RAWiki:About

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Regenerative Agriculture Wiki (RAWiki), a project of Jacob Springs Farm, is still just getting started - our goal is to become a central repository of articles outlining information, techniques, insights and experience related to Regenerative Agriculture in principles, theory and practice. The RAWiki project is an attempt to collect, develop, curate and disseminate practical and theoretical information on these very important topics. We need your help! You don't have to be an expert to edit, find and link to good content, and help to organize the project. If you do have experience and knowledge we want others to benefit from what you know.

Yes! YOU! Don't just wait thinking someone else will do it - it's not difficult to learn to edit a wiki For additional supported features please see the style guide for examples of how to implement posting extras like videos, spreadsheets and calendars. In order to develop a comprehensive body of knowledge and wisdom that people can draw upon we need to develop a community of contributors who can share their knowledge and experiences with others. The RAWiki project uses the MediaWiki platform to maximize interoperability with wikipedia. The project currently has 165 articles and stubs of articles waiting to be expanded.

We, the founders of this project, think RAWiki is important. We believe that the techniques of regenerative agriculture represent some of the planet's best hopes for creating a "win-win" between the need to feed a growing human population and the equally important need to regenerate a planet that is increasingly being damaged by our human interaction with it. Agriculture is the primary way that humans interact with their ecosystem and impact the surface of the earth, it's water and air. Regenerative agriculture has the potential not only to address these vital problems in a meaningful way, but to provide livelihoods to millions of undervalued people in rural areas and developing countries while contributing to human health and well-being with quality, nutrient dense foods.

From our personal experience, we don't believe these goals are the result of impractical, dreamy idealism. We have implemented and proven their practical and profitable application in both the local and global markets. These ideas work, both in the context of a wealthy developed country, and among the poorest people on earth in a developing context. Despite our success, these visions and models have not become widespread. Through this wiki, even if only in a small way, we hope to document the successes of regenerative agriculture, influence others to implement these ideas and to support them in doing so.

Key Pages

History

RAWiki began as a project of Andre Houssney and Daniel Rankin of Jacob Springs Farm, near Boulder Colorado, in addition to providing their community with ethical animal proteins and sustainably-grown produce, Jacob Springs farm has a mission to show leadership in the agroecology movement through the spread of information. RAWiki began as a part of that effort.

Why develop a new wiki?

We believe in the mission of Wikipedia, and we are actively editing, linking to, and improving wikipedia content. However Wikipedia does not go far enough:

  1. Wikipedia does not allow practical “how to” material - techniques and application
  2. “Principles” of regenerative agriculture are difficult to cite within the wikipedia framework.
  3. Experiences and narratives of others who have applied different techniques do not have a place on wikipedia.
  4. Wikipedia requires a “neutral point of view”. In an industry dominated by corporate agriculture, sustainability is unfortunately not “neutral” and most research represents corporate-sponsored views.

Point of View

The Jacob Springs RAWiki (regenerative agriculture wiki) does not adhere to the "“neutral point of view” guidelines of wikipedia, rather, RAWiki promotes an agroecological worldview.

Those who join in editing and authoring this content do not need to agree in every respect,

STATE UNIVERSAL GOALS actions flow directly from our worldview and we organize the main content of this wiki in the following order of descending importance:

Knowing God (theology) > Ethics > Principles > Strategies > Techniques

Examples of RAW pages

Permaculture: the RAW project article on permaculture allows the main principles of permaculture to be displayed in an organized, concise way that allows it’s claims and insights to be evaluated based on scientific knowledge and practical experience. RAW links it’s pages on permaculture directly to other pages and articles related directly to sustainable agriculture - for example the article on Permaculture: Fruit tree management links to pages with more documented Scientific knowledge such as “Apple Tree: (Malus Domestica)” and “Apple Scab (Venturia inaequalis)” as well as articles relating to other techniques of sustainable orchard management such as “Silvopasture” and “Regenerative Orchard Management” and articles about people putting these techniques to work like “Lost Nation Orchard” and “Miracle Farms”.

"I want to help!" What can I do?"

Many different skills are needed to write and edit articles and cite sources to expand the scope, accuracy and usefulness of the wiki. Contributors from a wide variety of different backgrounds and those with different knowledge levels are welcome to participate.

RAWiki is seeking help with the development of the project from administrators, writers, illustrators and photographers, editors, researchers and fact checkers, and, especially, practitioners, those, such as farmers, ranchers, gardeners and animal breeders with practical experience as "doers" involved in implementing some aspect of regenerative agriculture.

See also" RAWiki contributors

Here are some ideas for those who want to help:

  • Edit current pages for accuracy, style and organization
  • Expand current pages which are incomplete
  • Research supporting documentation and link to these sources
  • Identify “red links” (linked topics with no article written about them) and write the linked articles
  • Identify important topics which are not currently covered by the wiki and create stub articles for future expansion*
  • Create new pages on farms and farmers “doing it right”
  • Update Wikipedia with useful, relevant data from RAW and include links to RAW in relevant wikipedia pages
  • Interview sustainable farmers on relevant topics and summarize their experience and advice with appropriate citation and caveats.
  • Observe and describe regenerative practices at Jacob Springs Farm or other farms "doing it right"

Examples of pages that need to be researched and written

  • Important grazing species - identify the 25 most important species of perennial plant to grazing systems globally - categorize them by biome (e.g. Miombo forest, oak savannah, north american great plains etc.); create a template for presenting information relevant to herdsman on each pant species - create stub articles about each species using information from wikipedia and grazing science handbooks.
  • Important crop species - identify the 25 most important food crops globally - create a template for presenting information relevant to farmers on each pant species - create stub articles about each species using information from wikipedia and other sources.
  • Important pest species - identify the 25 most important pest species globally - create a template for presenting information relevant to farmers and herdsmen on each pant species - create stub articles about each species using information from wikipedia and other sources.
  • Holistic Management - write on Holistic grazing, the Savory Institute and Alan Savory, link to his TED talk and his books.
  • Incubation - summary of available science and best practices for hatching eggs on small and medium scales - what effect does temperature and humidity have on success rate? How tightly do these conditions need to be held? - advantages and disadvantages to allowing a hen to hatch her own eggs,
  • Permaculture guilds - review permaculture material and scientific material to try to tease apart “hype” from potentially useful interactions between species in Permaculture “guilds”. Devise a way to rate the effectiveness of a guild - collect anecdotes and testimonials from the web and other sources about people using guilds to good effect.

Getting started

Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.