elements of organic farming: putting your system together
TRANSCRIPT
George Kuepper Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Putting Your
System Together
This publication outlines the origins of organic agriculture. It highlights the concepts, ideas, and milestones that define it as a distinct and sustainable approach to farming that involves more than simply precluding synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. 23 pages. Copies can be downloaded free-of-charge at: http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/organic-philosophy-report.pdf Print copies can be requested from: The Kerr Center for Sustainable
Agriculture P.O. Box 588
Poteau, OK 74953 Tel: 918-647-9123
A Production System that… respond(s) to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. §205.2
A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole.
from: Answers.com
HEALTHY SOIL
HEALTHY FOOD
HEALTHY PEOPLE
HEALTHY SOCIETY
Convertible Husbandry (America Mid-1800s)
Biodynamics
Sustainable Practices from the Asian
Continent
Humus Farming
Organic Farming
Countercultural Influences Environmental Consciousness
Organic By Neglect
Organic Certification
& Industry
Standards
Demeter Certified
Production
Eco-Agriculture Integrated
Production, etc.
USDA National Standard
Certified Organic
Production
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2006
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
Evolution Of and the Influences On American Organic Farming
R. Steiner & Anthroposophy
J.I. Rodale
A. Howard
Wm. Albrecht
L. Bromfield E. Pfeiffer
E. Balfour
F.H. King OFPANA/ OTA
OFPA
Agroecology & Permaculture
Silent Spring USDA’s Organic Report
NOP Standard
Implemented
Pio
ne
ers
O
rga
niz
ati
on
s E
ven
ts
High Farming (Europe 1800s)
— An Old Saying among Organic Farmers
Organic Soil Management
2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology
The Soil Food Web
2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology
What the Food Web Needs
Air Water
Nutrient Elements
Organic Matter
Sunlight
Organic Soil Management
Feeding the Soil Food Web means providing organic matter as food. In organic farming, this has been called the Law of Return— returning mineral- rich organic material to the soil.
11
2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology
Plant
Roots
Soluble Minerals
Organic Compounds
Other “phytamins”
Plant Nutrition Under Natural Conditions
Parent
Rock
Material
Digestive
processes and
nutrient recycling
in the
Rhizosphere:
The Soil Food Web
Source of plant
nutrition:
- plant residues
- animal remains
- animal wastes
12
2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology
Plant
Roots
Soluble Minerals
Organic Compounds
Other Benefits
Parent
Rock
Material
Conventional Management
Organic Matter
as Crop
Residues
Digestive
processes and
nutrient recycling
in the
Rhizosphere:
The Soil Food Web
Conventional
Soluble
Fertilizers
ζ
ζ
ζ
13
2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology
Plant
Roots
Soluble Minerals
Organic Compounds
Other Benefits
Parent
Rock
Material
Digestive processes and nutrient
recycling in the
Rhizosphere: The Soil Food Web
Humus Farming/Organic Management Organic Materials
and Methods: Composts
Crop Residues
Green Manures
Livestock Manures
Natural Fertilizers
Biological Inoculants
Rotations w/ sod crops
Self-Generated Fertility •Fixes nitrogen •Releases bound nutrients •Makes nutrients available •Air/water balance
Suppresses Disease •Natural antibiotics •Nematode predation •Aeration/Drainage •Induced resistance in crops
Weed Suppression •Less weed stimulation •Weed seed predation •Easier cultivation
Pest Insects Reduced •More predators & parasites •Natural insect disease agents •Induced resistance in crops
Organic Farmers claim:
Organic Crops Resist Pests
Do organically-grown plants develop induced resistance to diseases and insect pests?
Organic Crops Resist Pests
•Predisposition theory •Insect pests as nature’s garbage men •Organic as plant-positive vs. pest- negative approach
Organic Crops Resist Pests
Mycorrhizal Associations as an element in stress reduction and induced resistance
Root from sorghum with vesicles ("little sacs") of the mycorrhizal fungus called Gigaspora rosea.
http://microbezoo.commtechlab.msu.edu/zoo/zdrm0194.html
CANNON HORTICULTURE PROJECT
69
1 ft
K
er
r R
oa
d
Greenhouse
Herb Bed Block Bed
N
Field A-1 .58 a
Field A-2 .58 a
Field A-3 .58 a
Field A-4 .58 a
Field U .35 a
Denotes Hydrants/Irrigation access
Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture Plots
2011 Boundaries & Dimensions Total area: 6.67 acres
Dimensions: Greenhouse: 22’ x 30’ Herb Bed: 10’ x 32’ Block Bed: 5’ x 38’ Fields A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4: 90’ x 282’ Field U: 56’ x 308’
Buffering: All fields and beds have 25 feet of organically managed buffer. The Greenhouse has 15 feet of organically managed buffer on the NW side. However, no doors or air intakes occur on that side.
A
B
C
D
= approx. 50 ft
Heritage Vegetable Trials (Okra & Sweet Sorghum in 2008 shown)
Copies can be downloaded free-of-
charge at: http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/summer-
cover-crops.pdf
Print copies can be requested from:
The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
P.O. Box 588 Poteau, OK 74953 Tel: 918-647-9123
1. Crop Rotation (the sequencing of crops over time on a field)
2. The inclusion of cover crops and/or perennial forage crops within a crop rotation
Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture Plots A-1
Example of how a tomato crop might
be rotated A-2
A-3
A-4
A-2
A-3
A-4
A-1
2008 Tomatoes 2009 * 2010 * 2011 * 2012 Tomatoes
2008 * 2009 Tomatoes 2010 * 2011 * 2012 *
2008 * 2009 * 2010 Tomatoes 2011 * 2012 *
2008 * 2009 * 2010 * 2011 Tomatoes 2012 *
Cover crops are plants you grow or allow to grow, not for harvest, but for purposes such as preventing erosion, improving the soil, and weed control.
Can be categorized by season—winter & summer
Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture Plots A-1
Winter Season: What you’d find
In the fields.
A-2
A-3
A-4
2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2012 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch
2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2012 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch
2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2012 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch
2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch 2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch *
Fall-seeded winter cover crops
Winter Cover Crop
2013
Tomatoes
Winter cover Crop
2012 Tomatoes
This is NOT what we mean by rotation!
Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture Plots 2011: Early Vegetables
2012: Summer Cover Crop 2013: Late Vegetables 2014: Summer Cover Crop
2011: Summer Cover Crop 2012: Early Vegetables 2013: Summer Cover Crop 2014: Late vegetables
2011: Late Vegetables 2012: Summer Cover Crop 2013: Early Vegetables 2014: Summer Cover Crop
2011: Summer Cover Crop 2012: Late Vegetables 2013: Summer Cover Crop 2014: Early vegetables
A-1
Crops and Cover Crops DURING THE GROWING
SEASON 2011-2014 A-2
A-3
A-4
Summer
Cover
Crop
Early
Vegetables
Summer
Cover
Crop
Late
Vegetables
One in which a significant percentage of the land is planted to season-long cover crops each year.
INSECT & DISEASE CONTROL
Clubroot, fusarium yellows, blackleg, & black rot in cole crops
Black rot in pumpkins Northern & Western Corn
Rootworm in sweetcorn, popcorn and decorative corn
Root rots in beans & peas Gummy stem blight in
cucurbits Photo: Gummy Stem Blight
Early blight in solanaceous crops—2 years Black rot in cucurbits—2+ years Blackleg in brassicas—3-to-4 years Fusarium wilt in peas—4-to-5 years Clubroot in brassicas—7 years White rot on alliums—20 years
Brassicas: cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts
Cucurbits: melons, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, gourds
Legumes: English peas, southern peas, peanuts, beans, faba beans, soybeans
Alliums: onions, garlic, chives
Solanaceous: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillo
Umbels: carrots, dill, fennel, parsley, celery,
Composites: sunflower, lettuce, artichoke, jerusalem artichoke
Grasses: popcorn, sweetcorn, sorghum
WEED CONTROL
Changes in timing of cultivation and mowing
“Cleaning crops” Some crop plants
are naturally more competitive with weeds
November 1, 2007
Bermudagrass
Bermudagrass Strengths
Perennial
Summer season
Drought tolerant
Encouraged by mowing
Many means for
propagation and spreading
Weaknesses
Winter tillage
Shade
Cover crops grown for the purpose of out-competing and controlling weeds.
← Crotalaria
Pearl Millet→
← Buckwheat
Southern Peas→
Field A-1: Sorghum-
Sudangrass
Seth Stallings Student Intern 2010
SOIL FERTILITY
Green Manures build/recycle organic matter
Legume crops &
cover crops fix nitrogen
Green manures are cover crops grown primarily to improve the soil by adding organic matter and nitrogen (in the case of legumes), and making nutrients more available
Summer green manure crops include annual sorghums, millets, buckwheat, soybeans, southern peas, sesbania, crotalaria, sweetclover
Nitrogen is the most limiting crop nutrient in most crop and garden soils.
Legumes include: English peas, southern peas, peanuts, beans, faba beans, soybeans, also clovers, sweet clovers, alfalfa, vetch, and lespedeza.
#1 As a winter cover crop when you can’t grow most vegetables.
#2 As an option for a green fallow planting.
Cowpeas Green fallow
Early
Vegetables
Soybeans Green Fallow
Late
Vegetables Sweetcorn
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant
Sweet potatoes
Peas, Beans,
edamame soybeans
#3 In rotation with other vegetables
Buckwheat and southern peas are exceptionally good for beneficial insect habitats.
Beneficials include pollinators, predatory and parasitic insects, predatory mites and spiders.
Prey upon, or parasitize, pest
insects
Domestic or wild
Provides for soil fertility, especially nitrogen Suppresses many crop diseases Thwarts many insect pests Reduces weed pressure Creates a biologically healthy soil which in turn:
Self-generates soil fertility
Suppresses Disease
Reduces insect pests
Suppresses weeds
B i o l o g i c a l l y H e a l t h y S o i l
A S o u n d O r g a n i c S y s t e m R o t a t i o n s — C o v e r C r o p s
C o m p o s t , M a n u r e O r g a n i c C u l t u r a l P r a c t i c e s
O f f - F a r m I n p u t s F e r t i l i z e r s — P e s t i c i d e s
G o o d O r g a n i c
C r o p
B i o l o g i c a l l y H e a l t h y S o i l
A S o u n d O r g a n i c S y s t e m R o t a t i o n s — C o v e r C r o p s
C o m p o s t , M a n u r e O r g a n i c C u l t u r a l P r a c t i c e s
O f f - F a r m I n p u t s F e r t i l i z e r s — P e s t i c i d e s
G o o d O r g a n i c
C r o p
8-Year Rotation Proposed by Eliot Coleman
Described in The New Organic Grower
Summer Squash Cucurbit
Root Crops beets, carrots, etc.
Beans legume
Tomatoes Solanaceous
English Peas + winter-killed
cover crop Legume
Cabbage Family + hardy cover crop
Brassicas
Sweet Corn Graminae
(grass)
Irish Potatoes Solanaceous
B i o l o g i c a l l y H e a l t h y S o i l
A S o u n d O r g a n i c S y s t e m R o t a t i o n s — C o v e r C r o p s
C o m p o s t , M a n u r e O r g a n i c C u l t u r a l P r a c t i c e s
O f f - F a r m I n p u t s F e r t i l i z e r s — P e s t i c i d e s
G o o d O r g a n i c
C r o p
Green Fallow
Vegetables Green Fallow
Vegetables
Kerr’s 4-Year Bio-extensive Rotation
Typically a warm season smother crop of sudangrass
Winter cover crops of grain rye with winter annual Legumes—all plots.
Green Fallow
Vegetables
Green Fallow
Vegetables
Vegetables
Alternate BioextensiveRotation Winter cover crops of grain rye with winter annual Legumes—all plots.
Green Fallow
Vegetables
Vegetables Green Fallow
Vegetables
Vegetables
Alternate Green Fallow Rotation Winter cover crops of grain rye with winter annual Legumes—all plots.
Green Fallow
Vegetables Vegetables
Vegetables
Alternate Green Fallow Rotation Winter cover crops of grain rye with winter annual Legumes—all plots.
INCREASING PERCENT OF LAND IN GREEN FALLOW
INC
RE
AS
ING
NE
ED
FO
R O
FF
-FA
RM
INP
UT
S
Theoretical Relationship Between Green Fallow and Need for Fertilizer and Pest
Control Inputs
Contracted Canning Peas
Contracted Cabbage
U-Pick Pumpkins
Sudangrass Green fallow
Summer Squash
Sweet- potatoes
Green Beans
Tomatoes & Peppers
Southern Peas
Okra
Sweet- corn
280 ft
BFRDP Main Demo Plot 2012 (Field A2) Eight-Field Rotation
← ←
←K
err
Ro
ad →
→ →
Sweetcorn 3 rows Dbl Crop: Squash
2 or 3 rows
Beans Dbl Crop: Greens & radishes
Greens & radishes Dbl Crop: Beans Eggplant & Peppers 1 row
White Potatoes 1 row
Green Fallow Buckwheat Dbl Crop: Proso Millet
Sweet potatoes 1 row Okra 1 Peanuts
Southern Peas Spring-planted Cucumber
Caged Tomatoes 1 row
This is a single long raised bed, 10 ft X 280 ft. Plots shown are about 10 ft X 30 ft. (This allows about 5 ft buffer between plots for turning tillers and other equip around.)
Eng. peas Dbl Crop: Broccoli, Cabbage,
Chinese Cabbage
Green Fallow Buckwheat Dbl Crop: Iron & Clay Cowpeas
Crop Rotation and Cover Cropping on the Organic Farm by Seth Kroeck.
NOFA Organic Principles and Practices Handbook Series. 95 p.
Gaining Ground by Canadian Organic Growers, Inc. 2005.
COG, 323 Chapel St., Ottawa, ON KIN 7Z2. 311 p.
Organic Crop Production Overview by G. Kuepper & L. Gegner. 2004.
http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/organiccrop.html
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual (NRAES-177)
by C. L. Mohler & S. E. Johnson. 2009. NRAES/Cornell Cooperative
Extension , Ithaca, NY. 156 p.
Cover Crops on the Intensive Market Farm by John Hendrickson. 2003.
CIAS, University of Wisconsin–Madison. 20 p.
Anne & Eric Nordell, Beech Grove Farm, Trout Run, PA. Look for their column: The Bioextensive Market Garden In The Small Farmers Journal
the international agrarian quarterly
Physical address 192 west Barclay Drive Sisters, Oregon 97759
Phone numbers 800-876-2893 541-549-2064 541-549-4403 fax
[email protected] www.smallfarmersjournal.com
Mailing address PO Box 1627 Sisters, Oregon 97759
Contact Information: George Kuepper Kerr Center P.O. Box 588 Poteau, OK 74953 Tel: 918-647-9123 Fax: 918-647-8712 [email protected]