Ecological agriculture | Garden Care & Maintenance.

Ecological agriculture

This article describes what Organic farming and its basic principles, also called biological agriculture or organic farming. Techniques will serve to apply them to your family orchard.
Later dates will expand several of the points here, as for example, "methods of struggle against pests in organic farming".
It is known that industrialized farming affects the environment and has risks for people and wildlife.
Because of this, for several decades it has revitalized the traditional way of producing compatible with technological development and based on the respect for the environment: is organic farming.
Today, a small percentage of agricultural and livestock products which are put on sale are products that bear the label "organic" and consumers slowly are valuing and asking for more.
There are cooperatives of consumers of these products which can be obtained directly from producers at reasonable prices in Spain.
They have an controlled appellation of origin, being legislated at European Union level. In Spain are the autonomous communities responsible for control of production and of the compliance with the rules.
Organic agriculture is characterized by the following:

1. pesticides used in organic farming

Don't use synthetic pesticides: acaricides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, etc. These, have certain risks and drawbacks:
Pesticides most have varying degrees of toxicity for people and wildlife. A characteristic is its term of security, i.e. that must pass the days since I applied the product to be able to consume them, still in the hands of the farmer responsible for compliance with these terms. There are also maximum pesticide residue that may remain in a product to consume. Control rests with the Administration and may fail.
In the fight against pests, bad products, stimulate mutation of these capacity to adapt. Their natural predators, such as insects that feed on pests own, die under the pesticides. The result is that pests become stronger and more resistant.

2 fertilizers used in organic farming

Conventional chemical fertilizers are not used because nitrates contaminate freshwater. Nitrates are very soluble and infiltrate the soil reaching groundwater. In the own manufacture of fertilizers are emitted pollutants (nitrogen oxides, fluor powder emissions).
In organic farming, it is credited with:

ECOLOGICAL ORGANIC FERTILIZERS

-Manure from cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig...
-Purines: solid and liquid manure with clean water.
-Industrial Compost (which sold in the 'gardens')
-Homemade Compost
-Black peat and peat blonde: they may be interesting or to give problems.
-Vermicompost (worm called humus)
-Urban waste and sludge from sewage treatment plants: Beware of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury...).
-Green manures: are crops grown with the primary function of bury them green to the soil as manure. Pulses are used to provide nitrogen. Lupins for acid soil and chalky soil, vetch, sweet clover, peas, beans, clover and alfalfa.
-Buried straw or clumps of potato, beet bottlenecks.
-Blood meal
-Horned flour
-Fish meal
-Meat meal
-Algae
-Guano
-Bat droppings
-Manure
-Palomina
-Grape Marc
-Olive pomace
-Pulps of distillery
-Sawdust broad-leaved (to take the compost pile).
-Ash

ORGANIC FERTILIZERS

-Natural phosphates
-Siliceous rock
-Potassium chloride
-Dolomite
-Magnesite
-Magnesium sulphate

3 adapted varieties not used seed genetically modified or transgenic plants.

Transgenic plants are genetically modified to be resistant to pests and diseases or poor soils. These manipulations, such as soybean or corn, arouse great concern about its effects on health, the environment, the future of agriculture and the impact on the poorest countries.
In organic farming are used varieties of seeds adapted to local conditions, improving outcomes and avoiding the disappearance of autochthonous livestock breeds and plant varieties.

4. crop rotation

Crop rotations are essential to maintain the fertility of the soil and avoid the problems of pest and fungus of soil and weeds that can involve the repetition of the same crop in the same place.

5 food of higher quality in organic farming

'Organic' foods are better, more nutritious, healthier, tasty and with a better aroma. They contain less water than those who leave employment chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen, that grow very fast and are mostly that, water, because they have not had the necessary time to synthesize sugars by the Sun or nutrients from the soil.
Non organic products are characterized by its regularity in shape, size and color. They are very beautiful and perfect. The organic farming can be irregular in shape and size, fruit callsign that have grown naturally.

6. water use in organic farming

• Trying to make efficient use of water and not to waste.

• The urban and industrial agriculture wastewatercan be reused. Another alternative is marine or brackish water desalination.
• Overexploitation of aquifers cause salinization of water and soil by the invasion of marine fronts in coastal areas, while in interior areas, it is the invasion of the saline fronts contact saliferos materials and yesíferos. Both are difficult to solve.

7 erosion of soil and organic farming

• Erosion and soil degradation is one of the major environmental problems.
• To prevent erosion from water and wind, little styling, it covers the soil with a mulch-based manure and straw, for example.

• Among the fruit trees keep grass covers and trim it from time to time.
• Reduces runoff by terracing, drainage systems and ridges or obstacles that break the continuity of the descent.

8 tillage in organic farming

• In general, should be styling with the Earth in tempero or seasoning. That is, very wet or very dry. When it is styled with low humidity is obtained a structure too shredded or earthy. On the other hand, work made with too much moisture often knead and cement the separated particles to drying soil. Although for sowing, you may want to make it with the Earth dry so it is fine.
• Styling not routinely, only when needed, reducing to a minimum the number of tasks.
• Avoid turning the soil or mix horizons.

9. weeds and their control in organic farming

Methods of struggle more in organic farming to combat adventitious herbs are:
• Its depletion based on weeding them till.
• Mulch such as straw, compost, manure, peat, gravel, etc.
• In fruit trees, in the majority of cases is preferable to mow the grass, leaving the remains as padding.

Published for educational purposes