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Home > Creative > Writing > Nature Offers a Model Part I: Food
“Business models must be redefined to mirror the principles of nature. Nature’s finely tuned systems, perfected over billions of years, offer a blueprint for sustainability. A paradigm shift is needed, focusing on resiliency, cooperation, and shared success rather than capitalism and growth.”
This was one of many concepts that came out of a half-day Seeds workshop held in the Netherlands in October 2024. In principle, I agree completely, but I left the workshop unsure of how the idea takes shape. What would resiliency, cooperation, and shared success look like in actual business scenarios? The first time I asked myself this question was also the first time I learned about permaculture.
In 2013 and 2014, I was working on developing my Master’s thesis in the Social Design department at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. I had the title before I even began, and I boldly named it “Design for a New Economy”. I made an actionable list of instructions with steps like “Think Small”, “Exploit Free”, “Involve Community”, and “Have Fun”. I was encouraged by the Department Head but soon got lost in a thicket of complexities. At one point, he suggested I look into permaculture, which was a helpful suggestion that provided some needed “grounding”, let’s say.
The basic principle behind permaculture is to grow food using the systems that nature uses. In practice, it extends to land management and design for living as well. The idea is that, with the right setup, nature produces diverse foods abundantly without chemical input and requires little intervention. Permaculture requires careful design, and collecting food requires more hands-on labor, but it has a low environmental impact and produces nutrient-rich foods. In comparison, modern agriculture requires all kinds of machines, technologies, and chemicals. It produces much more food with less work, but the process of standardization that it uses depletes biodiversity, degrades the soil, and produces food with less nutrients.
Each system has its pros and cons. Agriculture wins hands-down for feeding the global population, but permaculture produces healthier food and is more resilient for long-term environmental stability. Many experts believe that a hybrid approach is the answer.
Regenerative agriculture lives somewhere between the two approaches. It uses compost instead of chemicals, grows diverse crops instead of monocultures, conserves water and retains soil moisture instead of using heavy irrigation, and reduces carbon emissions. Supporters argue that it is more economically viable for farmers. The process also builds resistance to climate fluctuations and yields more nutrient-dense food.
Many large companies, like Danone, are investing in regenerative farming practices, and thousands of small brands are making impact using organic ingredients from small-scale, fair-trade farms that practice regenerative agriculture. Relying on modern machines, technologies, and interventions, regenerative agriculture is still inferior to nature’s flawless system. It’s not perfect, but it uses nature as a reference for producing healthier food more sustainably for scaled production. Perhaps more importantly, regenerative agriculture is not a far-fetched ideal. It’s realistic and already in practice. It is a concrete step in the right direction.
A further shift to an approach like permaculture will prove impossible until we find the thing that makes it seem obvious.
One of the roadblocks to a scaled permaculture approach is the precision labor that’s required in harvesting. The technologist might say that we’re not far from a solution for that. Boston Dynamics is building robots with incredible agility and precision. If their robots can do back flips (and they can), then they can undoubtedly bend down to pick strawberries or climb trees to pick apples. Supporters of this thinking might argue that the harvesters of our large-scale, chemical-free, biodynamic food forests are already here and waiting for instructions. On the other hand, a naturalist might ask if it makes sense to “model nature” in production and then send in robots for the harvest. Robots will certainly bring their own new set of problems (such as maintenance and continued R&D, which come with a cost), but unforeseen consequences as well. Alternatively, we could pay people a generous wage to do the same work while elevating the work itself, respecting the ecological harvester’s role in society.
Every solution has the potential to create new problems, but the latter example certainly aligns closer to nature’s way. Does technology have a place in a nature-based model? Could a shift to permaculture happen from the ground-up with simple approaches, or do we need support from large, organizations with advanced tools?
We should also accept that there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach to nature-inspired food production. Different environments with unique communities full of diverse cultures would likely encounter different difficulties and require custom strategies and approaches. Small communities might learn from other small communities, and with a tweak here and there, create a unique and specific solution.
Perhaps we need to reconsider the meaning of progress.
We’re accustomed to associate progress as a one-directional, technology-powered trajectory. But weighing the ecological and human health benefits of a permaculture approach, achieving 100% natural food production would be impressively progressive as well.
Considering all the remarkable, “impossible seeming” feats humankind has achieved, a goal like this should not daunt us. Compared to industrial farming, regenerative agriculture is a significant shift, and hopefully, it’s just the beginning of many new sustainably focused food production strategies that will help humanity thrive in health and abundance.
With agriculture as an example, we have evidence that large, giant-like systems can indeed adopt new approaches inspired by nature-based models. While certainly not “the norm”, similar shifts are happening in other businesses as well. Sustainable models have been drafted, and many concepts are in practice. Are they enough? What is required to go all the way?
Writing & Illustration: Jessica Smarsch
Continue reading: Nature Offers a Model Part II: Business
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