About

The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

Visegrad and Beyond Permaculture Partnership

Our partnership was created in September 2016 to share the best experience of permaculture farming and support development of the permaculture education and demonstration networks in our countries. In March 2017 we received the grant from the International Visegrad Fund which allowed us to implement the project.

All countries in our region have economy with developed agriculture sector, traditionally big ratio of rural population managing small and medium sized farms. Industrial agriculture that rely on cultivation of monocrops over big land areas destroys traditional lifestyle in the Central and Eastern Europe that was based on cooperation of small producers, local food growing and marketing, and straightforward relationship between towns and surrounding countryside based on the trust, mutual support and interdependence. Contemporary farming which requires high initial investment in machinery and agrochemicals and needs less labor force leads to abandonment of traditionally rural regions, work emigration, aging, health and social problems. Contemporary agriculture depends on intensive management, relentless availability of scarce and nonrenewable resources, and generates massive, destructive ecosystem effects.

The mission of our organizations is support and promotion of environmentally friendly agriculture, green energy and energy efficient technologies, healthy lifestyle, protection of natural and cultural heritage and development of self-sufficient  communities using the instruments of permaculture (the culture, based on the principles of sustainable development) to solve actual environmental, economic and social problems. In particular, it is establishment and support of the small farms, stimulating the activity of the local communities, regional development through strengthening connection within the bioregions and creating production and economical cycles within the regions. Present project help us co create strong regional network of the permaculture demonstration farms. Initiated collaboration between the small-scale sustainable farmers and permaculture educator should trigger development of the comprehensive education program in agroecology for both permaculture organizations, vocational and higher institutions in the Visegrad region.

We continue our collaboration!

International Visegrad Fund has supported our new project “LAND + WWOOF + GEN = learning and investigating sustainability“

This project will be implemented during September 2019 – May 2020 and it has 2 components:

Polycultures and Permaculture

Blended (with the option for online and in-person participation) research and practice conference on designing crop polycultures will be organized, and 2 sets of video lectures (one for informal education courses, e.g. Permaculture Design Course; second, extended, for the academic courses) will be recorded by researchers and experts. Policy recommendations on biodiversity-based agriculture will be composed and distributed in the Visegrad countries and in Ukraine.

International collaboration between LAND, WWOOF, and GEN networks

The tour to the centers in LAND (permaculture centers), GEN (ecovillages) and WWOOF (organic farms) will be organized for the activists from these networks. Sustainable experience of visited sites will be documented and shared nationally and internationally.

GEN, WWOOF and LAND: A Festival for sustainable agriculture – blended meeting with the possibility of online participation will be organized on October 20th at the Biofalu Máriahalom, Hungary to celebrate and discuss future collaboration between these networks.

Our mission is to combine the efforts of LAND, GEN, WWOOF of Visegrad countries and Ukraine for broader and more efficient education of permaculture, organic agriculture, building based on natural and recycled materials, students’ and teachers’ exchange, mutual tours and festivals, common activities and learning.

Members of LAND, GEN, WWOOF of Visegrad countries and Ukraine are invited to fill this questionnaire (by 17th of October) to share their wishes on future collaborations between the networks nationally and internationally. And Permaculture centers are invited to fill this survey on the previous LAND networking project 

Project partners

Contact us

permavisegradgooglegroups.com