Marginal land traditions have been a productive source of techniques for environmental managers presently seeking to improve security of livelihood, sustainability, adaptability and resilience (Messerschmidt, 1990). Much modern agriculture has been researched and developed under the opposite of marginal conditions on research stations – where the soil is ideal, water supplies unproblematic and communications and labour availability are good – yet most of the world is much nearer to marginal conditions than this.