Nutrients in Organic Farming

farms are designed to maintain soil fertility, but not to directly feed
plants.
yields are generally 20-45% lower on organic farms than
conventional farms primarily due to reduced levels of plant
available nutrients.
If organic farming were to be widely adopted, lower yields would
require more land (25-82%) to sustain production.
In Europe, organic practices increase nitrate leaching, both per unit
area and per unit of food produced, due to lower N use efficiency.
organic farming systems recycle only on-farm wastes and approved
food wastes, with most municipal wastes excluded due to concerns
about pollutants. (Holger Kirchmann and Megan H. Ryan2004)

Plant nutrition viewed in organic farming
philosophy.

No synthetic fertilizers in organic farming:
any addition of mineral fertilizers affects crops in such a
way that they lose their nutritional value Steiner 1975
artificial fertilizers speed up the rate at which humus is
exhausted Balfour 1943
agricultural research with inorganic fertilizers is
misleading. The great nature law of return, birth-growth-
reproduction-death-decay is ignored Howard 1947
artificial fertilization is not a normal, physiological and
natural form of plant nutrition and that it is impossible to
mimic the natural release of nutrients from soils to crops
and this is the mistake of artificial fertilizers Rusch 1978
Nutrients shortage in Organic Farming
Not enough source of nutrients allowed in OF:
On-farm waste, organic food waste, bone meal, untreated minerals (rock
P)
Nutrients depleting by long-term OF:
Often more N lost by leaching
Farm-gate balances also indicate a greater output than
input of nutrients in organic agriculture (Fowler et al 1993;
Nolte and Werner 1994; Granstedt 1995)