Permaculture always made sense to me as being an efficient way to use land but I admittedly know jack all about agriculture except that "omnivore's dilemma" present grass farming as the healthiest, cleanest way to produce meat. I've only watch a lecture or two on permaculture by people promoting it. Any recommended reading on it? I'd guess it's have something to do with only so much soil nutrients available per sqaure foot?
I own Mollison in hardcover and two copies of Tobe Heminway so I'm not exactly a disinterested party... but the goal of Permaculture as put forth by Mollison is "reclaim the desert" and Heminway as "landscaping should provide food and be maintenance-free." Somehow that was interpreted by the preppers as "effortless free food through swale and tree trunks." It's kind of interesting - if you read a book like "Five acres and Independence" you're reading pretty much what the permaculture freaks think of as permaculture; it's basically human-scale agriculture. If you want to see what Mollison was talking about, look to the Negev. Most of Mollison's work was in the Australian outback.