The difference between quantity and quality is often staggering and is very important. To illustrate this I have chosen the subject of agriculture.
As we can see in the picture on the left monoagriculture takes up a huge amount of space and produces a large quantity of low quality foods. Since they often use pesticides or GMO's the the nurishing elements in the foods they grow often diminish or even disapear. They are also put in special conditions so that they can be exported all across the world, (for exemple frozen) which also harms the goods.
On the contrary in the second picture we can see an organic farm that uses the permaculture method. It consists in growing lots of different kinds of food in the same space instead of just one species. The crop is 100% natural and has suffered no human alterations. It's quantity of nutrients, vitamins etc is much higher than in the first scenario, they therefore are of a much better quality.
This second document illustrates perfectly the difference between mono and permaculture. As we can see it explains that monoculture is more quantity based and is used on a national or global scale whereas permaculture is quality based and works on a smaller, locan or community orientated scale.
Of course permaculture is not only better agricultural system for the quality of the goods but also for the ecological impact. Indeed permaculture is much more sustainable and minimizes waste and carbon footprint. Seeing as lots of different fruits or vegetables are grown in the same space and at the same time this is an extremely effective agricultural technique. Monoculture requires much more time to produce just a single kind of fruit, vegetable or cereal, and much more space and energy.
I particularely like this document because it clearly shows the differences between monoculture and permaculture in all areas. It shows that although monoculture may produce a higher quantity of food, permaculture is a much more effective sustainable and healthy way of agriculture.
Therefore to conclude, permaculture is superior in technical, environmental and organisational quality, whereas monoculture is superior only in the quantity of food produced.
