Organic Farming Practices and Techniques
Organic farming is the agricultural process of growing robust crops and rearing farm animals without using toxic chemicals such as pesticides, growth boosters, fertilizers, insecticides, and GMOs. Farmers achieve this by nourishing the soil with natural inputs and managing weeds through natural means such as biological controls and cultivation.
Organic agriculture advocates for the production and provision of food that has maximum nutritional value and minimum harm to humans and the environment. They restrict their inputs to only permitted substances. Study shows that as of 2008, an estimated 71,500,000 hectares (approx. 177,000,000 acres) of land worldwide were farmed organically. This is about 1.5% of the total world farmland.
There are certain practices applied by organic farmers to produce food in abundance without relying on synthetic chemical inputs. These practices involve managing the fields and accumulating organic matter and constantly improving the quality of the soil.
In this article, we will learn about weed management, crop rotation, and other organic farming techniques and practices. To find amazing food that comes from farms that practice organic farming, check out our site, Community Natural Foods.
Table of Contents
Farming Practices and Techniques
1. Crop Rotation
This involves cultivating the soil with crops from different families over a stipulated period of time. It is used as one way of improving the resilience of the soil and the farming environment to extremely adverse weather conditions and pests.
Since the crops grown are from different families and have different root structures, crop rotation helps build the soil organic matter fast. The diversity of the crop residues makes the soil very rich in nutrients. Besides, shifting cultivation controls pest and weed infestation because different species of crops are attacked by different pests and weeds. The different root structures also help control soil erosion.
Crop rotation protects the soil nutrients from depletion because the different families of crops boost the release of certain nutrients. In addition, crop rotation may include a fallow period after a certain period of time to give the soil room to accumulate nutrients. This technique, therefore, eliminates the application of synthetic fertilizer that is not allowed in organic farming. At the end of the day, the farmer produces quality food at a relatively lower cost.
2. Application of Animal Manure
Their application is a sustainable soil management practice that is used to enrich the soil with natural components from animals. These components can either be raw or composted. It can be a superb soil conditioner and a source of nutrients for the crops.