Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

San Jose, Pili, Camarines Sur

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Various Models of Ecological Agriculture

Organic Farming , Types, and Methods

Ginalyn M. Velasco
Instructor, AGRI 2
Definition of Organic Agriculture
"Organic Agriculture is a production system that sustains the health
of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes,
biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the
use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic Agriculture
combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared
environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of
life for all involved..."

- International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement

 Organic Farming Methods
• Combine scientific knowledge of ecology and modern
technology with traditional farming practices based on
naturally occurring biological processes

• Organic farmers are restricted by regulations to using natural

pesticides and fertilizers. Ex. Pyrethrin

• Principal methods of OF are crop rotation, green manures and

compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation
Organic Farming Methods cont..
• To enhance agricultural productivity;

– Legumes are planted to fix nitrogen into the soil

– Natural insect predators are encouraged
– Crops are rotated to confuse pest and renew soil, and
– Natural insect predators are encouraged
• Potassium bicarbonate and mulches
– Crop diversity supports a wider range of beneficial
insects , soil microorganisms and other factors
 Organic Farming have excluded..

• Synthetic pesticides and water-soluble

synthetically purified fertilizers

• Genetically modified seeds and animals

 Soil Management
• OF relies on the natural breakdown of organic matter

• OF methods to improve soil fertility

– Crop rotation and cover cropping (provide nitrogen through
legumes
– reduced tillage (less carbon is lost to the atmosphere)and
– application of compost (different plant leaves diff. amount
of nitrogen
 Soil Management cont..
• Natural pH amendments include lime and sulfur
• Mixed farms (livestock and crops) - gathers fertility
through nitrogen-fixing forage grasses (white clover
or alfalfa) and grows cash crops when fertility is
established)
– Field with less or no manure display significantly lower
yields
– Increased manure improves biological activity, providing a
healthier , more arable soil and higher yields
 Weed Management
• Organic weed management promotes weed
suppression, rather than weed elimination
• Organic farmer integrate cultural biological,
mechanical, physical and chemical tactics
• Organic standards require rotation of annual crops
• Mechanical and physical weed control practices
– Tillage – turning the soil between crops
– Mowing and cutting – removing top growth of weeds
– Fame weeding and thermal weeding – using heat to kill weeds
– Mulching – blocking weed emergence with organic materials
 Controlling other organisms

Organisms aside from weeds that cause

problems on organic farms include
arthropods (e.g., insects, mites),
nematodes, fungi and bacteria
 Controlling other organisms cont..
• Organic practices include, but are not limited to:

– Encouraging predatory beneficial insects to control pests

– Encouraging beneficial organisms
– Rotating crops to different locations from year to year
– Planting companion crops and pest repelling plants that
discourage or divert pests
– Using biological pesticides and herbicides
– Using sanitation to remove pest habitat
– Using insect traps to monitor and control insect population
 Types of Organic Farming

• Biodynamic farming
• Forest Gardening
• Organic Horticulture
• Natural Farming
• Permaculture
BIODYNAMIC
FARMING
 Biodynamic farming
• Very similar to organic farming but which include
various esoteric concepts drawn from the ideas of
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

• Unique methods include treatment of animals,

crops, and soil as a single system, its use of
traditional and development of new local breeds
and varieties; and the use of astrological sowing
and planting calendar
 Biodynamic farming cont..
• Uses various herbal and mineral additives for compost
additives and field sprays; these are sometimes prepared by
controversial methods, such as burying ground quartz stuffed into
the horn of a cow, which are said to harvest “cosmic forces in the
soil” that are more akin to sympathetic magic than agronomy.
• As of 2016 BF techniques were use in 161, 074 has in
60 countries
• Demeter International – Certification agency for
biodynamic products
Biodynamic Method of Farming
Demeter Association recommends that:
(a) Minimum of ten percent of the total farm
acreage be set aside as biodiversity
preserve
(b) Diversity in crop rotation and perennial
planting is required: no annual crop can be
planted in the same field for more than two
years in succession
 Biodynamic Method of Farming
cont..
Demeter Association recommends that:
(c) Bare tillage year round is prohibited so land
needs to maintain adequate green cover
(d) Individual design of the land “by the farmer,
as determined by site conditions
• The farm is conceived of as an organism, a self-
contained entity with its own individuality

• Disease and insect control are addressed through

botanical species diversity, predator habitat, balanced
crop nutrition, and attention to light penetration and
airflow

• Weed control emphasizes prevention, including timing of

planting, mulching, and identifying and avoiding the
spread of invasive weed species
• BA differs from many forms of OA in its
spiritual, mystical, and astrological
orientation

• Biodynamic farming practices have been

found to be more resilient to environmental
challenges
 Biodynamic Preparations
Field Preparations
1. 500: horn manure
a humus mixture prepared by filling the horn of a cow with cow
manure and burying it in the ground (40-60 cm below the surface)
in the autumn. It is left to decompose during the winter and
recovered for use the following spring
2. 501
crushed powdered quartz prepared by stuffing it into a horn of a cow
and buried into the ground in spring and taken out in autumn. It can
be mixed with 500 but usually prepared on its own (mixture of 1
tablespoon of quartz powder to 250 liters of water. The mixture is
sprayed under very low pressure over the crop during the wet season,
in an attempt to prevent fungal diseases. It should be sprayed on an
overcast day or early in the morning to prevent burning of the leaves.
 Biodynamic Preparations
Compost Preparations
1. 502
Yarrow blossoms (Archillea millefolium) are stuffed into urinary
bladders from Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

2. 503
Camomile blossoms (Matricaria recutita) are stuffed into small
intestines from cattle buried in humus-rich earth in the autumn and
retrieved in the spring
 Biodynamic Preparations
Compost Preparations
3. 504
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) plants in full bloom are stuffed
together underground surrounded on all sides by peat for a
year

4. 505
Oak bark (Quercos robur) is chopped in small pieces, placed
inside the skull of a domesticated animal, surrounded by
peat and buried in earth in a place where lots of rain water
run past
 Biodynamic Preparations
Compost Preparations
5. 506
Dandelion flowers (Taraxacum officinale) are stuffed into the
mesentery of a cow and buried in earth during winter and retrieved in
the spring

6. 507
Valerian flowers (Valeriana officinalis) are extracted into water

7. 508
Horsetail (Equisetum)
 Planting Calendar
• Lunar and astrological influences on soil and
plant development

– e.g., choosing to plant, cultivate or harvest

various crops based on both the phase of the
moon and the zodiacal constellation the moon is
passing through. This termed “astrological” in
nature
 Seed Production

• Focused on open pollination of seeds (with

farmers thereby generally growing their
own seed) and the development of locally
adapted varieties.
FOREST GARDENING
 Forest Gardening
• Low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and
agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating
fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, and perennial vegetables
which have yields directly useful to humans.

• Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow

in a succession of layers, to build a woodland habitat
 In tropical climates
• Forest gardens, or home gardens, are common in tropics,
using intercropping to cultivate trees, crops, and livestock on
the same land.

• These gardens exemplify polyculture, and conserve much

crop genetic diversity and heirloom plants that are not found
in monoculture.

• Forest gardens have been loosely compared to the religious

concept of the Garden of Eden
 Seven-layer System
Robert Hart pioneered a seven layer system
1. „canopy layer‟ consisting of the original mature fruit trees
2. „Low-tree layer‟ of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root
stocks
3. „Shrub layer‟ of fruit bushes such as currants and berries
4. „Herbaceous layer‟ of perennial vegetables and herbs
5. „Rhizosphere‟ or „underground‟ dimension of plants grown for their
roots and tubers
6. „ Ground cover layer‟ of edible plants that spread horizontally
7. „Vertical layer‟ of vines and climbers
Organic Horticulture
 Organic Horticulture
• It is a science and art of growing fruits, vegetables,
flowers, or ornamental plants by following the essential
principles or organic agriculture in soil building and
conservation, pest management, and heirloom variety
preservation

• Hortus ( garden plant) , cultura (culture) = culture or

growing of garden plants “ agriculture minus the plough”
 Pest Control Approaches
• Organic horticulture tolerate some pest
populations while taking the long view
• It requires understanding of pest life cycles
and interactions
– Allowing for an acceptable level of pest damage
– Encouraging predatory beneficial insects to
flourish and eat pests
– Encouraging beneficial microorganisms
Pest Control Approaches cont..
– Careful plant selection, choosing disease-resistant
varieties
– Planting companion crops that discourage or divert
pests
– Using row covers to protect crop plants during pest
migration periods
– Rotating crops to different location from year to year
to interrupt pest reproduction cycles
– Using insect traps to monitor and control insect
populations
Natural
farming
• Ecological farming approach established
by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008), a
Japanese farmer and philosopher

• Natural farming also referred to as “ the

Fukuoka Method”, the natural way of
farming” or “do-nothing farming”
• Natural farming minimises human labor and
adopts, as closely as practical, nature‟s
production of foods in biodiverse agricultural
ecosystems

• Fukuoka used the presence of spiders in his

fields as a key performance indicator of
sustainability
• Fukuoka specifies that the ground remain covered by
weeds. Ground cover is present along with grain, and
vegetables. Chicken run free in orchards and ducks and
carp populate rice fields.

• Periodically ground layer plants including weeds may be

cut and left on the surface, returning their nutrients in the
soil, while suppressing weed growth.
 Climax ecosystem

Mature ecosystems that have reached a

high degree of stability, productivity, and
diversity
 No-till
Soil – fundamental natural asset
Tilling degrades the delicate balance of a climax
soil:
– destroy crucial physical characteristics of soil such as
water suction
– destroys soil horizon and hence disrupt the
established flow of nutrients
– Uproots all the plants in the area, this damages their
ability to aerate the soil
Permaculture
 Permaculture
“The conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally
productive systems which have the diversity, stability,
and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the
harmonious integration of the landscape with people
providing their food, energy, shelter and other material
and non-material needs on sustainable way.”

- Bob Mollison
 Closed Loop Systems
Sustainable – any system that provides for its
own energy needs

Successful closed loop system – “turns waste

into resources” and “problems into solutions.”

e.g., “ You don‟t have snail problem, you have

duck deficiency.”
 Multiple Functions
Permaculture should fulfill more than one function.

– To create an integrated, self-sufficient system through

the strategic design and placement of its components.

e.g., if you need a fence to contain animals, you might

design it so that it also functions as a windbreak, a
trellis, and a reflective surface to direct extra heat and
light to nearby plants.
 Eco-Earthworks
Water conservation is a major focus on
permaculture farms and gardens, where the
earth is often carefully sculpted to direct every
last drop of rain toward some useful purpose

e.g., terraces on steep land, or a system of canals

and planting berms on low swampy ground.
 Let Nature Do the Work for You
Permaculture creed is perhaps best captures in to
Mollisonian mantras of “working with, rather than
against, nature” and of engaging in “protracted and
thoughtful observation, rather than protracted and
thoughtless labor.”

e.g., Chicken tractors, the natural scratching and bug

hunting behaviour of hens is harnessed to clear an
area of pests and weeds in preparation for planting
 Reference
https://modernfarmer.com/2016/04/permaculture/

Hawkins, Cruz (2017). Organic Farming. 5 Penn Plaza, 19th

Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA: Larsen and Keller
Education.