The Vetiver Network International

Category: agriculture

Newsletter – Vetiver Secrets, Soil Health, Wastewater, Forage (NL 2025-01)

The Secrets of Vetiver. As research is carried out on various attributes and applications of vetiver we are coming to learn how the plant functions and what it can do. A recent Chinese study “Reshaping the microenvironment and bacterial community…

Newsletter – The Vetiver System in 2024 (NL 2024-12)

The Vetiver System in 2024 As we come to the end of 2024 – which marked about 40 years since John Greenfield and Dick Grimshaw began to explore the use of Vetiver grass as an alternative to structural soil and…

Newsletter – Vetiver and Youth, Bio-engineering, Wastewater Treatment, Global Feedback (NL 2024-11)

This newsletter addresses Vetiver and youth, global outreach, feedback from users, and research news. Sharing experiences and information. The more this group and other vetiver users share their experiences the more people will use the technology. I see this happening…

Black Cotton Soils (Vertisols) and the Vetiver System

What follows is a reprint of a note by the late John Greenfield on conservation practices for black cotton soils (vertisols) – It should be an interest too many of you.   I was faced with the problems of managing…

Vetiver Grass Technology – Carbon Farming Management – Research – Global Outreach – Feedback (NL 2024-10)

CARBON FARMING FOR FARMERS – MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES “Soil organic matter is the elixir of life” . … Rattan Lal “A healthy soil should contain 2-4% Soil Organic Matter (SOM) half of which is Soil Organic Carbon.” The Potential of Regenerative…

The Broken Hydrological (Water) Cycle — and Feedback from Vetiver users (NL 2024-08)

The Broken Hydrological (Water) Cycle. Summer is always a rather slow time for exchanging vetiver information –  a time to relax and reflect.  I have been re-reading Charles Massy’s book “Call of the Reed Warbler” (available from e.Books.com). It makes…

Vetiver Roots as a temporary carbon sink, China Vetiver Network publications, Vetiver and Women, & Vetiver and Regenerative Ag – a bi-national program (NL-2024-07)

Vetiver Roots as a temporary carbon sink Source: Wilson, B., Daniel, H., and Baldock, J.A. 2022. Functional Links between Biomass Production and Decomposition of Vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides) Grass in Three Australian Soils. Plants 2022, 11(6), 778; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11060778 In the broader…

The Vetiver System – A Changing Perspective. (NL-2024-05/06)

The Vetiver System – A Changing Perspective When John Greenfield and I introduced vetiver grass hedgerows to Indian Watershed development projects in the 1980’s the objective was to replace poorly designed — high maintenance, high cost conservation structures (graded contour…

Mitigating heat and drought in Vietnam using Vetiver Grass

Ngô Đức Thọ is an engineer, and is the Coordinator for the Vietnam Vetiver Network and a TVNI farm advisor. He is also the founder and administrator of a very successful Facebook group — Vietnam Vetiver Farmers – that has…