Organic Farming Techniques

Green Manures and Cover Crops

Green manuring consists of incorporating into the soil a crop grown for the purposes of soil improvement. It is a practice with a long history. Green manuring has been ignored in recent years as a serious option for soil improvement because the traditional practice entailed planting a full-season cover crop. This removed the field from commercial production for a whole season.

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Organic Agriculture

What is Organic Agriculture?

Over the years, it has become commonplace to understand and define organic agriculture as farming without synthetic pesticides and conventional fertilizers. This should not be considered a definition but a characteristic — only one characteristic of a socially and environmentally conscious approach to agriculture that is currently experiencing rapid growth in the U.S.(1)

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To a very small extent garden vegetables get their food from the air. The amount obtained in this way however, is so infinitesimal that from the practical standpoint it need not be considered at all. Practically speaking, your vegetables must get all their food from the garden soil.

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Organic Principles

There are several compelling principles that characterize certified organic farming. They include biodiversity, integration, sustainability, natural plant nutrition, natural pest management, and integrity. Most organic operations will reflect all of these to a greater or lesser degree. Since each farm is a distinct entity, there is a large degree of variation.

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Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) is one of several types of Microirrigation (Conservation Practice Standard 441). It is a planned irrigation system in which water is applied directly to the root zone of plants by means of applicators (E.g. orifices, emitters, and porous tubing) placed below the ground surface. It is operated under low pressure. It is one of the more advanced irrigation methods in use today.

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Advances in farming practices have brought about methods to control weed growth without relying on the plow. One of the most advanced and effective of these new methods is called no-till agriculture. As the name implies, no-till agriculture allows a farmer to plant the crop and control weeds without turning the soil.

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