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Introduction to Organic Farming

The recent passage of the National Organic Program Rules Bill, coupled with growing consumer support for organic foods, have made organic farming an increasingly viable alternative for many US Farmers. In addition, there has been renewed awareness of organic agriculture on the part of public interest groups, marketing organizations, and agricultural researchers. This Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) website is a good reference site for those interested in organic production in agriculture.

Pay a visit to Western Unified Dairymen organization. If you are looking for fuel and gasoline for your farm machinery and equipment a gas bank is what the farmer needs to save money dealing with the Amercian farmers high fuel needs.

Farmers and agricultural firms looking for fuel oil and low-price gasoline for their fuel intensive farm equipment may go to first gas bank to save fuel money and meet their energy needs.

"Organic farming is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. agriculture market during the last decade. USDA estimates that the value of retail sales of organic foods in the last year of the decade was about $6 billion. The number of organic farmers is increasing by about 12 percent per year and now stands at about 14,000 nationwide, most of them small-scale producers. According to a recent USDA study, certified organic cropland more than doubled during a 5-year time period. Two organic livestock sectors, eggs and dairy, grew even faster."

The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), enacted under the US Farm Bill, served to establish uniform national standards for the production and handling of foods labeled as "organic." The Act authorized a new USDA National Organic Program (NOP) to set national standards for the production, handling, and processing of organically grown agricultural products. In addition, the Program oversees mandatory certification of organic production. The Act also established the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) which advised the Secretary of Agriculture in setting the standards upon which the NOP is based. Producers who meet standards set by the NOP may label their products as "USDA Certified Organic."

"The new organic produce standard offers a national definition for the term "organic." It details the farming methods, practices and substances that can be used in producing and handling organic crops and livestock, as well as processed products. It establishes clear organic labeling criteria, and specifically prohibits the use of genetic engineering methods, ionizing radiation, and sewage sludge for fertilization."

The NOSB defined "organic" as follows:
"Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances bio diversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony." 'Organic' is a labeling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole."

"Organic agriculture practices can not ensure farm direct products are completely free of residues; however, farming methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water." "Organic food handlers, processors and retailers adhere to standards to maintain integrity of organic farm agricultural products. The primary goal of organic agriculturals is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people."

The Basics

Some terms defy definition. "Sustainable agriculture" has become one of them. In such a quickly changing world, can anything be sustainable? What do we want to sustain? How can we implement such a nebulous goal? Is it too late? With the contradictions and questions have come a hard look at our present food production system and thoughtful evaluations of its future. If nothing else, the term "sustainable agriculture" has provided "talking points," a sense of direction, and an urgency, that has sparked much excitement and innovative thinking in the agricultural world.

The word "sustain," from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or maintain, implies long-term support or permanence. As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are "capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such systems... must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive, and environmentally sound."

"Sustainable agriculture" was addressed by Congress in the 1990 "Farm Bill" [Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (FACTA), Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1603 (Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1990) NAL Call # KF1692.A31 1990]. Under that law, "the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

• satisfy human food and fiber needs
• enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends
• make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls
• sustain the economic viability of farm operations
• enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole

Some Background

How have we come to reconsider our food and fiber production in terms of sustainability? What are the ecological, economic, social and philosophical issues that sustainable agriculture addresses?

The long-term viability of our current food production system is being questioned for many reasons. The news media regularly present us with the paradox of starvation amidst plenty-including pictures of hungry children juxtaposed with supermarket ads. Possible adverse environmental impacts of agriculture and increased incidence of foodborne illness also demand our attention. "Farm crises" seem to recur with regularity.

The prevailing agricultural system, variously called "conventional farming," "modern agriculture," or "industrial farming" has delivered tremendous gains in productivity and efficiency. Food production worldwide has risen in the past 50 years; the U.S. Department of Agriculture and The World Bank estimate from 70 percent to 90 percent of the recent increases in world food production are the result of conventional agriculture rather than greater acreage under cultivation. U.S. consumers have come to expect abundant and inexpensive food.

Conventional farming systems vary from farm to farm and from nation to nation. However, they share many characteristics: rapid technological innovation; large capital investments in order to apply production and management technology; large-scale farms; single crops/row crops grown continuously over many seasons; uniform high-yield hybrid crops; extensive use of pesticides, fertilizers, and external energy inputs; high labor efficiency; and dependency on agribusiness. In the case of livestock, most production comes from confined, concentrated systems.

Philosophical underpinnings of industrial agriculture include assumptions that:

1. nature is a competitor to be overcome
2. progress requires unending evolution of larger farms and depopulation of farm communities
3. progress is measured primarily by increased material consumption
4. efficiency is measured by looking at the bottom line
5. science is an unbiased enterprise driven by natural forces to produce social good

Significant negative consequences have come with the bounty associated with industrial farming. Concerns about contemporary agriculture are presented below. They are drawn from the resources compiled at the end of this chapter. While considering these concerns, keep the following in mind:

1. interactions between farming systems and soil, water, biota, and atmosphere are complex--we have much to learn about their dynamics and long term impacts
2. most environmental problems are intertwined with economic, social, and political forces external to agriculture
3. some problems are global in scope while others are experienced only locally
4. many of these problems are being addressed through conventional, as well as alternative, agricultural channels
5. the list is not complete
6. no order of importance is intended

Ecological Concerns

Agriculture profoundly affects many ecological systems. Negative effects of current practices include the following:

Decline in soil productivity can be due to wind and water erosion of exposed topsoil; soil compaction; loss of soil organic matter, water holding capacity, and biological activity; and salinization of soils and irrigation water in irrigated farming areas. Desertification due to overgrazing is a growing problem, especially in parts of Africa.

Agriculture is the largest single non-point source of water pollutants including sediments, salts, fertilizers (nitrates and phosphorus), pesticides, and manures. Pesticides from every chemical class have been detected in groundwater and are commonly found in groundwater beneath agricultural areas; they are widespread in the nation's surface waters. Eutrophication and "dead zones" due to nutrient runoff affect many rivers, lakes, and oceans. Reduced water quality impacts agricultural production, drinking water supplies, and fishery production.

Water scarcity in many places is due to overuse of surface and ground water for irrigation with little concern for the natural cycle that maintains stable water availability.

Other environmental ills include over 400 insects and mite pests and more than 70 fungal pathogens that have become resistant to one or more pesticides; stresses on pollinator and other beneficial species through pesticide use; loss of wetlands and wildlife habitat; and reduced genetic diversity due to reliance on genetic uniformity in most crops and livestock breeds.

Agriculture's link to global climate change is just beginning to be appreciated. Destruction of tropical forests and other native vegetation for agricultural production has a role in elevated levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Recent studies have found that soils may be sources or sinks for greenhouse gases.

Economic and Social Concerns

Economic and social problems associated with agriculture can not be separated from external economic and social pressures. As barriers to a sustainable and equitable food supply system, however, the problems may be described in the following way:

Economically, the U.S. agricultural sector includes a history of increasingly large federal expenditures and corresponding government involvement in planting and investment decisions; widening disparity among farmer incomes; and escalating concentration of agribusiness--industries involved with manufacture, processing, and distribution of farm products--into fewer and fewer hands. Market competition is limited.

Unfortunately, farmers have little overall control over farm commodity prices, which are often the result of natural price cycles (rather than only market fundamentals). Farm prices and crop production are also dependant on the seasons and weather to a high degree, something beyond the control of farmers.

Farmers tend to receive a smaller and smaller portion of consumer dollars spent on agricultural products. Economicss have led to a large reductiion in farm numbers, particularly small farms and farmers during the past few decades--more than 150,000 farms were lost during a recent decade. This contributes to the decline of rural farm communities and local farm produce marketing systems.

Economically, it's quite difficult for future farmers of America to enter the farm business today. Productive farmland has also been pressured by urban and suburban sprawl, over the last 30 plus years it's estimated more than 35 million acres of the nations farmland have been lost to land development.

Impacts on Human Health

Potential health hazards are tied to sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal production, and pesticide and nitrate contamination of water and food. Farm workers are poisoned in fields, toxic residues are found on foods, and certain human and animal diseases have developed resistance to currently used antibiotics.

Philosophical Considerations

Historically, farming played an important role in our development and identity as a nation. From strongly agrarian roots, we have evolved into a culture with few farmers. Less than two percent of Americans now produce food for all U.S. citizens. Can sustainable and equitable food production be established when most consumers have so little connection to the natural processes that produce their food? What intrinsically American values have changed and will change with the decline of rural life and farmland ownership?

World population continues to grow. According to recent United Nations population projections, the world population will grow from 5.7 billion in 1995 to 9.4 billion in 2050, 10.4 billion in 2100, and 10.8 billion by 2150, and will stabilize at slightly under 11 billion around 2200. The rate of population increase is especially high in many developing countries. In these countries, the population factor, combined with rapid industrialization, poverty, political instability, and large food imports and debt burden, make long-term food security especially urgent.

Finally, the challenge of defining and dealing with the problems associated with today's food production system is inherently laden with controversy and emotion. "It is unfortunate, but true, that many in the agriculture community view sustainable agriculture as a personal criticism, or an attack, on conventional agriculture of which they are justifiably proud. 'I guess that the main thing people get defensive about when you say sustainable,' explained one agent, 'is that it implies that what they've been doing is not sustainable

Low Input Agriculture:

Low input farming systems "seek to optimize the management and use of internal production inputs (i.e. on-farm resources)... and to minimize the use of production inputs (i.e. off-farm resources), such as purchased fertilizers and farm pesticides, wherever and whenever feasible and practicable, to lower production costs, to avoid pollution of surface and groundwater, to reduce pesticide residues in food, to reduce a farmer's overall risk, and to increase both short- and long-term farm profitability."

The term is "somewhat misleading and indeed unfortunate. For some it implied that farmers should starve their crops, let the weeds choke them out, and let insects clean up what was left. In fact, the term low-input referred to purchasing few off-farm inputs (usually fertilizers and pesticides), while increasing on-farm inputs (i.e. manures, cover crops, and especially management). Thus, a more accurate term would be different input or low external input rather than low-input."

Natural Farming

Natural Farming reflects the experiences and philosophy of Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. His books The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (Emmaus: Rodale Press, 1978. NAL Call # S604 F72) and The Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy (Tokyo; New York: Japan Publications, 1985. NAL Call # S605.5 F72 1987) describe what he calls "do-nothing farming" and a lifetime of nature study. "His farming method involves no tillage, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no weeding, no pruning, and remarkably little labor! He accomplishes all this (and high yields) by careful timing of his seeding and careful combinations of plants (polyculture). In short, he has brought the practical art of working with nature to a high level of refinement."

Nature Farming

Organic farms and farming grew out of the philosophy and methodology of Japanese philosophist, Mokicho Okada in mid-1940s. "The theory of Nature Farming, as Okada expounded it, rests on a belief in the universal life-giving powers that the elements of fire, water, and earth confer on the soil.. The planet's soil, created over a span of eons, has acquired life-sustaining properties, in accordance with the principle of the indivisibility of the spiritual and the physical realms, which in turn provide the life-force that enables plants to grow.

To utilize the inherent power of the soil is the underlying principle of Nature Farming." [Mokicho Okada Association, "The Fundamentals of MOA Nature Farming," Nature Farming and Its Practice. Agrilcultural practices focus on analyzing and building soil through composting, green manuring, mulch, and various other soil management techniques. Similar in many ways to organic farming, nature farming is most commonly practiced in the Pacific Rim countries of Asia and North America.

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