This page is about Ecosystem-Processes - the building blocks of a farm business...

In the big picture it is the four ecosystem-processes that make up the one and only ecosystem that surrounds our planet. Global ecosystem health is therefore unmanageable by any one individual, organisation or government, but depends on the local decisions and actions of billions of land managers. These people are individuals such as yourself, their families, corporations, NGO's and other similar organisations, and of course, governments of all complexions.

Everyone is making decisions and taking actions to achieve their own goals. It is the only way it can happen, and you could say it is a necessary form of chaos! It is also the greatest opportunity every land manager could dream about, because the actions of others do not decide the biological outcomes on your land. You, the land manager, do that!

Effective ecosystem processes are the key to abundant farm biodiversity and to farmer prosperity
Managing the ecosystem on your land means managing four different ecosystem processes simultaneously. They are known as:

Water cycle
Mineral cycle
Community dynamics
Solar energy flow

By managing these four processes you manipulate the biodiversity on your land, and the wealth you generate from it.

The basic premise is that:

Increasing biodiversity = increasing wealth

Decreasing biodiversity = decreasing wealth

The pyramid as metaphor for ecosystem function

Fortunately in the natural world of a farm, all four processes tend to rise (or fall) together, because essentially they are all the one thing interacting. We have broken them apart here to study how they work. Think of them like four windows looking into one room.

All four processes are always in a dynamic, constantly changing state. They are never steady! Depending on how you go about it, sometimes the effectiveness of the ecosystem processes on your land are improving (i.e. the pyramid is getting bigger), leading to increased biodiversity and eventual wealth for the people managing the land.

At other times the processes are becoming less effective (the pyramid is getting smaller). Decreasing farm ecosystem effectiveness decreases biodiversity, and very soon many of the symptoms of biodiversity loss begin to appear.

Unfortunately, right at this vulnerable time I find that far too many farmers are persuaded that the products and services being marketed by well intentioned (but seriously misguided) people will solve their perceived problems. But as they are treating symptoms and not root causes, the expense is almost always futile in the long run.

Poor ecosystem function causes biodversity loss.
It is commonly thought that biodiversity loss causes poor ecosystem effectiveness, but this is not the case. It is the reverse. If you think about it, it is impossible to maintain high biodiversity in a distressed ecosystem.

The good news is that it is also impossible to maintain low biodiversity in a situation of high ecosystem effectiveness!

"Tools" are used to manipulate the ecosystem processes on a piece of land
The dynamic nature of ecosystem processes are brought about by applying tools to the soil surface. These tools subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) change the functioning of each of the ecosystem processes.