Practical Organic Farming

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Organic farming and gardening: systems and approaches. 3. Principles of organic agriculture. 4. Organic farming: soil fertility, soil structure, crop nutrition, crop rotation and crop health. 5. Permitted pesticides in organic farming. 6. Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. 7. Using organic fungicides. 8. Genetically modified crops: hope for developing countries. 9. Organically fertilised soils: reduced nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrified activity. 10. Impacts of organic farming on biodiversity? 11. Regenerative organic farming: a solution to global warming. 12. Organic fertilizer. 13. Organic food. 14. Motivations for organic agriculture. 15. Green maturing for tropical organic cropping. 16. Organic farming and biodiversity. 17. Organic products. Bibliography. Index.

Beginning as a small protest to the industrialization of agriculture in the 1920s, organic farming has become a significant force in agricultural policy, marketing, and research. No longer dismissed as unscientific and counterproductive, organic techniques are now taken seriously by farmers, consumers, scientists, food processors, marketers, and regulatory agencies in much of the world.

Organic farming is both dynamic and forward looking but is also rooted in tradition. It is these traditions that can provide valuable starting points in debates over how organic farming should meet new challenges such as globalization, the emergence of new production techniques, and growing concern over equality and social justice agriculture. Complementing general discussions with case histories of important organic institutions in various countries, this comprehensive discussion is that first to explore the development of agriculture. (jacket)