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Permaculture for ranchers

What permaculture is, how it connects to grazing, and who to learn from, starting with Andrew Millison's free videos and textbooks.

Permaculture is a design approach for land and the people who live on it. For a grazier, it gives words and tools for things many already do: put water first, plan by the shape of the land, and get several jobs out of every tree, fence and animal.

Start with Andrew Millison What permaculture is Permaculture and grazing Experts Free videos Paid courses Books References

Start here: Andrew Millison

Andrew Millison founded Oregon State University's Permaculture Design program and has taught in OSU's Department of Horticulture since 2009. The main focus of his 30-year career as a permaculture designer has been water management systems. His YouTube channel has over 100 million views, and in 2025 he founded the Earth Repair Fund, which uses his videos to crowdfund regenerative land projects.[11]

What permaculture is

David Holmgren defines permaculture as "consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for the provision of local needs."[1] He and Bill Mollison coined the word in the mid-1970s.[2]

It rests on three ethics: earth care, people care and fair share.[2] Holmgren organizes permaculture thinking under twelve design principles, starting with "observe and interact" and "catch and store energy."[2] Permaculture is best known for food systems and forest gardens,[3] but the same thinking scales up to whole farms and ranches.

One planning tool matters a lot on big acreage: the Scales of Permanence. They come from P.A. Yeomans, who developed Keyline Design, and rank what is hardest to change first: climate, landform, water, access, trees, structures, subdivision, then soil.[4] Darren Doherty's Regrarians Platform uses a similar order for farm planning, starting with climate, geography and water.[5] Our Regrarians ranch map guide walks through it.

How permaculture connects to grazing

Keyline

Australian rancher P.A. Yeomans developed keyline design in 1945 to control runoff on his rangeland. It uses the ridges and contours of a property to slow, spread and sink rainwater.[6] A keyline plan also places roads along contours and ridge lines and adds contour tree belts.[7] A Yeomans plow has a wide boot at the bottom of each shank that fractures and aerates subsoil while disturbing the surface very little.[6]

A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service case study shows it on rangeland. Two northern New Mexico ranches used drone mapping, a laser level, a moldboard plow and a Yeomans plow to cut swales and rip lines. In heavy rain, as much as 80% of the water landing on one ranch ran down its 3% slope instead of soaking in. Seeded cover crops grew in the rip lines in the first year. The case study says it takes at least five years of ongoing management in that dry climate to see measurable gains in vegetation and soil organic matter. The estimated project cost was $10,000.[6]

Swales

A swale is a trench dug along the contour with a berm, a raised wall of soil, on the downhill side. It slows water and spreads it to dry ground, and the berm acts as a steering bank during heavy rain. Swales set exactly on contour spread water evenly; set slightly off contour, they move water toward drier areas.[6] See Geoff Lawton's video on sizing and placing swales and Ben Falk's on how his swales handled Hurricane Irene below.

Silvopasture

The USDA National Agroforestry Center defines silvopasture as "the deliberate integration of trees and grazing livestock operations on the same land." One of its main advantages is reducing heat stress in livestock. Trees can supply fodder or mast such as acorns and honey locust pods, and forage cover protects the soil from erosion. Rotational grazing is key to keeping animals from damaging the trees.[8] The photo above shows a Florida silvopasture paddock.

Food forests and tree crops

A food forest stacks layers of plants the way a natural forest does: tall overstory trees, shorter understory trees, shrubs, vines, annuals, ground cover and root crops. Most plants are edible, medicinal or ornamental.[9] On a ranch, the same idea shows up at farm scale. Mark Shepard's New Forest Farm grows hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts and apples as its main woody crops, with pasture running through, on land that was once a worn-out row-crop farm.[10]

Permaculture terms get used loosely. Before you dig, talk with your local NRCS office or a designer who knows your soils and water rights. Earthworks may need permits.

Experts and organizations

Each name links to that person's or group's own site. We list people for what they teach, whether or not they have an affiliate program.

Free videos (23)

All free on YouTube. Titles and channels are the ones YouTube reports for each video. Short notes say what each covers; they are not reviews.

Andrew Millison

Other permaculture educators

More on keyline (including P.A. Yeomans' own films) is on the Videos page under "Water & keyline," and a shorter permaculture list is under Permaculture.

Paid courses

Prices as of Oct 28, 2026, read on each seller's page. Where a page didn't show a price, it says "See page." Prices change, so check before you sign up.

CourseFromPriceWhat it is
Permaculture Design Certificate Online (PDC and PDC PRO)Oregon State UniversitySee pageInstructor-led online PDC (10 weeks) or PDC PRO (20 weeks), developed by Andrew Millison and Marisha Auerbach; usually offered four times a year.
Introduction to Permaculture (on demand)Oregon State University$35A 5-hour self-paced online introduction.
Online Permaculture Design CertificateDiscover Permaculture (Geoff Lawton)$1,947Geoff Lawton's online PDC, including a Final Design Exercise.
Permaculture Design Certificate onlinePermaculture Education Institute (Morag Gamble)AU$1,997 (about US$1,403)Self-paced, 26 modules, lifetime access.
REX Online farm-planning programRegrariansUS$100/month (12-month minimum)Part of the Regrarians Planner membership; REX 17 runs Nov 2026 to Mar 2027.
Regenerative Agriculture MasterclassRichard PerkinsSee pageOnline course on designing and running a profitable small regenerative farm.
Practical Permaculture and Agroforestry for FarmersAcres U.S.A. (Mark Shepard)$199 new farmer, $249 professional, $399 groupOnline course on restoration agriculture.

Books

Free online

To buy or borrow

More on the Books page. Your library may have these too.

References

Every link was opened on October 28, 2026. Some government sites block automated link checkers; those pages were read in a browser-style fetch.

  1. Holmgren D. "Permaculture is defined as consciously designed landscapes…" Holmgren Design, quote page. Link
  2. Holmgren D. Essence of Permaculture. Permaculture Principles (free PDF). Link
  3. Millison A. Introduction to Permaculture, chapter "Food." Oregon State University open textbook. Link
  4. Millison A. Introduction to Permaculture, chapter "Scales of Permanence." Oregon State University open textbook. Link
  5. Regrarians Ltd. Home page and Regrarians Handbook chapter list. Link
  6. Alessi JR. "Restoring Rangelands in Northern New Mexico with Keyline Design." Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox (CART), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2024. Link
  7. Keyline Designs (Ken Yeomans). Home page. Link
  8. USDA National Agroforestry Center. Silvopasture. Link
  9. NCAT and USDA National Agroforestry Center. Urban Agroforestry Tipsheet: Food Forests and Beyond (PDF). Link
  10. New Forest Farm (Mark Shepard). Home page. Link
  11. Oregon State University Department of Horticulture. Directory: Andrew Millison. Link
  12. Oregon State University PACE. Permaculture Design Certificate Online. Link
  13. Discover Permaculture. About Geoff. Link
  14. Regrarians Ltd. Darren J Doherty CPAg AIA CV. Link
  15. Tagari Publications USA. Home page (About Bill). Link
  16. Sepp Holzer. Official website. Link
  17. Toby Hemenway. About Toby. Link
  18. Whole Systems Design. Home page. Link
  19. Permaculture Education Institute. Morag Gamble, founder & global permaculture ambassador. Link
  20. Zach Loeks. Official website. Link
  21. Richard Perkins. About. Link
  22. Richard Perkins. Making Small Farms Work (home page). Link
  23. Permaculture Institute of North America. About PINA. Link

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