Understanding Organic Farming Practices
Organic farming practices assure a sustainable method of agriculture that promotes a healthy and nutritious food source while protecting the environment. Organic farming practices is dissimilar from conventional farming methods mainly because it doesn’t employ chemical substances and it isn’t dependent on machinery. Here are a few examples of organic farming practices and explanations on how they are different from traditional farming methods.
In mainstream farming, soil fertility is increased by adding fertilizers. Meanwhile, organic farming practices improve soil fertility by putting organic matter to the land like mulch and compost. Like a fertilizer, this practice enriches nutrients in the land but it also has additional benefits as well. It buffers and neutralizes soil pH, improves soil structure, raises biological activity, enhances water capacity, decreases erosion, and reduces the water that is lost in evaporation.
Mainstream farming commonly uses heavy machinery in tilling the land.
On the other hand, organic farming practices favors minimum tillage equipment in preparing the land. Some examples of these are disks, harrows, spades, and chisel plows. Heavier equipment like moldboard plows, ganged plows, and rippers are only utilized for special situations only. Several organic farmers utilize a permanent bed system with the aid of lighter equipment that doesn’t disturb the whole field. Some organic farmers are even experimenting on a no-till system for particular crops. The reason for this is that disturbing the soil by using heavy machinery has many negative effects on the land which include compaction, causes poor drainage and air circulation, and provides a suitable environment for disease-carrying organisms.
Pest, disease, and weed management in conventional farming is managed using pesticides and herbicides. However, these procedures leave behind dangerous toxins in the crops and can pollute bodies of water. Organic farming practices endorse the use of plants/ natural immune systems to protect themselves from these issues, hence developing their nutrition is very essential. Releasing natural enemies of pests and using mechanical and physical devices are organic alternatives to pesticides.
On the other hand, flame, heat, or electrical control, manual hand weeding, livestock, mowing, crop rotation, and mulching are the methods that are used for controlling weeds.
