NEWSLETTERS & POSTS

RETROFIT CONSTRUCTED CONSERVATION BUNDS AND TERRACES WITH VETIVER HEDGEROWS

Retrofit thousands of kilometers of constructed bunds, terraces, fanya juus BY planting one row of vetiver along the upslope foot (toe) of bunds or on the outer edge of terraces and these structures will start showing the benefits of vetiver hedgerows. The cost is minimal the benefits are huge. Vetiver’s deep roots (3+ meters) stabilize soil structures, preventing erosion and structural failure. The dense hedgerows filter sediment, slow runoff, and enhance water infiltration. Unlike aging earthworks that deteriorate, vetiver strengthens over time, reduces maintenance costs, and creates living barriers that adapt to terrain while providing long-term erosion control, land productivity and many other benefits not obvious to the casual user.… Read the rest “RETROFIT CONSTRUCTED CONSERVATION BUNDS AND TERRACES WITH VETIVER HEDGEROWS”
Dick Grimshaw
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Newsletter (NL2026-03) – Mapping the Vetiver System Worldwide, Vetiver México’s ‘Vetiver for the Earth’ Competition, Paseo Ambiental Orégano (Venezuela) Celebrates 5th Anniversary, Farmer innovation/Solomon Islands, Community-first vetiver model for landslide-prone hillsides, Slope stabilization and carbon capture

Mapping the Vetiver System Worldwide: A New Country-by-Country Evidence Table TVNI has compiled a comprehensive country-by-country evidence table documenting the global reach of the Vetiver System. The table currently covers 120 countries and territories — each assessed across six evidence categories: published research, documented field projects, government/institutional adoption, supplier presence, network presence, and recent activity (post-2015). How It Was Built. The table was generated through a systematic research process using AI-assisted search across TVNI’s own archives (vetiver.org,… Read the rest “Newsletter (NL2026-03) – Mapping the Vetiver System Worldwide, Vetiver México’s ‘Vetiver for the Earth’ Competition, Paseo Ambiental Orégano (Venezuela) Celebrates 5th Anniversary, Farmer innovation/Solomon Islands, Community-first vetiver model for landslide-prone hillsides, Slope stabilization and carbon capture”
Jim Smyle
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Labels: agriculture, climate change, climate change adaptation, community, design standards, disaster mitigation, erosion, Establishment, infrastructure, land restoration, Promotion & Dissemination, slope stabilization, upscaling vetiver, Vetiver research, waterTagged , , , , , , , ,

Newsletter (NL2026-02) — A belated February newsletter & Global Water Bankruptcy, Patricia Tello Reátegui, Potential Funding Opportunities for VS Practitioners, VS Academic Visibility, Slope steepness & rooting, and others….

Our February Newsletter is coming out quite late for technical reasons: we have just migrated the TVNI website from its long time host, CSS Communications (of Bellingham, Washington) to a new host and so were “down” during the transfer.  As we migrate to the new hosting provider, we wish to extend our deepest gratitude to Ray Poorman for his extraordinary generosity and steadfast support of The Vetiver Network International. Ray has, for almost 30 years, generously provided free hosting and technical support for www.vetiver.org… Read the rest “Newsletter (NL2026-02) — A belated February newsletter & Global Water Bankruptcy, Patricia Tello Reátegui, Potential Funding Opportunities for VS Practitioners, VS Academic Visibility, Slope steepness & rooting, and others….”
Jim Smyle
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Labels: design standards, erosion, Establishment, Hydrology, land restoration, management, Phytoremediation, slope stabilization, Vetiver research, wastewater, water, water qualityTagged , , , , , , , ,

WORLD WATER DAY. AND THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER IN THE GROUND.

Not because it isn’t raining. Because we have spent seventy years building systems designed to move rainfall off the land as fast as possible — graded terraces, drainage channels, sealed surfaces — and into rivers that carry it to the sea. This is not a US problem. It is a planetary one. The United States has 45 million acres of terraced cropland engineered to drain. Brazil’s soy belt is laced with contour banks — curvas de nível — that intercept runoff and discharge it to waterways.… Read the rest “WORLD WATER DAY. AND THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER IN THE GROUND.”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: agriculture, climate change, waterTagged , , , , , ,

Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) for Engineered Slopes: A Fully Integrated Bio Hydro Mechanical Stabilization System

“Use geofabrics only when risk demands it — vetiver does the heavy lifting.” “Why pay 5 times  more for geofabrics when vetiver does the real work?” “Vetiver isn’t vegetation — it’s bio‑engineering that stops slope failure.” Across the world’s highways, rail corridors, mine sites, and urban embankments, slope failures continue to drain budgets and threaten infrastructure. What the new Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) module makes unmistakably clear is that most of these failures are hydrological, not mechanical.… Read the rest “Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) for Engineered Slopes: A Fully Integrated Bio Hydro Mechanical Stabilization System”
Dick Grimshaw
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Why the Vetiver System Is a Breakthrough in Biological Pest Control

Across the tropics and subtropics, farmers face a tightening squeeze: rising pest pressure, declining soil fertility, unpredictable rainfall, and the escalating cost of chemical inputs. What the new Vetiver System biological‑control module makes clear is that a single, elegant solution—vetiver hedgerows—can address all of these challenges at once. This is not a collection of techniques. It is a unified, field‑tested system that transforms vetiver from a conservation plant into ecological infrastructure for pest suppression, soil and water conservation, orchard stability, and climate resilience.… Read the rest “Why the Vetiver System Is a Breakthrough in Biological Pest Control”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: agriculture, climate changeTagged , , , , , ,

Thirty Years of The China Vetiver Network: Achievements, Impact, and Lessons for the Future

Liyu Xu, China Vetiver Network Coordinator, and his team from The National Institute of Soils (Nanjing), as well as many others, notably Xia Hanping (South China Institute of Botany), Lu Zhong-Xian (Institute of Plant Protection and Microbiology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou) and Feng Ziyuan (Guangzhou City Vetiver Grass Industry Science and Technology Co) have demonstrated a lasting commitment to Vetiver Grass Technology that has built a strong base for its further scaling, and we thank them all for it.… Read the rest “Thirty Years of The China Vetiver Network: Achievements, Impact, and Lessons for the Future”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: agriculture, erosion, infrastructure, Network News, pollution, slope stabilizationTagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Hedge That Changes Everything: How Vetiver Creates a Living Shield for Farms

Across the tropics, farmers are fighting a battle on two fronts: declining soil health and rising pest pressure. For decades, the response has been predictable—more chemicals, deeper tillage, and higher costs. But a quiet revolution is spreading across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, built not on machines or pesticides, but on a simple, perennial grass planted in a line. Vetiver hedgerows are transforming farms into resilient, biologically balanced systems, and the science behind this shift is now clearer than ever.… Read the rest “The Hedge That Changes Everything: How Vetiver Creates a Living Shield for Farms”
Dick Grimshaw
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Vetiver as Vetiver Forage: What the Evidence Really Shows, a Drought Resilient Feed

Across the tropics, livestock producers face a recurring challenge: how to maintain animals through long dry seasons, drought cycles, and periods when conventional fodder collapses. Vetiver grass, long celebrated for its engineering and environmental benefits, is increasingly recognized as a strategic forage reserve—not because it outperforms improved fodder species, but because it survives when everything else fails. Nutritionally, vetiver is a moderate‑quality tropical roughage. Crude protein typically ranges from 6–10%, with digestibility values comparable to hardy, low‑input grasses used in drylands.… Read the rest “Vetiver as Vetiver Forage: What the Evidence Really Shows, a Drought Resilient Feed”
Dick Grimshaw
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From Sixty Plants to System‑Wide Protection: The Vetiver Standard

For nearly 40 years, the Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) has been recognized worldwide for its unmatched performance in soil conservation, slope stabilization, hydrological protection, and watershed rehabilitation. But one of its most powerful biological functions—its ability to act as a dead‑end trap crop for stemborers in rice, maize, and sorghum systems—has remained largely hidden in plain sight. Today, with evidence accumulated from India, China, East Africa, and Southeast Asia, TVNI is releasing a consolidated global standard that finally brings this capability to the forefront of agricultural practice.… Read the rest “From Sixty Plants to System‑Wide Protection: The Vetiver Standard”
Dick Grimshaw
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