P. A. Yeomans

Percival Alfred Yeomans was an Australian mining engineer, gold assayer and inventor, born in 1905 and died in 1984, who is known for the Keyline system of developing land and raising its fertility. His training in hydrology and equipment design shaped the approach. After the death of his brother-in-law in a grass fire he took over management of a large property in New South Wales, which he named Nevallan, and there developed improved cultivation methods and the equipment to carry them out. That work won him the Prince Philip Design Award Australia in 1974. Keyline design has since been taken up by farm owners in many countries, appears in the curriculum of sustainable agriculture courses and was an important influence on the development of permaculture. Yeomans wrote four books: The Keyline Plan, The Challenge of Landscape, Water for Every Farm and The City Forest.