Newsletters and Posts

Vetiver as a Keystone of Regenerative Agriculture in the Global South

Across the Global South, farmers are trying to rebuild soils, restore water cycles, and protect their crops from increasingly unpredictable weather. Yet they face the same stubborn barriers: severe erosion, degraded slopes, declining soil fertility, drought stress, and the rising cost of labor and inputs. Regenerative agriculture offers a pathway forward, but only if the land itself is stable enough to support it. This is where vetiver stands out—not as a niche conservation plant, but as a keystone species whose influence radiates across the entire farming system.… Read the rest “Vetiver as a Keystone of Regenerative Agriculture in the Global South”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Agriculture and farming

NEWSLETTER (NL2026-09): Bangladesh Moves Toward National Adoption of Vetiver

Bangladesh Moves Toward National Adoption of Vetiver The most significant vetiver news comes from Bangladesh, where vetiver (locally “binna” grass) has moved from pilot projects to the top of government. On August 6, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired a meeting at the Cabinet Division on using vetiver to protect riverbanks and canal embankments. Following encouraging results from pilot sites, he directed ministries and agencies to take the steps needed to use vetiver to protect rivers, canals, embankments, and transport infrastructure.… Read the rest “NEWSLETTER (NL2026-09): Bangladesh Moves Toward National Adoption of Vetiver”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Agriculture and farming, Erosion and soil and water conservation, Pollution and wastewater, Slopes and infrastructureTagged , , ,

Vetiver System — Guides and Design Standards: Module C Refreshed: Vetiver for Wastewater, Effluent. and Pollution Control

Use Them Now, and Help Us Make Them Standards. TVNI has completed a full review and revision of Module C of the Guides and Standards suite — the module that covers wastewater, effluent and pollution control. The module now runs to ten entries, and every one has been reviewed. The former Coffee Effluent and Oil Palm standards have been consolidated into a single plantation guide; the Tertiary Treatment and Flower Effluent standards have each been reissued at guide level; a new plain-language companion has been added for the people who actually operate the systems; the Landfill standard has been revised and reissued; and a Floating Islands guide has joined the module.… Read the rest “Vetiver System — Guides and Design Standards: Module C Refreshed: Vetiver for Wastewater, Effluent. and Pollution Control”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Pollution and wastewater, Slopes and infrastructure

A Poor Man’s Irrigation System – The Remarkable Hydraulics of a Vetiver Hedge

How a closed hedge spreads water, sorts sediment, and hands nitrogen and phosphorus to the crop below — and why a leaky one does the reverse I have described a properly functioning vetiver hedge as a poor man’s irrigation system for a long time. It was meant as a way of explaining to a farmer what the hedge does with rainfall: it takes water that would have run off in a few destructive channels and instead gives it back to the field, spread out, where the crop can use it.… Read the rest “A Poor Man’s Irrigation System – The Remarkable Hydraulics of a Vetiver Hedge”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Agriculture and farmingTagged ,

Two New Papers: Why Vetiver Spreads Through Channels, and How to Build a Vetiver Service Company

TVNI has issued two companion papers for discussion. “From Proof to Practice” asks why a technology this well proven has been adopted so slowly, and finds that the lag is structural rather than informational. “Establishing a Vetiver Service Company” takes the main conclusion of that diagnosis — that firms, not arguments, are what carry a technology — and sets out how to build one. This post continues a discussion started in my recent post dated September 4, 2026.… Read the rest “Two New Papers: Why Vetiver Spreads Through Channels, and How to Build a Vetiver Service Company”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Policy, upscaling and dissemination, The plant, planting and researchTagged

How the updated VGT design standards underwrite a two-wing vetiver service company

Updated Design Standards and Specifications What the revisions mean for your work The design standards, guides and specifications listed in the design spec table are there to support your work with vetiver — whether you use them as an individual, as a company, or as an organization providing vetiver services. The early versions of some of these standards were not tight designs backed by verified information. Since June of this year I have been revising them — not all of them yet, but a good many — and the revised versions are considerably tighter.… Read the rest “How the updated VGT design standards underwrite a two-wing vetiver service company”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Agriculture and farming, Policy, upscaling and dissemination, The plant, planting and research, Water and hydrology

NEWSLETTER (NL2026-08): ICV-8; TVNI Awards Announcement; UN International Year of the Woman Farmer; Vetiver Research News; UN Assessment: Vetiver First Among Malawi’s Erosion Controls

Dates for the 8th International Conference on Vetiver (ICV-8) Announced The following is an official announcement from the India Vetiver Foundation: The India Vetiver Foundation (IVF) is proud to announce that India will host the Eighth International Conference on Vetiver (ICV-8) in Chennai from 12 to 14 May 2027. The conference will bring together researchers, farmers, policymakers, and practitioners from across the world to advance the science, cultivation, and application of vetiver grass for soil and water conservation, environmental restoration, bioenergy, and rural livelihoods.… Read the rest “NEWSLETTER (NL2026-08): ICV-8; TVNI Awards Announcement; UN International Year of the Woman Farmer; Vetiver Research News; UN Assessment: Vetiver First Among Malawi’s Erosion Controls”
Jim Smyle
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Labels: Agriculture and farming, Community and livelihoods, Erosion and soil and water conservation, Network news and events, Policy, upscaling and dissemination, The plant, planting and researchTagged ,

The Hedge That Pays Twice – You May Want To Rethink Your Composting Strategy

The Hedge That Pays Twice How vetiver grass and its mulch cut farm costs and keep crops alive when the weather turns extreme Ask any farmer what has changed in the last decade and you will hear the same answer on every continent: the weather no longer behaves. Rains arrive late, then fall all at once. Dry spells stretch two weeks longer than they used to. Soil that took generations to build washes away in a single afternoon storm.… Read the rest “The Hedge That Pays Twice – You May Want To Rethink Your Composting Strategy”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Agriculture and farming, Climate change, Erosion and soil and water conservation, Guides, standards and publications, Water and hydrologyTagged , , , ,

Floating Islands That Work

Floating Islands That Work: TVNI’s Revised Vetiver Floating Island Specification v2.1 A Vetiver Floating Island is a simple idea: a buoyant raft planted with vetiver grass, anchored on a polluted pond or lagoon, with the plant’s dense vertical roots hanging one to two meters into the water. The root curtain takes up nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia, hosts the microbial biofilms that do much of the treatment work, traps sediment, shades out algae, and shelters fish. TVNI has just issued a fully revised design specification for these systems, and the revision changes some long-standing assumptions.… Read the rest “Floating Islands That Work”
Dick Grimshaw
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Labels: Community and livelihoods, Pollution and wastewater, Water and hydrologyTagged , , , , ,