s4ag skills-for-agriculture

Practitioner-grounded decision-making skills for farmers, growers, and land stewards — packaged as Claude Code skills.

| | Skills | |---|---| | Philosophy & Systems | /s4ag-regenerative/s4ag-permaculture/s4ag-biodynamic/s4ag-syntropic/s4ag-korean-natural-farming/s4ag-indigenous | | Land & Ecology | /s4ag-soil/s4ag-land-reading/s4ag-water/s4ag-earthworks/s4ag-carbon/s4ag-climate-adaptation/s4ag-biodiversity | | Living Systems | /s4ag-composting/s4ag-mycology/s4ag-pests/s4ag-wildcrafting | | Plants | /s4ag-vegetables/s4ag-herbs/s4ag-grains/s4ag-microgreens/s4ag-seeds/s4ag-propagation/s4ag-small-fruits/s4ag-orchards/s4ag-agroforestry | | Animals | /s4ag-livestock/s4ag-poultry/s4ag-bees/s4ag-pigs/s4ag-goats/s4ag-aquaculture | | Growing Environments | /s4ag-polytunnels/s4ag-controlled-environment | | Farm Operations | /s4ag-seasons/s4ag-storage/s4ag-fencing | | Business & Market | /s4ag-finance/s4ag-direct-marketing/s4ag-market/s4ag-certification/s4ag-agritourism/s4ag-succession | | People & Community | /s4ag-labour/s4ag-community/s4ag-education |

Each skill is a structured guidance methodology: a defined domain, a set of tools, a concrete output. Not generic advice — expert practitioner knowledge encoded as a procedure.

Lineage: Elaine Ingham · Gabe Brown · Allan Savory · David Montgomery · Charles Massy · Christine Jones · William Albrecht · P.A. Yeomans · Bill Mollison · David Holmgren · Ernst Götsch · Joel Salatin · Eliot Coleman · Jean-Martin Fortier · Charles Dowding · Michael Phillips · Robin Wall Kimmerer · Masanobu Fukuoka · Vandana Shiva · Wes Jackson · Paul Stamets · Rudolf Steiner · Cho Han-kyu

Install

npx @human-avatar/skills-for-agriculture

Run again to update. Restart Claude Code when done.

Use

/s4ag

Describe your situation. Routes to the right skill automatically. You don't need to know which skill fits — that's the point.

Every skill pauses before producing output: confirms the assumptions it's about to build on — your climate, your system, your constraints — and asks you to verify before acting. A plan built on a wrong assumption wastes time and money in the field.

Use cases

Soil problems — /s4ag-soil to interpret a test and build an amendment plan, /s4ag-composting to make biological fertility on-farm, /s4ag-regenerative to understand the transition from conventional.

Pest and disease — /s4ag-pests for the IPM ladder from identification to conventional-as-last-resort, with biological and cultural controls at every level.

Planning the year — /s4ag-seasons for rotation, succession planting, and a 12-month crop calendar that keeps living roots in the ground.

Transitioning to regenerative — /s4ag-regenerative for the full arc: principles, assessment, entry points, transition sequencing, economics, and the traps that end transitions early.

Livestock — /s4ag-livestock for holistic planned grazing, /s4ag-poultry for pastured systems, /s4ag-fencing for the rotational infrastructure.

Starting a market garden — /s4ag-vegetables for intensive bed systems, /s4ag-market for farmers market operations, /s4ag-direct-marketing for box schemes and restaurant relationships.

Trees and agroforestry — /s4ag-orchards for fruit trees, /s4ag-agroforestry for silvopasture and food forests, /s4ag-syntropic for succession-based design.

Finance and viability — /s4ag-finance for enterprise gross margins and cash flow, /s4ag-certification for whether organic or regenerative certification pencils out.

Philosophy & Systems

/s4ag-regenerative

Regenerative agriculture principles, assessment, ecosystem design, and transition from conventional. Covers the five principles (disturbance, living roots, cover, diversity, animal integration), farm assessment, entry points, and the full transition pathway — sequencing, economics, and the most common failure modes.

/s4ag-permaculture

Zone and sector analysis, guild design, pattern language, and the three ethics applied to farm planning. Design methodology for integrating perennial systems, stacking functions, and reducing external inputs.

/s4ag-biodynamic

The nine preparations (500–508), the biodynamic calendar, and the farm-as-organism concept. Practical methodology for Demeter-aligned practice alongside the evidence base.

/s4ag-syntropic

Ernst Götsch's succession-based agroforestry. Stratification, succession stage design, disturbance as a management tool, and placenta species for accelerating recovery on degraded land.

/s4ag-korean-natural-farming

Fermented inputs, IMO cultivation (1–4), FPJ, OHN, LAB, and WCA. Low-cost on-farm fertility from indigenous microorganisms. Cost analysis vs. conventional purchased inputs.

/s4ag-indigenous

Traditional ecological knowledge as a decision framework. Honorable harvest principles, polyculture traditions, prescribed burning, and relationship-based land stewardship.

Land & Ecology

/s4ag-soil

Soil test interpretation (Albrecht/Ingham lens), amendment planning, cover crop selection, compaction diagnosis, and season-by-season fertility planning. The biological foundation of every other skill.

/s4ag-land-reading

Structured field observation methodology. Landform and drainage reading, vegetation as ecological indicator, soil profile assessment without lab tests, and translating observations into a potential map.

/s4ag-water

Irrigation selection and scheduling, drought planning, drainage diagnosis, water harvesting, and water quality. Yeomans keyline framework integrated throughout.

/s4ag-earthworks

On-contour swale and berm design, pond siting and sizing, keyline design, and access tracks that manage water rather than channel it.

/s4ag-carbon

Soil carbon sequestration mechanisms (liquid carbon pathway), management practices ranked by carbon impact, measurement approaches, and voluntary carbon market eligibility.

/s4ag-climate-adaptation

Farm-specific climate risk assessment, water resilience, diversity as a hedge against variability, infrastructure adaptation, and climate-adapted variety selection.

/s4ag-biodiversity

Habitat audit, hedgerow design, wildflower strips, woodland integration, wildlife corridors, and simple monitoring protocols.

Living Systems

/s4ag-composting

Hot composting, vermicomposting, Bokashi, and aerated compost tea (Ingham protocol). Fungal vs. bacterial compost — making the right type for the crop and system.

/s4ag-mycology

Mushroom cultivation on logs, straw, and substrate. Species selection by climate and market. Fungal networks in the farm ecosystem — protecting mycorrhizae from fungicide and tillage.

/s4ag-pests

IPM ladder from identification to conventional-as-last-resort. Threshold assessment, cultural controls, biological controls (12 agents with conditions), organic interventions with honest biology-impact notes, and conventional options with a mandatory sustainable-alternative field.

/s4ag-wildcrafting

Wild plant identification protocol, sustainable harvest rates, edge management for wildcrafting yield, value-adding, and the Honorable Harvest applied to foraging.

Plants

/s4ag-vegetables

Intensive bed systems (Coleman, Fortier, Dowding). Variety selection, spacing, succession planning, growing calendar, problem diagnosis, and no-dig methodology.

/s4ag-herbs

Culinary and medicinal herb cultivation, drying and processing for quality, perennial herb design, and growing for medicinal potency vs. culinary use.

/s4ag-grains

Small-scale grain production (wheat, oats, rye, spelt, buckwheat). Heritage and landrace varieties, establishment, small-scale harvest, and rotation planning.

/s4ag-microgreens

Variety selection, system design (soil vs. soilless, tray sizing, lighting), seeding and growing, and troubleshooting mould, uneven germination, and pest issues.

/s4ag-seeds

Isolation distances, selection criteria, wet and dry processing, storage conditions, and species-specific guides for the most commonly saved vegetables.

/s4ag-propagation

Softwood, semi-ripe, and hardwood cuttings; division; layering; whip-and-tongue and chip-budding grafting. Mycorrhizal inoculation at the propagation stage.

/s4ag-small-fruits

Variety selection, establishment, training and pruning systems, mycorrhizal-dependent nutrition (blueberries, strawberries), and IPM for berries and brambles.

/s4ag-orchards

Species, variety, and rootstock matching. Establishment, open-centre and central-leader pruning, orchard nutrition, and the holistic orchard approach (Phillips) for ecological pest management.

/s4ag-agroforestry

System selection (silvopasture, alley cropping, food forest, windbreaks, riparian buffers), species selection, design methodology, and integration with other farm enterprises.

Animals

/s4ag-livestock

Holistic Planned Grazing (Savory framework). Grazing planning, stocking rate calculation, recovery monitoring, multi-species integration, and fencing for rotation.

/s4ag-poultry

System selection (fixed vs. mobile, layers vs. meat birds). Egg mobile and pastured broiler systems, housing, health management, feed integration, and chicken tractors in market gardens.

/s4ag-bees

Seasonal management calendar, inspection methodology, swarm management, integrated Varroa management (organic through conventional), disease diagnosis, and natural beekeeping approaches.

/s4ag-pigs

Woodland and pasture systems, rotational management, nutrition from pasture and supplement, housing, and health basics. Rooting as a land preparation tool.

/s4ag-goats

Dairy, meat, fibre, and land-clearing systems. Milking and breeding, FAMACHA worm management, targeted grazing for scrub control, and browsing vs. grazing ecology.

/s4ag-aquaculture

Small-scale fish, crayfish, and aquaponics. System selection, water quality management, on-farm feed production, and integrating aquaculture effluent into farm fertility.

Growing Environments

/s4ag-polytunnels

Crop planning and rotation under cover, ventilation and humidity management, soil biology maintenance in covered systems, enclosed-environment pest and disease, and season extension.

/s4ag-controlled-environment

CEA system selection (DWC, NFT, ebb-and-flow, aquaponics), nutrient management, lighting (LED spectrum, DLI targets), crop selection, and economics of CEA vs. soil growing.

Farm Operations

/s4ag-seasons

12-month crop calendar (Northern Hemisphere temperate, adjustable by zone), 4-bed rotation design, livestock seasonal tasks calendar, succession planning formula with worked examples, and annual review template.

/s4ag-storage

Root cellar design and management, grain storage (moisture targets, pest control), cold storage requirements by produce type, and post-harvest handling to reduce losses.

/s4ag-fencing

Permanent vs. temporary system selection, electric fencing (energiser sizing, earthing, troubleshooting), rotational paddock infrastructure, predator exclusion, and maintenance.

Business & Market

/s4ag-finance

Enterprise gross margin calculation, whole-farm cash flow, break-even analysis, grants and loans navigation, and the financial profile of transitioning to regenerative (managing the income dip in years 2–4).

/s4ag-direct-marketing

CSA/box scheme design and pricing, farm shop setup, online sales platforms, and building restaurant and wholesale relationships.

/s4ag-market

Farmers market selection, stall display and presentation, pricing strategy, product mix decisions, customer conversation, market-day operations, and performance tracking (Fortier sellout-rate methodology).

/s4ag-certification

Cost-benefit analysis for organic, biodynamic (Demeter), and regenerative (ROC, Soil Association) certification. Transition period requirements, participatory guarantee schemes as a lower-cost alternative.

/s4ag-agritourism

Enterprise design, planning permission and compliance, pricing agritourism experiences, marketing, and managing guests on a working farm.

/s4ag-succession

Succession planning for retiring farmers, land access pathways for new entrants, tenure models (community land trusts, share farming, farm business tenancy), and family transition management.

People & Community

/s4ag-labour

Hiring and job design, wwoofer and volunteer management, apprenticeship design, employment law basics (minimum wage, accommodation deductions), and farm culture.

/s4ag-community

CSA community building (beyond a box scheme customer base), food hub participation, cooperative structures, and community land ownership models.

/s4ag-education

School farm visit design, workshop and course design, establishing the farm as a learning institution, and translating farm knowledge to online content.