The Keyline System has changed only slightly from the original books by P.A.Yeomans. This explains current thinking.

Allan J. Yeomans copywrite November 1990 (and these thoughts are still current May 2007)

Keyline is an overall agricultural concept for the design and management of agricultural lands

. Keyline planning is based on the natural topography of the land. It uses the form and shape of the land to determine the layout and position of farm dams, irrigation areas, roads, fences, farm buildings and tree lines. The topographical concepts are even included and taught in town planning courses.

Keyline is an agricultural system in which great emphasis is placed on the processes designed to increase substantially the fertility of soils. Great emphasis is placed on the creation of a soil environment that rapidly accelerates soil biological activity. This, in consequence, vastly increases the total organic matter content within the soil.

Keyline lay outs of farm and grazing lands are designed to store run off water on the farm itself to effectively spread the often irregular rainfall patterns so common to Australia, for the enhancement of rural production.

Keyline lay outs and practices are designed on the basis that farming systems that improve the fertility of soils and food production from these soils must be profitable to the man who farms the land.

Keyline concepts are totally against the current artificial and dangerous practice of concentrating run off water into manufactured disposal drains designed to remove, as rapidly as possible, runoff water off a rural landscape in this, the driest of the world's continents. This practice can and often does create more disastrous erosion than it was ever expected to cure.

Keyline considers as totally erroneous the belief that soil 2 creation is an infinitely slow process and soil once "lost" is lost for ever.

Keyline practices, once implemented, effectively eliminates soil erosion, even as a possibility. The battle against soil erosion and the concept of "soil conservation" as a significant issue becomes totally meaningless.

The name Keyline was given to the particular contour that runs through the point, in a headwater valley where the slope change occurs. This contour is the primary contour in Keyline planning. It delineates the transition areas above which all "contour" cultivation must proceed up the slope and below which all contour cultivation must proceed down the slope.

The result of such "Keyline Pattern" cultivation is that an overall drift of surface runoff water occurs which prevents runoff concentration and possible subsequent erosion occurring. It increases the time of contact between the rain and the earth, and turns storms into steady soaking rain.

The Keyline need not be on the individual farm. It is only necessary to know weather the contour to be parallel is above or below the relevant Keyline and "drift" in either direction can be determined and implemented. By paralleling up or paralleling down from this unique contour drift is always away from the erosion sensitive valley floor.

All cultivation in Keyline is done using an adaptation of the "forked stick " plow. Our original cultivation experiments used a variety of earth moving rippers until the Texas built Graham Hoehme "chisel plow" was located by us and obtained.

The inversion of soil layers is quite contrary to Keyline concepts and the Graham Hoehme "chisel plow" was redesigned, developed and promoted. The acceptance and almost universal adoption of the chisel plow 3 has been one of the most noticeable changes in Australian agriculture this century.

The chisel plow required more refinement as it still was not the ideal implement being virtually incapable of deep tillage without excessive soil profile disturbance.

The current Yeomans Plow achieves probably the ultimate in Keyline cultivation requirements, being able to operate well into the subsoil without the usual dilution of the shallow top soil by mixing. A concept that is now receiving wide spread acceptance by both farmers and other manufactures.

This new plow has allowed for much accelerated Keyline soil development progression by eliminating the need for the time consuming yearly increase in cultivating depth, necessary with the chisel plow

  Keyline layouts for rainwater collection, storage and irrigation has many advocates especially following the experiments on Keyline techniques by Sydney University and promoted as "water harvesting". The universities lack, in not also realising the importance of fertile soil, as a most economical water storage medium, limited their study and restricted its acceptance.

The refinement of Keyline techniques following the original books has seen a greater emphasis on determining the most economical planning sequences for large water storage sites and rapid fertility build ups. Larger farm dams have tended to prove more viable. It is now a simple matter to determine a complete farm or 4 property design in sometimes a matter of a few hours. A development program and layout for a property, with a sequence of operations, based on relative economic viability of the individual stages and including the location of tree lines, road ways, water storage dams, fence lines and houses is now easy and totally logical.

Keyline designs are based on the topography and geology of the land. Individual properties unfortunately are shaped by an historic location of survey lines that generally bear no relationship whatever to land form.

Idealised Keyline systems are often severely hampered by the restraints of farm boundaries. A major requirement of Keyline designs is then to utilise the land form and topography within the restraints imposed by these boundaries.

Co-operation between farmers to there mutual benefit would eliminate these design restraints and make for huge economic savings and create viability for water harvesting and storage systems that otherwise possibly could not exist. This coupled with correct cultivation and soil development techniques to enhance biological activity would vastly increase the fertility of all our soils, to all our benefit.