The objective of any garden, project, or program is to obtain a yield. It might be a physical yield, such as homegrown tomatoes from the garden, or something less tangible, such as increased knowledge, stronger community bonds, or improved personal well-being. Any endeavor will feel unfulfilling or pointless, and participants less likely to continue with it, if there is no meaningful yield obtained. After all, the whole point of permaculture is to meet our needs in a sustainable, even regenerative manner, so that future generations can continue to have their needs met.
The last principle, Catch and Store Energy, was about gathering resources as they become available to build up a store of natural capital for future use when resources may be scarce later. Obtain a Yield helps us strike a balance, realizing that we must turn some of those resources into food for today, and not save everything for tomorrow.
You Can’t Work on an Empty Stomach
This proverb gets to the heart of the principle, Obtain a Yield. We must feed ourselves, environments must sustain themselves, and every organism within must have access to energy. If we fail to yield what we need, the system can’t continue to function. Whether in our gardens, communities, or businesses, we need to make sure that the systems we design are generating enough yield to sustain themselves and the people they serve.
Expanding Our View of Yield
A yield is easy to define in a garden, but it’s beneficial to broaden our view of yield. Yields don’t just come in the form of food or material goods. In permaculture, we consider a variety of yields:
Ecological Yields
- Soil fertility
- Increased biodiversity
- Water retention and improved watershed management
- Carbon sequestration
Social Yields
- Strengthened community connections
- Knowledge sharing and skill development
- Improved well-being and mental health
Economic Yields
- Reduced household or business expenses
- Opportunities for income generation (e.g., surplus produce, educational services)
- Long-term financial savings through sustainable design
By diversifying the types of yields we seek, we create resilient, multifunctional systems that serve multiple needs at once. The more ways a system can provide, the more sustainable it will be.
Designing for Yield
Integrate
The best yields come from a system that is well integrated, meaning that all the parts work together, supporting and building off of each other. Refer to the principle, Integrate Rather than Segregate.
Think of a well-integrated garden and household system. Kitchen scraps go to feed worms in a compost system. The resulting compost is put back into the garden to feed the soil. To make it even stronger, add a third element: chickens. Kitchen scraps feed the chickens. The chicken poop, along with the scraps they don’t eat, are composted to give back to the soil, which in turn grows more food for the household. Chickens also eat garden pests such as slugs, grasshoppers, and other bugs, and provide eggs and meat.
Build Connections
Mollison’s Principle of Relative Location comes into play here, which emphasizes the connections between elements over the elements themselves.
Placing elements within a system where they can support each other makes it easier to obtain a yield. For instance, planting a mulberry tree near the chicken run so that unharvested fruits fall to the ground for the chickens to enjoy. Also, locating a garden close to a water source. Or, planting nitrogen-fixing legumes near heavy feeders like corn to improve soil fertility.
Stack Functions
In permaculture, we aim to design for multiple yields, meaning that every element in a system serves more than one function. In the example above, chickens provide multiple functions for a garden and household system. Another example is that a fruit tree provides food, habitat for pollinators, shade for other plants, and its roots help stabilize the soil.
We also build in redundancy by including multiple elements to serve each function. For example, many flowering plants provide diverse and continuous food for pollinators. And, multiple sources and methods of water management–rain water collection, mulching to conserve water, planting drought tolerant plants–improve resilience in times of drought.
Feedback Loops and Measuring Yield
Measuring yields can help us better understand our systems and improve on them. Some yields are easy to quantify—a certain weight of produce harvested. But many other yields, such as improved soil health, community connections, or gained knowledge, can be harder to measure, but are just as important.
When a system isn’t yielding what we expected, it’s an opportunity to reassess.
Nature provides us with feedback all the time. A thriving plant is an indicator of a healthy ecosystem. A struggling plant signals that something is wrong. If this plant is growing in your garden, then it’s your job to dig deeper and discover what specifically needs to change to help the plant thrive. Or perhaps choose a different plant that is better suited for your garden’s conditions.
Just as plants give us feedback through their growth, every system we interact with offers clues about its health and productivity.
Employing some other permaculture principles here can help us tap into what the system is telling us and act accordingly:
Observe and Interact helps us obtain a yield by encouraging us to pay close attention to our systems, recognize patterns, and make informed adjustments that improve productivity.
Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback ensures that we respond to the signals our systems give us, making necessary changes to correct imbalances and create sustainable, long-term yields.
Measuring yield isn’t just about tracking outputs—it’s about recognizing what’s working, adapting where needed, and designing systems that sustain themselves over time.
Permaculture Ethics and Obtaining a Yield
When we obtain a yield in permaculture, we do so in a way that benefits people, the planet, and promotes equity.
Earth Care: Every yield we produce should be done in a way that nurtures the land and keeps it healthy for future generations.
People Care: The yields we create should also serve people’s needs. That could mean growing food, strengthening our sense of community, or developing the knowledge and skills needed to live more sustainably.
Fair Share: When we generate yields that exceed our needs, we share the surplus with others—whether that’s through gifting or fairly exchanging what we don’t need. The goal is to avoid hoarding resources or letting them go to waste.
In essence, obtaining a yield isn’t just about taking from the land or a system. It’s about balancing the needs of all elements in that system, providing for our needs without compromising the needs of future generations, and sharing the abundance with others.
Conclusion
Obtaining a yield in permaculture is about creating balanced, resilient systems that meet our needs without compromising the future. Yields come in many forms—food, knowledge, community—and each one adds value to the whole system. By designing systems that integrate multiple functions, measuring progress, and learning from feedback, we ensure sustainability and abundance.
It’s also about giving back—caring for the land, supporting communities, and sharing excess. As you design your systems, think about how each yield can benefit people, the planet, and future generations.
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