As of May 31, we were 41% of the way through our survey campaign (May 6 to July 6) and had over 927 respondents. This level of response is due to your credibility with your communities and your willingness to help share the survey.
Thank you from all of us.
We wanted to share a couple of early quotes from the data. We’re seeing a live pulse check of the permaculture community’s thoughts on applying this work professionally.
“Permaculture without reciprocity is just intelligent gardening. The third ethic, fair share, should be embedded in the very structure of the learning journey, not treated as a nice intention at the end. If I had to sum it up in two words: time and relationships. Time to observe, to make mistakes, to mature. And relationships, with a place, with mentors, with a community of practice, that hold beyond the single course. Everything else, I believe, follows from there.”
“I have 26 years of experience in Permaculture and I’m still a bit fuzzy on the diploma program. Is it for me? How would it benefit me? I work in academia right now, and a diploma from an unrecognized entity doesn’t hold the weight I wish it did. I can grant PDCs, but am sending folks out into the world with energy, passion, and knowledge…with nowhere to practice their permaculture skills. They need to apprentice – beyond just a couple visits of mentoring – to really get their hands dirty beyond the guided coursework activities….”
“I would have a mentor that I could discuss ideas with to figure out how I want to apply what I learned. There would be local opportunities to practice and build confidence or an apprenticeship where real problems are being solved.”
Global Professional Permaculture Pathways Survey 2026 Respondents
For the majority of us – those who wanted to respond but life and land got in the way. This second wave can add upwards of 20-30% of total responses. Your community has people in it who will be glad they participated – they just need to see it again, or like most of us, be reminded. So lets get the last wave if its not too late!
New imagery is now available in the image folder – several partners shared personal photos and we’ve made those images available to all of you. (And if you’d like a personalized photo for your sharing of the survey please send me a photo or two!)
- Javan K. Bernakevitch (Regenerative Living & All Points Design)
- Roslynn McCann (Sustainable Communities Professor, Utah State University)
- Jason Gerhardt (Permaculture Institute, Inc. & Real Earth Design)