With your help, we will transform a 200 sqm abandoned greenhouse in Noyemberyan into the first Armenian Permaculture Teaching Centre!

Why is Permaculture important for Armenia?

Agriculture in Armenia is not sustainable and is depleting the soil and water reserves of the country.

Depleted soils and water shortages result in many farmers being over-worked, while still living their entire lives in poverty. They resort to the use of artificial fertilizers and other chemicals to maintain their harvest.

Through permaculture, Armenians can design and maintain agriculturally productive lands which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. However, most people in Armenia have never heard of permaculture. As a result, communities like Noyemberyan are not self-sufficient in terms of essentials, such as food, even though they have all the resources needed to produce the quantity, quality, and diversity of food needed to support the entire population year-round.

But we are changing this!

In the border town of Noyemberyan, there was an abandoned greenhouse structure next to the town's high school. This is what it looked like before we started the project.

After learning about Permaculture during the Climate Uturn Program, the 10th-grade students of the school decided to transform this abandoned structure into a permaculture-designed greenhouse, which will serve as Armenia's first Permaculture Teaching Center!

The teaching greenhouse will be the center for knowledge on permaculture to restore land and increase the income of people across Noyemberyan and the surrounding villages. There, locals can take a short course (Armenian Permaculture Design Course) which will give them solutions against degraded land, and promote sustainability, local food security, and community resilience. The greenhouse team will also provide ongoing advice and permaculture design services, as well as grow and sell the crops, seeds, and seedlings produced.

We already have the permaculture design of the greenhouse, which the students have developed with the help of permaculture expert Zach Mermel, who they invited (from the US) to the project site last month through Farmer to Farmer Armenia.

Donate to our fundraiser!

Help us raise enough money to transform the greenhouse this year!

About Our Team

This project was initiated by the 10th-grade students of Noyemberyan High School, with the guidance and support of the Climate Uturn team. Since then, the project team has expanded and students and teachers across all grades at the school are participating in its implementation.

Օrganizations and companies that are supporting our initiative

• ISSD Armenia is providing compost bins to set up a school waste composting system. 
• Farmer to Farmer Armenia brought Permaculture expert Zach Mermel to Armenia so he could help with our initiative!

• Smart Farms Spitak is providing compost worms and helping to set up the vermiculture system. Their experts are also having regular online and in-person seminars and practical lessons with the students to show them how to grow seedlings and care for compost worms. They have also gifted hundreds of seedlings to give the students a head start for which we are extremely thankful!

Thanks to all this support the students had their first harvest this month! The fresh harvests are sold to the school community and the profit is being invested in more seeds to increase the diversity of future crops.

Want to follow our progress more closely?

The students now manage a Facebook group, which is the first Armenian Facebook group about Permaculture!

You can join our group here.

Donate to our fundraiser!

Help us raise enough money to transform the greenhouse this year!

Theis project supports:

Sustainable Development Goals

The Future Armenian goals