Organic Farming - kenanaonline.comkenanaonline.com/files/0042/42332/1 1 Organic Farming.pdf · explaining the principles and the philosophy underlying organic farming. In the chapter

OrganicFarming

Simme EriksenBjarne Sigvard HansenKnud SchmidtKnud Suhr

The Organic Agricultural CollegeDen Økologiske Landbrugsskole

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Organic Farming

Authors: Simme Eriksen, Organic Agriculture College, DenmarkBjarne Sigvard Hansen, Organic agriculture advisor, DenmarkKnud Schmidt, Organic Agriculture College, DenmarkKnud Suhr, Organic Agriculture College, Denmark

Expert Aase Ditlevsen, advisor, Scanagri, Denmarkadvisors: Michael Tersbøl, expert advisor, Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, National Centre

Editors: Anna-Christa Bjerg, advisor, Landbrugsforlaget, Danish Agric. Advisory Service, National CentreKnud Suhr (English edition)

Translator: Karl Kerner, Agro Lingua, Norway. [email protected]

Layout: Bernadette Gissel, Graphic Production, Danish Agric. Advisory Service, National CentreElse Ottesen, Brønderslev Bogtryk, Denmark (English edition)

Front page Morten Telling, National Organic Ass., Denmarkphoto:

Publisher Organic Agriculture College at Kaloeand copyright: (Den Økologiske Landsbrugsskole på Kalø)

Skovriddervej 18410 Rønde - DENMARK

Phone: +45 9696 6666Fax: +45 9696 6660Email: [email protected]: www.organicfarmer.dk

Contact the publisher if you want to order a photocopy or a CD-copy of this compendium.

1. edition, Nov. 2003

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Preface

This compendium aims to give the reader a basic understanding of organic agriculture by pre-senting both theoretical and practical aspects of organic crop and livestock farming.

It is closely based on the Danish book ”Økologisk Landbrug”, which is primarily intended foruse in Danish agricultural schools (intermediate level) and other agricultural course programmes.However, the compendium can also be a useful source of information for farmers interested inlearning more about organic agriculture.

Naturally, the Danish edition is mainly based on Danish farming conditions, experience andresearch. We have chosen to use the Danish context for the English edition as well, since it pri-marily shall be used for students following the Danish agricultural education programme inEnglish. However, we have made a few revisions, so that the English compendium covers mostnorthern European conditions, and can thus be of use to a wider readership.

The actual organic standards for primary production are not discussed in detail in this publica-tion, since these regulations are under continuous revision. We therefore advise our readers tokeep themselves up-to-date with regard to these regulations. Instead, we have focused onexplaining the principles and the philosophy underlying organic farming. In the chapter ”Moreknowledge”, there are links to websites and other resources, where one can find updated infor-mation about organic farming.

We have also chosen to use certain Danish terms, concepts and units of measurement in theEnglish edition. These are presented in the glossary at the end of the compendium.

The green/grey text boxes throughout the compendium are meant to give the reader in-depthexplanations or background information on the main topics.

We would like to thank the numerous persons who have let us use their photographs free ofcharge.

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture andFisheries for financial support for the editing and translation of the manuscript.

November 2003Knud Suhr

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1. A Holistic ApproachKnud Schmidt og Simme EriksenEcology means looking at the »big picture« . . . . . 8Diversity and ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9A brief history of organic farming . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Organic farming organisations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Research & development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Organic farming legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Continuous development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Challenges in crop produktion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Challenges in livestock farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Focusing on quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2. The Living SoilKnud SuhrLiving Soil - a neccessity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18The soil as a nutrient pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Nutrient turnover in the soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Soil organisms need attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Energy supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21A good environment for soil organisms . . . . . . . . 23Humus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Become familiar with your soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Earthworms = biological activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Nitrogen-fixing bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Mycorrhiza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3. Soil tillage & SoilStructureKnud SchmidtSoil compaction in deper layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Wide tyres and low inflation pressure

prevent soil damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Soil tillage inplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Ploughing - for better or worse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Alternative soil tillage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Subsoiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4. Farm Nutrient BalanceKnud SuhrThe farms nutrient balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Purchased farm inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Inputs from the invironment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Nutrient balance assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5. Nutrient SupplyKnud SuhrChoise of crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Crops residue management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Green manure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Farmyard manure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Fertilizer management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

6. Weed ManagementKnud SchmidtPlanning ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Crop competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Types of weeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Crop rotation is the most important

weed management tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Good crop establishment is vital . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Equipment for mechanical control of annual weeds 84One-man operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Tillage in the dark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Precision seeding & special equiment . . . . . . . . . 91Row crops - from A to Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Cereals from A to Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Weeds are a challenge to creative minds . . . . . . . 94

7. Protecting Crops AgainstPests and DiseasesKnud SuhrHarmful organisms in organic farming . . . . . . . . . 97Prevention at farm level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Prevention at field level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Prevention at the pest/pathogen level . . . . . . . . . 100Future outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

8. Crop Rotation: Putting itAll TogetherKnud SuhrCrop rotation is the basis for farm management . . 106Farm types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107A livestock farm with ruminants . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107A crop farm without any livestock . . . . . . . . . . . . 110A livestock farm with monogastric animals . . . . . . 114Mixed farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Energy balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Index

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9. Vegetable GrowingKnud SchmidtGrowing vegetables - a wise choice . . . . . . . . . . 120A large investment - and risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120What requirements need to be met? . . . . . . . . . . 121The key to success: marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124A quality issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Diseases and pests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Choosing seed and transplant varieties . . . . . . . . 127

10. Organic Dairy FarmingBjarne S. HansenProduction goals for organic cows . . . . . . . . . . . 131Calf rearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Heifers - often neglected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Dairy cow feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Summer feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Winter feeding plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141The new trend: Beefproduction from steers . . . . . . 146Herd health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

11. Organic Pig FarmingSimme EriksenPossiblities and perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Outdoors or indoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Choice of breed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153A piglet’s first weeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Pig health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Organic feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Roughage is great pig feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Piglets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Fattening pigs - outdoors or indoors . . . . . . . . . . 159

12. Organic PoultryProductionSimme EriksenOrganic poultry production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Housing facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Free-range area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Hen feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Water - an important nutrient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Roughage as poultry feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Broilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

For More InformationPage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Subject IndexPage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Glossary of TermsPage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174