There are nearly 7 billion people in the world, and all of us need to eat. Can this number of people be fed by organic agriculture? Without fossil-fuel mined phosphates, without fossil-fuel fixed nitrogen? Without fossil-fuel driven tractors to till, and trucks to take the food to people?
Maybe. We don't know. It would take a massive, worldwide reorganization of human society to achieve this.
what is organic farming?....Organic farming works in harmony with nature rather than against it. This involves using techniques to achieve good crop yields without harming the natural environment or the people who live and work in it. Organic farming does not mean going ‘back’ to traditional methods. Many of the farming methods used in the past are still useful today. Organic farming takes the best of these and combines them with modern scientific knowledge.Organic farmers do not leave their farms to be taken over by nature; they use all the knowledge, techniques and materials available to work with nature. In this way the farmer creates a healthy balance between nature and farming, where crops and animals can grow and thrive.To be a successful organic farmer, the farmer must not see every insect as a pest, every plant out of place as a weed and the solution to every problem in an artificial chemical spray. The aim is not to eradicate all pests and weeds, but to keep them down to an acceptable level and make the most of the benefits that they may provide..
Organic farming provides long-term benefits to people and the environment.
Organic farming aims to:
• increase long-term soil fertility.
• control pests and diseases without harming the environment.
• ensure that water stays clean and safe.
• use resources which the farmer already has, so the farmer needs less
money to buy farm inputs.
• produce nutritious food, feed for animals and high quality crops to sell at a
good price.
Modern, intensive agriculture causes many problems, including the following:
• Artificial fertilisers and herbicides are easily washed from the soil and
pollute rivers, lakes and water courses.
• The prolonged use of artificial fertilisers results in soils with a low organic
matter content which is easily eroded by wind and rain.
• Dependency on fertilisers. Greater amounts are needed every year to
produce the same yields of crops.
• Artificial pesticides can stay in the soil for a long time and enter the food
chain where they build up in the bodies of animals and humans, causing
health problems.
• Artificial chemicals destroy soil micro-organisms resulting in poor soil
structure and aeration and decreasing nutrient availability.
Remember that when God created the universe, the earth and nature, it was complete and balanced. Man interfered with thisbalance in the environment and ecosystem for the desire to producemore of their selected and preferred crops, in the process destroying the equilibrium and disrupting natural laws and life...No doubt by using agricultural chemicals such as fertilizer, pesticides and so on, we solved our short term goal, but left a dangerous legacy for future generations. The soil became poisoned and the plants that grew in it were weak, low yielding and prone to disease. Marginal farmers despairing at successive crop failure, committed suicide by consuming the once "magical" pesticides.
Organic fertilizers:
Organic manure covers manure made from cattle dung, excreta of other animals, rural and urban composts, other animal wastes, crop residues and green manures. This is how these wastes are useful in improving the fertility and productivity of soils:
1)Cattle dung leads to soil porosity, excreta from other animals betters the water stable aggregates.
2)Rural and urban compost improves the water holding capacity of the soil.
3)Other animal wastes betters the infiltration rate.
4)Crop residues and green manures improve hydraulic conductivity.
Organic seeds:The key to the quality of seed lies in the DNA - the genetic content of the seed, and only secondarily from the conditions of production, harvest, drying, and storage. Without good DNA, no matter what the conditions of production, the seed will not be worthwhile to plant. wild-collected seed is not considered to be "organic". If a grower wants to produce an organic crop of a medicinal plant, and that seed is available as certified organic, under current rules she must use the organic seed, and cannot use the wild-collected seed. Wild populations of medicinal plants may vary considerably in the specific medicinal properties, or in adaptation to specific local conditions, and several organic growers have expressed concern that some medicinal crops in cultivation are in serious need of the greater genetic diversity that would come from an infusion of wild genes from wild plants. Under current rules, plants grown from wild seed could never enter the organic market.
the reason i wrote this article is to adress this question i face at almost every farmers marker...what is organic farming....i hope iv answered most of your quries if not do drop me a line ...and if i like your comment/question....iv got organic vegetable seedlings up for grabs...
