In this episode of the podcast we are joined by Dr. Robert Dixon of the Imprint Foundation. Dr. Dixon is the inventor of the land imprint machine, a roller with triangle impressions designed to improve the water infiltration capacity of the soil surface. Topics of discussion include the origins of the machine, costs of production and implementation, the results of imprinting, obstacles to technological transfer, land imprinting in the Middle East, and land imprinting as an economic development strategy.
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2 responses to “Episode #114: Land Imprinting”
Frank, this is exceptional. Dixon is in the short segment at the end of Bill Mollison’s “Global Gardener” dryland episode (from 1991). For me the most beautiful moment in that series was when Mollison looks out across a barren, encrusted desert and then turns around to see Dixon’s mature imprinted grassland.
I am wondering if a hand-tool or animal-driven version of an imprinter has been made (could be very tedious to use of course), and if Alan Savory and the Holistic Management folks know about imprinting, and what they think about it.
It seems to simulate the “high-impact” aspect of timed grazing. If brittle landscapes are debilitated by rest, it’s hard to believe Dixon has only needed to imprint once for long-term success. I did not find any mention of imprinting in the HRM green book. A cycle of imprinting, manuring, and mowing/mulching might adequately simulate timed grazing — you lose the advantages of raising valuable livestock, but it may be a technique for bringing areas into production where overhead costs or personal or political issues rule out livestock. You would never have to stare at an encrusted desert and say “man, if only I could get 1000 cattle on there”… you really just need a tractor and a bunch of angle iron to make the initial impact.
It also strikes me that imprinting may be keyline at the one-meter scale. Keyline is done, perhaps, on the 100-meter scale. I’m sure there are edge-increasing, water-capturing techniques for every power of ten.
I haven’t seen or heard of any HM folks using land imprinting, and my sense is that most HM practitioners are not fully aware of this machine.
Brittle landscapes are not necessarily only debilitated by total rest, it depends on what is the cause of debilitation. However, I think land imprinting would be much more synergistic with planned grazing, especially on grasslands, because grazing is so critical to the ecosystem processes.