What is Organic Farming?
While there’s no formal or universal definition for organic farming, it can be defined as one or more systems of production which don’t use synthetic fertilizers, man-made pesticides, herbicides, growth regulators, antibiotics, hormone stimulants and/or livestock feed additives to grow crops and raise animals.
Organic farming in and of itself differs greatly from conventional farming in a number of ways. Virtually all Organic Farmers who grow crops prefer to use renewable resources and recycling to return what most conventional farmers would consider waste, back to the soil as mother nature intended.
Use of crop rotation, animal manure, including green manure, legumes, natural minerals and biological pest controls are important elements used in modern day organic farming systems.
Use of crop rotation, animal manure, including green manure, legumes, natural minerals and biological pest controls are important elements used in modern day organic farming systems.
More importantly, Organic Farmer’s use numerous techniques to promote life within existing ecosystems and minimize pollution that occurs with virtually all conventional farming practices.
Organic Farmers who raise livestock will not use growth hormones, antibiotics or grains grown in soils loaded with synthetic fertilizers to their feed livestock.
By using natural foodstuffs and having a particular concern for animal welfare, Organic Farmer’s use the environment’s own systems to produce healthy livestock and return waste back into the soil.
Some important facts you should know about organic farming:
• Consumer demand for organically grown foods and livestock products are increasing. Sales of organic products are the fastest growing sector of agriculture. Sales continue to grow by over 20% annually and have shown an annual increase of at least 20% during the last 6 years.
• Over the next 10 years analysts are projecting total sales of organic products to exceed one hundred billion dollars worldwide. The vast majority of growth will in occur in the United States, Japan and throughout Europe. (Source – IFOAM, International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement)
• Large corporations such as McDonalds (with organic milk being sold in Sweden), Lufthansa, Swiss Air and Nestlé are positioning their products and services to cater to the organic consumer.
• Thousand of corporations are targeting consumers worldwide by adding organic foods to their product lines.
• Since October of 2002,organic farms must undergo an annual inspection by a licensed Certifier to determine if the they’re operating under specific guidelines to be certified as producing organic foods and livestock.
• Organic farming can actually save farmers money and give them significantly better returns on land and resource utilization as compared to conventional farming. Conventional farming uses more petroleum than any other industry and consumes almost 12% of the United States energy supply.
• It can take up to five years for a conventional farm to convert to organic farming.
• If a product falls under 100% Organic Certification, you can be assured that there are no GMOs (Genetically Modified Foods) in that product.
• It’s estimated that conventional farmers use over 300 different pesticides to grow (non-organic) foods which are sold in virtually all supermarkets worldwide.
• Organic Aquaculture worldwide is a booming business. Over 20% of all shellfish, an estimated 15 trillion metric tons are produced by Organic Aquaculture Farmers. China is the largest producer of these products.
(Source – www.mindfully.org)
Aside from these known facts and current statistics on organic farming, there are numerous inherent benefits that both the organic farmers and consumers of their products receive to improve on health, quality of life and longevity.
Use of crop rotation, animal manure, including green manure, legumes, natural minerals and biological pest controls are important elements used in modern day organic farming systems.
More importantly, Organic Farmer’s use numerous techniques to promote life within existing ecosystems and minimize pollution that occurs with virtually all conventional farming practices.
Organic Farmers who raise livestock will not use growth hormones, antibiotics or grains grown in soils loaded with synthetic fertilizers to their feed livestock.
By using natural foodstuffs and having a particular concern for animal welfare, Organic Farmer’s use the environment’s own systems to produce healthy livestock and return waste back into the soil.
Some important benefits for organic farmers and organic food consumers:
• Organic farming is a science within itself that conventional farmers can learn while they transfer their capital resources and skills to master a trade that can be even more profitable than conventional farming.
• Researchers in the United States have found that by following organic farming methods, conventional farmer’s can actually reduce production cost by over 25%. This is accomplished by eliminating the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, minimizing soil erosion by up to 50% and increasing crop yields up to five-fold within five years.
• Regardless of products produced, a well planned transition strategy will allow conventional farmers to adopt new, more effective organic farming process in as little as three to five years.
• Organic farms can support substantially higher levels of wildlife especially in lowlands and where animals can roam pastures or graze on grassland. Not only does wildlife benefit, but entire ecosystems and ground water are improved by simply following organic farming methods.
• Organic farming practices not only benefit farmers and consumers; but the dairies can benefit. When dairies feed their cows organic feed and graze them on organic fields, the cows experience better health, less sickness, diseases and ultimately produce better tasting milk for consumers.
• Organic farming promotes soils that are teaming with life and rich in micro nutrients which can be used for decades to grow crops virtually year round in many parts of the world.
• Consumers purchasing organically grown foods can taste the difference and see the quality of virtually any organic product they buy. Regardless of minimal price differences, consumers can smell, taste and see the difference in the quality of organically grown food products.
• Consumers buy organically grown food products not just because of competitive prices, but due to the increased availability of organic food products as seen in both grocery and organic food specialty stores.
• Organically grown products are free from harmful chemicals, artificial flavors and preservatives that ultimately cost consumers money when they purchase non-organically grown products. You can always taste the difference between organically grown and conventionally grown products.
• Eating organic foods may in fact, reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer for individuals who abstain from consuming products produced by conventional farming methods. Biochemist are continually researching the inherent benefits of organically grown foods and discovering the consequences consuming products loaded with toxins and chemicals which, until recently, have only begun to be introduced to humans. The fact is, you ultimately are what you eat.
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Bioorganic Fertilizer (BOF) is a processed inoculated compost from any organic material that has undergone rapid decomposition by the introduction of homogeneous microbial inoculants. This is different from fresh organic fertilizer where natural decay process is brought about by the action of heterogeneous microbes present in the organic matter. Compared with the traditional composting method, microbial inoculation hastens the decomposition from three months to just 3-4 weeks.
