The Law of the Minimum

There is an often forgotten rule in gardening which in turn can be applied to life in general. As so often one man made it popular, and it’s by his name Liebig that we know it; but it was a botanist who saw the wisdom and his name was Karl Sprengel. Put simply it is the fact that a plant’s potential to thrive isn’t governed by the total resources available to it. Rather it’s the scarcest resource that will become the limiting factor.

With a plant this can be a trace element. It may be nitrogen and the plant may not produce the chlorophyll it needs. It might be the potassium and so we would see the plant fail due to weak growth and poor roots. Even when we have provided every nutrient and mineral the plant requires it can still fail if the water is scarce or the soil alkaline when it requires acidic. For some plants it can even be the absence of another species. Some require fungus in the soil to help process nutrients. Others require a specific pollinator if they’re to produce seed. If this requirement isn’t met, or there is a reduction in it then ultimately the plant will fail to meet it’s full potential. This is the law of the minimum.

The same, I believe, is true for communities and individuals. When designing ways to improve and support we must look hard, keeping in mind this principle. It’s easy to see the surface needs. The lack of food can be met at a food bank and a need for literacy can be met with a class; but beneath that there are things lacking or completely missing which have led an individual to where they are.

In my work I have seen great changes made by meeting people where they stand and simply talking with them; and I keep talking to them, sometimes for months. In talking I hear their fears, their hardships, their joys, and their triumphs but in all of it I’m listening for where the challenges truly are.

As a case study there was a man who needed food. He had been sanctioned for not meeting his quota of applications. The job centre called him “lazy” and he felt stupid, frustrated, and angry for being labelled “lazy”. Had the person behind the desk talked more they would have found out that he was depressed because of where he was, he struggled to get out of bed and face another day like every other one since his redundancy. A day with only the hunt to find employment ahead of him. A day when cheap food was used as a filler and there was no joy in eating. A day when he couldn’t afford to be with his friends and join in. It was the depression which was the cause of his supposed laziness not a desire to stay where he was. He saw his limiting factor as a lack of money and he saw the cause of that being, rightfully, depressed.

At the heart of all his worries and woes was a different limiting factor to what he himself had identified. He was limited by his loneliness.  In the end we worked together to find ways for him to reengage with his community. Admittedly not as he had previously but they were still meaningful and meant that he began to build self worth and resilience. It took him another eight months to find work but he now had a community around him that reminded him he was worth the fight. He found his limiting factor and when it was met he blossomed.

This principle is at the heart of everything that the Gitigan Project does. We can’t find macro solutions which can be applied across large communities; but in individual lives and in small communities we can and do. That principle is then carried outward by those we help. Rather than seek the quick solution the people we work with understand the value of the small things which can make big differences. The quiet word of encouragement, the sitting down with a neighbour as support while they make a phone call, and most importantly the sharing of their lived experience as allies.

The law of the minimum may have come from caring for plants but it works equally well in supporting people too.