ How to Grow More Vegetables--to friends in Russia. After a long process that began in 1986 when a Russian journalist visiting from Novosibirsk received a copy of the book in English, as it is titled in Russian, was finally translated and printed in an edition of 50,000 in mid-1993.

Biointensive for Russia was formed simultaneously to assist in the promotion and distribution of the book. Americans are given the opportunity to present a copy of the Russian book to a friend in Eurasia by ordering it from Biointensive for Russia, which then arranges for it to be mailed from Moscow to the address provided.

The project has grown to include training sessions for Russians who are now teaching Biointensive methods to gardeners and farmers in Russia, and exchanges with representatives of Ecodom, Inc., based in Akademgorodok (near Novosibirsk) in Siberia. Ecodom is a project of Russian architects, engineers, and scientists, to build self-sufficient single-family dwellings that have “mini-mum impact on the local environment,” outside of existing towns and cities in Russia. Ecodom’s educational director, Larissa Avrorina, traveled to California in late 1994 to study resource-conserving Biointensive gardening techniques, which are now being incorporated into the Ecodom program.

Additionally, Biointensive for Russia is seeking funds to translate selected publications of John Jeavons’ Ecology Action into Russian, and is exploring the possibility of translating other U.S. environmental books into Russian as well as Russian-language books on similar topics into English (e.g. Galina Shatalova’s Formula for Health and Long Life).

The first volume of Biointensive for Russia’s newsletter, The Integral Home and Garden Companion, provides a wealth of information on the activities of the organization, including a report on the ISAR-sponsored Ecoforum conducted this spring in Ukraine, in which co-founder Carol Vesecky participated. The newsletter provides information on environmental projects in the former Soviet Union, Biointensive exchange programs, workshops and activities.

The organic farming and gardening methods Biointensive for Russia is promoting have been developed over the past two decades by Ecology Action, a nonprofit organization based in Willits, California that conducts research into methods of agriculture that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Its small staff maintains a teaching and apprentice program which emphasizes the training of teachers, and links collaborators throughout the world in order to strengthen Biointensive microfarming programs. Ecology Action is working with Biointensive for Russia to provide training, materials and support to Eurasian partners.

Biointensive microfarming is particularly appropriate for Russia due to its relatively low cost and high productivity. Using relatively small plots of land, Biointensive methods can increase caloric production up to 5 times that of conventional methods while greatly reducing both water requirements and purchased fertilizer usage. It does not require heavy, motorized machinery, so capital and energy costs are reduced. Careful crop rotation, composting, and planting systems increase soil fertility and minimize pest problems without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

For more information:

Biointensive for Russia
Carol Vesecky
831 Marshall Drive,
Palo Alto, CA 94303-3614
Tel: 415-856-9751
Fax: 415-424-8767
E-mail: [email protected]

Ecology  Action
5798 Ridgewood Road
Willits, CA 95490
Fax: 707-454-5409

Ecodom (Siberia)
Larissa Avrorina
Educational Director
E-mail: [email protected] 

This article is from the November 1995 issue of
Civil Society ... East and West

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The URL for this page is: http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~ccsi/csew/95-11/biontns.htm
Last updated: March 26 1996

Center for Civil Society International
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