Premodern peasant agriculture maintained soil fertility through integrated animal and crop husbandry.

Evidence

The use of plow agriculture integrated crop planting with the raising of cows, pigs, and horses. The number of animals kept corresponded to the number of acres to be manured to ensure fertile soil. In some areas, this interdependent animal and crop system incorporated the practice of carrying eroded soil back up the slopes to restore washed-out ground. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 256

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: The regenerative, balanced agricultural cycle parallels the sustainable tree-based systems in the trees-as-infrastructure essay as counterpoint to extractive practice.