Crop productivity of Central European Permaculture is within the range of organic and conventional agriculture.

Permaculture is a promising framework to design and manage sustainable food production systems. However, there is still a lack of scientific evidence especially on the crop productivity of permaculture systems. In this first study on permaculture yield, we collected yield data of eleven permaculture sites, that work according to organic guidelines, in Germany and surrounding countries. We used the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) as index to compare mixed cropping systems of permaculture sites with average monoculture yield data of total and organic German agriculture. An LER of 1 indicates equal yields of the compared polyculture and monoculture. Mean permaculture LER as compared to total German agriculture was 0.80 ± 0.27 and 1.44 ± 0.52 as compared to German organic agriculture, both with no significant difference to 1. Our results imply, that yields of permaculture sites are comparable to predominant industrial agriculture. Provided that future studies will support our findings, permaculture could combine soil, biodiversity and climate protection with agricultural productivity. Most importantly, the variables that determine the difference in crop productivity amoung permaculture sites need to be identified and evaluated.