So WTF is Permaculture ya damn Hippy!

I have been wracking my brain on how to explain the difference between modern USDA agriculture and permaculture. I knew I could tell someone it is not a fad, religion, cult, army, or pseudo-science. However, that quintessential difference between permaculture farms and modern farms was hard to explain till today when I found someone who summed it up beautifully.

From all that I have learned, I believe it sums up this way:

Modern Industrial Agriculture is nothing more than Hydroponics with Dead Soil as the growing medium. Crops do not tolerate adversity well.

Permaculture builds the soil and nutrients, making them easily available when needed. Plants can tolerate adversity better.

Modern Industrial Agriculture tends to grow Successive Monocultures. Chances of complete crop loss and complete financial loss are high when adversity strikes because you are all in and usually financed your expenses for the year.

Permaculture, the majority of the land is planted in polyculture. Rare to lose all of our crops/produce, so rare you would lose the farm from losing one crop, given you did not have to bet the farm.

Modern Industrial Agriculture focuses technology on creating solutions to issues they create, and kill everything and everyone (including you) in the process. (molested seeds, chemicals for fertilizer, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, fruiting, flowering, ripening, irradiation, pasteurization, homogenization... They are raping and pillaging the farmer, turning all food into a commodity crap, killing the land and bankrupting the farmer at the same time. You have to give them credit for going a good job.

Permaculture focuses technology on better ways to reduce work and get better produce. It looks for multiple uses for everything. If I can not harvest something, livestock can.

So Modern Industrial Agriculture gives you the chance at all or none for the price of your soul and all the wealth of you have.
Permaculture gives you an opportunity to build multiple crop productions over time, reducing risk and saving souls and wealth. -Dr. Temp

That sums it up for me. However Permaculture itself is more then just farming. Its about being practical.