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Organic Farming
What does it mean to farm organically? The most common answer to this question is usually that it has something to do with “not using chemicals or pesticides”. Ask the same question to a farmer that farms using organic farming principles and the most common answer has something to do with feeding the living soil, protecting diversity on the farm and marketing locally to get a fair price. Too often organic farming has been judged and found lacking by those who have never visited a successful organic farm or taken the time to explore the principles and practices of organic farming. (can be highlighted as a link to the article by the same title). More recently the term “organic” may be seen as a way for industrial of conventional farms to increase income without investing in the principles of sustainability including a fair living wage for all farm workers. Educational efforts around organic farming are an important part of developing ecological soil management and long term food and farming sustainability.
In a broad sense, organic farming is about moving from industrial farming based on mass producing food at the lowest apparent cost to ecological and sustainable farming based on protecting our environment including the soil and biological diversity. Part of the history of the organic movement is an awareness of the true cost of farming system impact on our environment, the farmers in the field, and the community that depends on the farm. The energy cost of fertilizer, chemicals and food transportation, the health effects of pesticides on farmers and the inequity involved with allowing farm workers to survive as less than full citizens are examples of issues that must all be considered.
In a more specific sense, organic farming is about cultivating the soil food web and the multitude of organisms – as many as 6 to 7 billion in a cup of soil – the same number of humans on the planet – to provide plenty of microbe manure and available nutrients. Mined minerals, not processed to increase solubility, are used to increase soil fertility including rock phosphate, gypsum, potassium sulfate and greensand. Plant and animal derived nutrient sources such as soybean meal and bone meal have been allowed although the widespread use of genetically modified crops (GMO’s) and animal health issues due to confined animal feeding opertions (CAFO’s) have severely limited options suitable for organic certification.
Certification methods are also a key part of organic farming. Public organizations doing on farm inspections are still at the heart of certification. With the introduction of the National Organic Program, there is one set of standards as a compromise that provides much needed standardization but in some cases a weaker set of rules. Organic certifying agencies are registered or approved by the USDA. The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) continues to annually provide a list acceptable materials and products including natural materials that are not allowed, synthetic materials that are allowed.
The processing and marketing of certified organic produce continues to evolve in a variety of areas. The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) and the Organic Trade Association (OTA) are examples of advocate groups that are helping to develop a fair and comprehensive organic production and marketing system.
Providing adequate soil fertility for crop yields that can be economically and environmentally viable and provide food for our current population is definitely possible for large scale organic crop production. Perhaps more challenging are the methods to manage weeds as competitors to the cash crop and insects and diseases. In both cases, organic methods of management start with the soil and building soil health. Additional articles and ideas covering soil management as well as weed and pest management are provide in detail at the web site www.attra.org. Cultivating crop diversity and many other types of diversity in the landscape and on the farm is a key principle.
Take the time to find an organic farmer or an organic certifying agency in your area and learn more. Organic farming is often addressed as a niche markets. It is much more than that and within the past and current experience of organic farmers is much of the information we need for ecological soil management.
