What are the various methods for organic farming?

Question

which is the cheapest method to do organic farming?

Answer 1

GARDENS/MINI-FARMS NETWORK

USA: TX,  MS, FL, CA,  AR,  NM;  Mexico, Rep. Dominicana, Côté d’Ivoire, Nigeria,

Nicaragua, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti, England, India, Uzbekistan

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Workshops in organic, no-till, permanent bed gardening, mini-farming and mini-ranching,

using bucket drip irrigation, worldwide, in English & Español

Proven Practices for Profitable Farming

These are based on the internet, US & international agriculture magazines, experiences teaching agriculture in many countries, research data and farmer experiences in those countries and a demonstration garden.  They are ecologically sustainable, environmentally responsible, socially just and economically viable.  There is unlimited, documented proof.  There are 90,000,000 no-till hectares worldwide.

Fukaoka Farm, Japan, has been no-till [rice, small grains, vegetables] for 70 years.  At the time of my visits, an Indian farmer has been no-till [vegetables] for 5 years, a Malawi farmer has been no-till [vegetables] on permanent beds for 25 years and a Honduras farmer has been no-till [vegetables & fruit] on permanent beds on the contour (73° slope] for 8 years.  Ruth Stout [USA] had a no-till garden for 30 years and 7,000 people visited her garden.  

No technique yet devised by man has been anywhere near as effective at halting soil erosion and making food production truly sustainable as 0-tillage (Baker)



1. Restore the soil to its natural health.  Contamination:  inorganic pesticides, insecticides & fertilizers

2. Maintain the healthy soil:  Healthy soil produces healthy crops with highest yields and prevents most disease, pest, weed and erosion problems.

3. Increase the soil’s organic matter every year.

4. Little or no external inputs [It is not necessary to buy anything, from anybody.  

5. Leave crop residue on top of soil. No burning.  You are burning up fertilizer.  Do not plow it into the soil.

6. Plant green manure/cover crops to increase the soil organic matter.  Seeds are available in every country.  

7. Plant the new crop in the crop residue by opening up a row or a place for the seed.

8. Plant every field every year [no fallow land]

9. 0-tillage: no plowing, no digging, no cultivating.  No hard physical labor required so children and the elderly can farm easily.  After two or three years the yields can double while reducing the labor by half as compared to traditional farming.  One farmer can farm ten acres alone using hand tools only [Honduras]

10. Permanent beds.  They were used 2000 BC in Guatemala, Mexico and many other countries.  15-25% of the land is in paths and that saves 15-25% of the seed, water and labor but yields will be higher.  Mark off the land in beds.  1½-2 meters wide and as long as the field or as you prefer.  Leave ½ meter between the beds.

11. Permanent paths  [walking] Paths can be, more or less, ½ meter wide between beds.  

12. Hand tools: machete, weed cutter, seeding hoe.  Local blacksmith should make them.

13. Soil always covered.  Never leave the soil bare.  

14. No compost making.  Use the organic matter for mulch.  If there is an excess, pile it up and use later.

15. Bucket drip irrigation should be used to produce food during the dry season and in areas of low rainfall:  Imported bucket drip kits are US$15.  A bucket drip line can be made locally from poly tubing [US$3, Nicaragua]. One will irrigate a row of crops 33 meters long using only 20 liters of water per day. Water can be from a stream, pond or well.  A drip kit returns $20 per month to the farmer [FAO study].

Ken Hargesheimer  [e-mail]

When Soil is Plowed

Dr. Elaine Ingham, describes an undisturbed grassland—where a wide diversity of plants grow, their roots mingling with a wide diversity of soil organisms—and how it changes when it is plowed.

A typical teaspoon of native grassland soil contains between 600 million and 800 million individual bacteria that are members of perhaps 10,000 species.  Several miles of fungi are in that teaspoon of soil, as well as 10,000 individual protozoa.  There are 20 to 30 beneficial nematodes from as many as 100 species. Root-feeding nematodes are quite scarce in truly healthy soils.  They are present, but in numbers so low that it is rare to find them.

After only one plowing, a few species of bacteria and fungi disappear because the food they need is no longer put back in the system.  But for the most part, all the suppressive organisms, all the nutrient cyclers, all the decomposers, all the soil organisms that rebuild good soil structure are still present and trying to do their jobs.

But tillage continues to deplete soil organic matter and kill fungi. The larger predators are crushed, their homes destroyed.  The bacteria go through a bloom and blow off huge amounts of that savings-account organic matter.  With continued tillage, the "policemen" (organisms) that compete with and inhibit disease are lost.  The "architects" that build soil aggregates are lost.  So are the "engineers"—the larger organisms that design and form the larger pores in soil.  The predators that keep bacteria, fungi, and root-feeding organisms in check are lost.  Disease suppression declines, soil structure erodes, and water infiltration decreases because mineral crusts form.  Dr. Elaine Ingham, BioCycle, December 1998.  (From ATTRA News, July 06)

Answer 2

Your three questions are basically the same.  As to costs the main thing is your labor.  Organic farming is very labor intensive.  Other costs are cheaper than in conventional farming, but will require a lot of planning and work to obtain your materials.

Enhancing soil health is the cornerstone of organic farming. A variety of methods are employed, including crop rotation, green manure, cover cropping, application of compost, and mulching.

Organic pest control involves the cumulative effect of many techniques, including, allowing for an acceptable level of pest damage, encouraging or even introducing beneficial organisms, careful crop selection and crop rotation, and mechanical controls such as row covers and traps.  Effective organic pest control requires a thorough understanding of pest life cycles and interactions.

Weeds are controlled mechanically and through the use of mulches.

Animals in organic farming are allowed free ranging, non crowded conditions.  Animal health depends upon naturally healthy conditions and not antibiotic use.

This answer just barely touches what you need to know about organic farming.

You could start by reading these articles, then follow their references to other articles.

Answer 3

Organic farming methods combine scientific knowledge and modern technology with traditional farming practices based on thousands of years of agriculture. The distinguishing principle is an avoidance of synthetic inputs, such as manufactured fertilizers and pesticides, and for this reason, organic methods are easiest to describe by contrasting them with conventional, agrichemical-based methods.

In general, organic methods rely on naturally occurring biological processes, which often take place over extended periods of time, and a holistic approach, while chemical-based farming focuses on immediate, isolated effects and reductionist strategies. In conventional systems, technology—hybrid seed, synthetic chemicals, high-volume irrigation, mechanization—is used to regulate local conditions. Beyond the strictly technical aspects, the philosophy, day-to-day activities and required skill sets are quite different.

for the cheapest way is to use cow dunk (manure)