Monday, March 1, 2010

Organic Farming

Organic Farming

Through the years countless studies have shown the degradation of natural resources across the globe. It is very alarming to note that most of the land and water sustenance are facing a significant percent of depletion. This is why it is high time to equip yourself with knowledge of the various measures in order to handle Mother Nature accordingly. Let’s take a closer look at one the methods in agriculture that provided for the pattern of development of biodynamic farming.

Biodynamic techniques are part of general methods known as organic farming wherein farms are considered as individual organisms that requires a holistic approach of development. There should be maintained correlations between the farm’s constituents such as the plants, soil, and animals and nutrients should be well circulated in adequate forms. Now let’s go beyond biodynamic principles and flip on the pages of the organic farming manual.

Basically farming lies within the lines of the term organic when it entirely relies on methods and concepts like mechanical cultivation, compost, green manure, crop rotation, and biological pest control. In this way of farming there is exclusion or strict limitation of farm exposure to various sorts of synthetic plant growth regulators, artificially developed pesticides and fertilizers, commercial additives of livestock feedings, and more importantly genetically enhanced organisms. This form of farm care has been widely recognized all over the world since and through the past decades statistics show an increase in the organic products made available for market consumption.

Let’s tread the path to memory lane and examine the development of this organic farming. The organically-oriented people began to voice out their grievances during the early years of 1930 and 1940. This is the period wherein synthetic fertilizers were starting to charge towards the limelight.

Artificial versions of fertilizers came into the farming scene during the 18th century. The initial production came out having superphosphates followed by ammonia powered fertilizers which were abundantly processed using the ideas of Haber-Bosch from World War I. These fertilizers were quite powerful, cheap, and accessible especially in bulk. The advances in chemical pesticide versions in the 1940s paved the way for the tag of pesticide era.

Luckily there were historical identities that fought off the shoot of synthetically manipulated fertilizers into stardom. Sir Albert Howard kicked things off and was named as the father of organic farming. His works inspired a certain J.I. Rodale to let the Americans know about organic farming. And in the UK it was Lady Eve Balfour that made organic methods common in various farmlands.

In reality it was a hard start for this people and the organic principle to gain acceptance. In terms of total agricultural output organic farming remained on the tail-end of the competition. Things began to take a huge turn when environmental aspects rallied their way into the situation. The agricultural circles and the market in general saw a flash of brilliance in terms of what organic farming can bring on the table.

Farmers made a shift because of the premium prices from consumers and government subsidies involved. The economic status of a country forged an alliance with organic farming methods like biodynamic farming and gardening. This has brought about a significant rise in the percentage of organic outputs specifically in developed European countries.

Organic tastes best,
Greg

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