DRAFT ORGANIC GUIDEBOOK
A. Overview of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture
A[O1]-1. Organic and Sustainable Farming System Principles
Organic farming systems reflect several fundamental principles that early innovators established through careful observation of soils, crops, livestock, and life processes in natural and agricultural systems. Practitioners have refined, updated, and expressed these principles in different ways over the past 75 years, yet the foundational principles of organic agriculture remain relatively constant (Schonbeck, 2014). In addition to over 10,000 [JB2]USDA certified organic farmers, many other US producers implement “sustainable,” “ecological,” “biological,” or “natural” methods derived from these same principles, which are summarize below.
Protect the health of the soil and other natural resources[CS3]
Throughout the history of organic farming, practitioners and researchers have emphasized healthy, living, nutritionally balanced soil as the foundation of crop, livestock, and human health, and of sustainable and successful farming (Howard, 1947). To maintain healthy soil, organic farmers must prevent erosion, feed and protect the soil life, and replenish organic matter as well as plant nutrients. They adopt diverse crop rotations to balance nutrient demands on the soil, avoid high-salt fertilizers to protect earthworms and other soil life, and control erosion by maintaining good tilth (aggregation), planting cover crops, and other conservation measures. Since about 1980, research findings on the benefits of an active and diverse soil food web (soil bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, etc) have refined this principle and established its importance throughout modern agriculture.
Early leaders of the organic farming movement emphasized that, over the long term, successful farming depends on the health of all natural resources on the farm and in its surroundings. All farming [CS4]inevitably alters the natural condition of soil and other resources within production areas to some degree, often with some decrease in biodiversity. Pioneers of organic methods understood the inherent risk in such alterations, and the farmer’s responsibility to minimize that risk and sustain biodiversity as best they can[O5]. Organic farmers strive to conserve water in crop and livestock production, and to protect streams, lakes, groundwater, wildlife, native plant communities, and other resources from negative impacts of agricultural inputs and practices. Crop, livestock, and pest management practices emphasize benign natural methods and materials that do not harm non-target organisms or upset ecological balance.
From the beginnings of organic agriculture, producers have considered the farm within its wider ecological context. Experienced practitioners understand, care for, and utilize the uncultivated natural areas on their land as essential components of the farming system. For example, healthy riparian zones protect water quality and aquatic habitat; and forest edges and field borders provide habitat for beneficial insects, insectivorous songbirds, raptors, reptiles, and other pest predators, as well as windbreaks, shade, and browse for livestock. Thus, organic and sustainable farmers value biodiversity and seek to provide and protect habitat for wildlife and native plants as well as pollinators and other organisms that directly support production.
Simulate nature in farming practices
Organic producers strive to develop farming systems [CS6]that mimic nature, and to utilize natural processes and materials to provide for crop and livestock nutrition, manage pests and weeds, and attain production goals, while conserving the biological diversity on which their farm depends.
Crop nutrition and nutrient management[CS7]
Living plants in a natural ecosystem such as a forest or prairie derive essential nutrients from the breakdown of plant and animal residues that fall on the ground. As soil organisms consume (decompose) plant litter, dung, and the remains of dead organisms, they release plant-available nutrients to support the next season’s new growth. They also convert the fresh residues into soil organic matter (humus), thereby enhancing soil quality.
Based on this natural cycle, Sir Albert Howard (1947), Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1938) and other early innovators taught producers to replenish soil organic matter as well as NPK and other nutrients by returning manure, crop residues and other farm-generated organic “wastes” to the soil. These practices demonstrably restored soil fertility and crop yields. Howard called the underlying principle the Law of Return. Other have expressed this principle as, “feed the soil, and let the soil feed the crop,” because a healthy, living soil that receives a sufficient return of organic materials can meet most of a crop’s nutrient requirements through the activity of soil life.
When crops need additional nutrients, organic producers choose plant, animal, and natural-mineral based fertilizers, most of which release nutrients gradually through the action of soil organisms. They avoid synthetic NPK fertilizers that bypass the soil life to feed the crop directly and can cause salt injury to soil organisms, deplete soil organic matter, pollute water, fail to provide micronutrients, and thereby reduce crop resistance to pests and other stresses.
Standard soil tests (crop nutrients, pH, cation exchange capacity, total organic matter) can help organic as well as conventional producers with nutrient management, but they give limited information on the biological health of the soil. In recent years, researchers have developed soil biology tests (e.g., soil food web analysis, mineralizable N) and protocols for field evaluation of overall soil health (e.g., Cornell University Soil Health Assessment) that can provide more information on how well the soil life is functioning in relation to soil health and crop nutrition.[O8]
Pest and disease management
Insects, rodents, deer, and other herbivorous (plant-eating) organisms feed on natural vegetation; however, predators from lady beetles, songbirds, and raptors to foxes and mountain lions feed on the herbivores, and thus limit damage to the plant community. Forest trees and other native plants can fall prey to pathogenic (disease-causing) fungi and other micro-organisms, but most soil micro-organisms play important roles in plant vigor, including disease prevention. The web of relationships among diverse organisms in a healthy, mature forest or prairie creates a “balance of nature” that prevents a particular herbivore, predator, or pathogen from wiping out other species. In addition, nature rarely creates plant monocultures that would be vulnerable to a single insect or pathogen.
Organic and sustainable farmers simulate and utilize these natural checks and balances to limit crop damage from pests, weeds, and diseases. Practitioners establish beneficial habitat plantings to harbor predators and parasitoids of crop pests; erect bat houses, raptor perches, and other establish wildlife corridorshabitat for movement of larger predators; build soil quality to protect crop roots from plant and human pathogens; diversify crop rotations to disrupt pest and pathogen life cycles; and plant cover crops to suppress weeds. When pest problems occur, producers release natural enemies of the target pest, and use sanitation, cultural controls, physical barriers, and repellents. Many consider NOP-allowed pesticides as a last resort, as all pesticides can harm beneficial insects and reduce system biodiversity and stability.
Resource cycling
Nutrients, soil, and organic materials may enter and leave a natural ecosystem via wind, water, or other agents, but the amounts of materials recycled each year within the ecosystem far exceeds annual inputs and losses. Recognizing the contrast between the efficiency of nature and the wasteful and damaging losses of water, nutrients, and soil from the “modern” farming systems of their time, Lady Eve Balfour and other mid-20th Century leaders of the organic movement promoted cycling of resources within the farm, and minimum dependence on off-farm inputs. Sustainable and organic producers use crop rotations that include cover crops and a mix of deep and shallow rooted crops to optimize nutrient and water utilization and cycling within the soil profile. Practices that increase soil organic matter and structure, and hence water and nutrient retention, further improve resource cycling and reduce dependence on off-farm inputs.
Conserving biodiversity
Features and functions of natural ecosystems are mimicked. In cropping systems that have replaced prairies and grasslands, sustainable and organic field edges contain sequentially flowering forbs similar to or from these plant communities, thereby supporting pollinators and other beneficial organisms. Farmlands that once were savannas, now have trees and snags interspersed through the fields to mimic the nesting and roosting habitat values that were present historically. Crop fields that replaced upland shrublands and woodlands now have hedge and tree rows of varied species, mimicking structural biodiversity above and below ground. Formerly wide riparian areas that filtered runoff from upland habitats occasionally disturbed (ex. slides and fires), are now croplands and pastures with a suite of restored riparian grasses and trees doing double duty to protect water quality. Where once there were continuous un-fragmented lands, now there are wildlife corridors and wildlife friendly fences to simulate connectivity and support wide-ranging predators and other animals on the move.
Tillage and weed management
The need to manage weeds and cover crops in annual crop production has always posed a particularly tough challenge to the organic farming principle of simulating nature, in which burrowing animals cause nowhere near the soil disturbance that tillage and cultivation entail. Recent advances in organic no-till and conservation-tillage systems, such as the roller-crimpers developed by Rodale Institute and other research teams, have helped organic producers reduce the intensity of soil disturbance in annual crop rotations. In addition, subsoiling cover crops such as the tillage radish, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and sweetclovers allow producers to accomplish biologically what has traditionally been done with subsoilers and other deep tillage implements.[O9]
Enterprise diversity and crop-livestock integration
Finally, the diversity and stability of most natural ecosystems provides a model for the farm as a whole system. Very few natural ecosystems include only plants and no animals, and virtually none have animals only. Taking the lead from this simple fact of nature, Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1938) and other early innovators urged farmers to include both crops and farm animals in order to build a whole and balanced farming system. Crop-livestock integration promotes within-farm cycling of resources especially nutrients, thereby helping to avoid the nutrient pollution risks of large livestock-only operations, and the nutrient depletion risks of crop-only farms.
Develop an integrated, site-specific farming system
No two farms are exactly alike or need the exact same set of practices to succeed. The organic farmer seeks to understand and manage her/his farm as a unique living system, considering soil texture, mineralogy and condition; slope, aspect, and topography; climate and microclimate; surface and ground water resources; natural areas, wildlife, native plants, and other resources; crops and livestock to be produced; and the farmer’s production and marketing goals. Based on this understanding, the producer integrates multiple tactics for a particular objective; for example, weeds might be managed through a combination of crop rotation, cover cropping, optimum planting dates for all crops, in-row drip irrigation, and timely cultivation or flaming. Organic farmers also favor practices with multiple functions, such as a cover crop mixture designed to prevent soil erosion, add organic matter, fix nitrogen, improve phosphorus availability, disrupt pest life cycles, host beneficial insects, and suppress weeds.
Provide natural animal health care and humane living conditions
Caring for the well-being of farm animals is another core principle of organic farming systems. Organic producers strive to treat animals humanely, ensure that each species can express its natural behaviors, avoid crowding and other sources of unnecessary suffering, and provide adequate clean water, food, shelter, room, fresh air, and access to the outdoors. They rely on cultural practices rather than routine medication for health care whenever practical. Advanced pasture-based systems such as management-intensive rotational grazing, multispecies grazing, and silvopasture contribute to animal well-being and pasture quality, while protecting water and other resources.
In order to raise organic livestock and poultry successfully, producers select breeds [CS10]that are well adapted to local conditions, pasture based systems, and minimal use of medication. Some producers breed and select animals on the farm or ranch to optimize adaptation and health, and sometimes to conserve and restore rare breeds that may be especially adapted to certain regions or have superior traits for organic or pasture-based systems.[O11]
Choose crops, varieties, and seed sources [CS12]that are well suited to local conditions and organic production systems.
Selection of crop varieties and crop seed for organic production reflects the organic principles of working with nature: plant what will grow well locally in an organic system. Organic farmers seek out and plant varieties that tolerate locally-prevalent pests and diseases with minimum intervention, and that perform well in the farm’s climate and soils. Many prefer locally or regionally produced seed, which may show enhanced adaptation to local conditions.
Many organic and sustainable farmers favor open-pollinated varieties that breed true. Some select and save their own seed, conduct variety trials, or participate in breeding efforts to identify and develop varieties that perform best on their farms while meeting market criteria. For this purpose, organic producers need access to non-patented, publically held varieties and breeding lines in order to save and select seed without raising intellectual property issues. [O13]
When feasible, organic farmers use crop seed that has been organically produced.
Use materials appropriate for organic production
As public demand for organic food began to grow during the latter half of the 20th Century, numerous organic certification programs developed definitions and standards for organic production. Despite differences in detail, these programs shared a common theme: organic farming methods allowed the use of most natural fertilizers and crop protection materials, and excluded most or all synthetic substances. Public focus on this aspect of “organic” led to a narrow concept of organic food as simply “pesticide-free,” with limited understanding of broader principles of sustainability. In the words of well-known American author and sustainable farming advocate Wendell Berry (1981),
An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system that has the integrity, the independence and the benign dependence of an organism.
In 2002, USDA launched the National Organic Program (NOP), which sets national standards for organic production and organic certification. In addition to lists of allowed and prohibited materials, the NOP standards codify many of the organic and sustainable farming principles outlined above.
Resources
Alternative[O14] Farming Information Center of the National Agricultural Library provides information on organic and sustainable farming systems.
Balfour, Lady Eve. 1948. The Living Soil. London: Faber & Faber. Currently out of print; available on-line through the Agricultural Library of the Soil and Health Library at
Balfour, Lady Eve. 1977. Toward a Sustainable Agriculture: the Living Soil. A talk about the Haughley Experiment, given by Lady Balfour at an IFOAM conference in Switzerland, 1977.
Berry, Wendell. 1981. The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays Cultural and Agricultural. San Francisco: North Point, 1981
Howard, Sir Albert. 1947. The Soil and Health: a Study of Organic Agriculture. Republished with a foreword by Wendell Berry in 2006, University Press of Kentucky, 307 pp.
International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) explores organic farming principles in greater depth, organizing them under four overarching concepts: health, ecology, fairness, and care. View summary on IFOAM web site or Northeast Organic Farming Association web site
The Livestock Conservancy (formerly American Livestock Breeds Conservancy) maintains a network of breeders conserving and restoring rare breeds, many with traits valuable for organic, sustainable, and pasture-based production systems.