Organic Farmer

Basic Tools for Organic Garden

For most organic garden cultivator, making an organic garden not only is beneficial for the environment but it is financial helpful for the cultivator. If you are planning to make an organic garden in your home you should know the basics in order for your organic plants and vegetables to survive. Are you going to cultivate vegetables or flowers or both? This will be the first thing that you should be asking yourself.

Now, for the beginners it would be best if you would concentrate in one plant. Thus, if you are going to cultivate a vegetable, focus on it 100% and as soon as your vegetables are fully grown you may perhaps start planting another category of plants like flowers. The rationale behind this is that there is a special kind of treatment that each and every type of plant will require from you.

These are the basic tools you will need when making an organic vegetable garden:

1. Rake – now, there are actually two types of rake that you can choose to use depending on your need. Bow rake is an ideal tool for preparing garden beds by removing stones, clods and the like. Straight rake, on the other hand, is ideal for smoothing the soil by its back end while its fork is used for removing leaves, weeds and figs on the ground.

2. Hand duster – This will be used to scoop out the compost fertilizer and to spread it on the ground.

3. Measuring stick – this is ideal for measuring the distance between the plant in the garden to provide adequate rows or space.

4. Long-Handled Cultivator – You will use this to refine the soil that has large clods in them.

5. Garden cart – this is also called the wheelbarrow which is use when transferring soil, plants, tools etc. from one place to another.

6. Kitchen compost bucket – If you are planning to make a compost fertilizer, this will be needed. You will place this in your kitchen sot hat all your food waste will be collected and you will not need to go to your backyard every after meal to deposit it.

Wood, steel, plastic, fiber glass or perhaps a combination of the materials are among the materials that these organic garden tools will be made of. Choosing the right tools for your garden all depends on what type of plants you are cultivating in your garden and the size of your garden.

To have an abundant and healthy harvest make sure that the organic garden seeds you are planting are well taken care of. Organic vegetable seed needs special care and attention.

The Role Of Animals In Organic Farming

Farm animals are an important an integrated part of most organic farms. They make valuable contributions to the productivity and sustainability of organic agricultural systems. In addition to this strong economic bond between humans and animals in organic farming, there also is a moral (and sometimes emotional) bond to animals as sentient and fellow beings on this planet. This imposes a responsibility on humans for the welfare of farm animals. However, the development of organic animal husbandry has been slower than the organic plant production. There are several reasons for this, historical and philosophical as well as the fact that research on animal production often is more expensive and difficult to carry out compared to crop research. However, organic animal research has increased considerably in several European countries lately and resulting from this, improved efficiency and productivity can be expected in organic animal production, as well as better animal welfare.

There is a big interest in organic farming in Europe, both among politicians, consumers and farmers. Organic agriculture is subsidized by the EU, and the Commission is currently working on an Action Plan for organic food and agriculture. Animals are an important part of most organic farms and research to develop better organic systems is now performed in many European countries. Thus we can expect organic animal production to increase during the years to come. At the same time there are challenges and dilemmas that the organic movement and organic farmers must face and solve to improve animal production and to maintain credibility and trust among consumers, for example in relation to animal welfare.

In organic farming, agriculture is often referred to as an agroecosystem. An agroecosystem is a community of plants and animal interaction with their physical and chemical environments that have been modified by people to produce feed, fibers and other products for human consumption and processing. The goal of organic farming is to design a quilt of agroecosystems within a landscape unit, each mimicking the structure and function of local, natural ecosystems, thus acquiring their resilience and sustainability. Ideally, the organic farmer manipulates the natural ecosystem to achieve sustainable production, using an understanding of ecological relationships while trying to minimize the use of external inputs and harm to the environment.

Although it is possible to create agroecosystems without farm animal, animal provide substantial advantages for system productivity and sustainability. For example, farm animal have an important role in processing biomass and recycling nutrients. Organic farming systems with herbivores are generally more productive than those without them. The animals can fill trophic niches that otherwise would not be utilized, for example marginal lands otherwise unsuitable for agriculture. However, in order to create sustainable agroecosystems, the animal component must meet certain requirements:-

1. The selection of species and breeds must be adapted to crop production suitable for the area, to available resources on the farm or in the region, and to local agro-climatic conditions.

2. The number of animals must be balanced in relation to the possible crop production and available resources.

3. Rearing systems must be designed to avoid harming the environment and to minimize the use of fossil energy.

Ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, have a particularly important role in agroecosystems since they process leguminous forage plants. These are the backbone of organic crop production because of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. To obtain sufficient nitrogen in an organic crop rotation, about one-third of the crops should be legumes. In practice this means that organic animal production must be based on ruminants (and that these are fed like ruminants). In contrast, monogastric animal, such as pig and poultry, require high quality protein in their diets. These animals can be considered as competing with humans for food, at least to the extent they use protein sources suitable for direct human consumption. Thus, it is sometimes argued that monogastric animals should be considered marginal in organic farming, primarily to be fed on agricultural wastes. They also can contribute to the agroecosystem by producing useful services, such as biological weed or pest control.

Development approaches for organic animal production in developing countries has to be based on realistic and practical situations. First, one must recognize the limitation and complexities of export market for animal products, while there exists greater market opportunities for organic animal products locally, for instance indigenous chicken meat and eggs. Practical approaches for organic farming should be based on and developed from locally existing animal production systems which already have close resemblance to prescribed organic practices, such as those mentioned earlier for ruminant and indigenous chicken production. The local standards and guidelines for organic animal farming ought to be initially considered and developed from such existing animal husbandry practices. Further development of such standards will be a continuous process based on practical experiences gained from production, processing, and marketing of the resulted organic animal products.

The Success of the promotion of organic animal farming at national level will depend on many important factors including government policies and legislative supports, socio-economic infrastructure, farm training and extension as well as other technical supports.

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Tariff Reduction Boosts Organic Farming

International trade is a thorny issue at best, resulting in many unfair practices that affects the livelihood of so many of the world’s most at-risk populations, leading to calls for tariff reductions and fair trade agreements that would boost organic farming.

Eradicating poverty by encouraging organic farming is acknowledged by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as a proven method since selling prices of produce are substantially higher, and more people are employed, lifting community wealth as well.

At present, produce shipped across international boundaries is subject to tariffs of varying amounts, that are intended as a form of tax, supposedly to protect or build up local industries. In practice however, those who benefit from tariffs are often corrupt politicians, national treasuries, or large corporations able to reduce their exposure through knowing the system.

Large scale industrial farming employs very few, removes opportunities for rural employment, and is seen as a great polluter. Organic farming in contrast employs more, is less harmful on the environment, and profitability is roughly the same owing to slightly higher prices at market.

Reducing tariffs on organically grown produce is the goal of many aid agencies, fair trade co-operatives and environmentalists. Surprisingly, organic farmers in the developed world also support tariff reductions. Many smaller countries are net importers of food from developed nations, a market that many organic farmers are excluded from due to higher tariffs.

Organic Farming

On the other side of the equation, organic farmers in developing countries are often not able to sell their produce in markets developed markets because tariffs make their produce too expensive. The fair trade movement has made some gains in supporting organic farmers in developing countries, but more still needs to be done.

Organic farmers and consumers worldwide will benefit from tariff reduction’s and the environment might even benefit as more farmers abandon industrial farming practices.

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