A Look Into The Future

Is the outlook a bleak one? As the natural balance tips, overloaded by the sheer force of human impact, what can we expect? Everyone seems to have an opinion, but in the main, only a handful of people really understand what might happen and how soon it will happen. Will it be gradual or will it be sudden? I have heard on one hand that the ocean levels may increase by 5 meters in as many years and I find this hard to believe, I have heard that global warming has been caused by human impact and another that argues that human impact has contributed in only an insignificant way in what is otherwise a natural global/planetary cycle.

Al Gore has done a lot of research on this subject, and is campaigning for change to take place globally. I am inclined to follow his way of thinking, predictions based on scientific research, and, I believe, we have to take steps to repair the damage we humans have done. So join this ever expanding mindset, read, watch the many documentaries available on the subject and help keep our impact to a minimum.

A Farmer Who Dared

This is a true story. A small scale farmer in Mozambique, by Western standards, a poor man, saw the benefits of organic farming, made the transition and has never looked back. A church missionary organisation had come into the area and began teaching farmers organic farming. Their progress is good but slow because the local markets sell pesticides of all kinds and farmers are reluctant to change the way they have farmed for so long. But the farmer in this story patiently watched the demonstration plots set up by the mission, he saw how healthy the crops were and how abundant the crop yields were, so he too set about changing how he farmed. He told me that he always struggled to feed his family, but in the 5 years since he began farming organically his fields have provided well. Walking through his fields, he shows me how damp the soil is under the thick layer of mulch and ground cover crops, pumpkin and water melon. The maize is a healthy green colour and towers above us, yet all the adjacent fields are barren and dry whilst their owners await the rain so they can plant their crops. The organic farmer, on the other hand will soon be reaping the third crop that year. But although his methods are obviously successful, whilst many of his contemporaries in the community now farm as he does, the majority do not. Why? I don't know, but there is a transition taking place, and that is encouraging.

One thing to think about here, is that this story is about a farmer who has no mechanical aids to farm with. What he and his family produce from their land is what sustains them, it is their livelihood in the true sense of the word. These people do not have lots of money, they do not have the modern material possessions that we in the Western world take so much for granted, they do no own a car or even a motorcycle, and yet their lives are full and rich. They have had fewer choices in their lives than I have and yet they are more content than me. From such people, we have much to learn, the farmer in this story is a wise man, he has chosen to farm organically after careful consideration because he would and could never jeopardise his family their bread and butter. He is a good man, and I am privileged to call him a friend

Crazy Sick World

We live in a world that is ill. We are out of kilter with nature and in a crazy spin of repetition. From one generation to the next and the next and the next our inventiveness gives us all these wonderful gadgets, our nature is to be inquisitive, to want these wonderful things. We toil day in day out to make enough money to pay the bills and to buy the things we want, and so it goes. It's great, isn't it? But we haven't achieved a balance, the impact we humans have on this planet is huge and although we are slowly learning how to reduce that impact, it is all too plain to see, wherever we look, that whilst some try hard, others don't think there's anything to worry about, that it's OK now and that is all that matters.

If the vast majority, or maybe even only half of the people living in high density population areas took an active interest in just one of the millions of natures little intricacies and that interest spread through to things linked to it, that little bit of personal knowledge or even expertise will raise that persons awareness to the plight of mother earth. Be thoughtful, get interested, become involved, become a part of the solution, not the problem.

Organic Farming, Opinions

There are a number of arguments fore and against the use of organic agriculture. Today at work, a young man who comes from a farming family in the Northwest of England said that organic farming doesn't work here. This reaction is typical to 'modern farmers' all over the globe, and in one sense that young man was correct, but only in the sense that anyone attempting, for instance, Integrated Pest Management and surrounded by neighbours who control pests with chemicals, the efforts of the farmer in I.P.M. would be hampered because the pest predators would perish if the chemical spray drifted over. Another set back would be that pests would migrate to the crops that are free of chemicals, and even if there are good predator numbers, the pest numbers would be too great. So this is why entire areas would have to be dedicated 'chemical free'. My opinion is that organic agriculture is the only sustainable way forward. But my opinion is only my opinion. There are others who share this opinion, but the majority of farmers who control the land are in the business of survival or profit. They are the ones who have to be convinced and no amount of yelling and screaming will hold with them if money is to be lost, or yields reduced during the transitional phases. For them it is too big a gamble because their entire livelihood would rest upon such a decision. They would rather stick to what they know works, and that's the end of it. The answer is to prove beyond doubt that becoming fully organic actually works, and if there are losses during the transitional phase from non-organic to organic, then assistance should be given.

I also believe that the future of food production will rely upon more sustainable use of land. The world, as always, and possibly even more rapidly, is changing. The raw materials from which fertilisers are made are not in endless supply, toxic chemicals and rapidly expanding populations continue to pollute the air and water and soils, yet we bumble aimlessly along, completely unaware of the long term and only living for today. We say we want a better world for our children and so many of us do, but some do not mean what they say because they are blissfully unaware of the implications and others just don't know any better.

We hope that the next generation and the next and the next will be more aware..............

Organic Farming; Local Knowledge

Local knowledge on any farm is important. This picture shows a little jumping spider on a tomato plant. This spider is a hunter, and by spraying it with an insecticide, just like the pests, it also dies. Then begins a vicious circle in which the farmer sprays, wipes everything out and invariably the pests come back quicker and stronger causing even more damage because the natural predators have been eradicated. The balance is upset, and the scales tip, and the crops suffer.

Toxic chemicals offer an immediate solution in the control of diseases, pests and weeds, but pests do build up resistances against pesticides, residues of specialised herbicides build up in the soils and ultimately cause problems with crops, such as stunted growth. The natural elements of the environment adapt and change, the chemical companies develop new chemicals to replace those to which a resistance has been forged by nature. Nature is an immense force and to work against it is folly, work with it, apply what occurs naturally and she does not have to fight back, she settles down, the farmer, and nature win.

Organic Farming; An example of transition

These are images of an excellent attempt (and a rather successful one at that) by a small scale farmer in Mozambique, to change to a more sustainable way of farming. The reason this farmer is doing this is because he has seen the benefits of doing so, and says his crops have done well since he started. His is a more 'regimented' approach to what I promote, but it is still a huge step in the right direction. I do not mean that my approach is all higgldy piggldy and all over the place, but what I promote is something that is more permanent. In the 1970's two Australians coined the term 'permaculture', a term they derived (I believe) from 'permanent agriculture'. The idea is that people farm using all the natural resources available to them, to their benefit. It is a state of everything within a given environment, plays a role toward the balance and health of that environment. Absolutely everything is used in some way to add value to the environment, to earn it's keep. The idea is fantastic but since the introduction of modern agricultural methods, we have all but lost the knowledge of how to farm without the aid of chemicals. We became a little too clever for our own good.

But do not worry!! Not only have our scientists worked out how to make things that ultimately destroy, some have gained a deep understanding of how most things work, and we can use that knowledge to bring our depleted agricultural soils, back to health. Nature always fights to make a come-back when people tear it down and strip it back, so the cause is never fully lost; soils that have relied on heavy chemical fertilisation to support crops, can be rehabilitated.

In these pictures the farmer has planted a bean crop and every three rows of beans there is a row of maize. The following year the main crop in this field will be maize and every fourth row will be beans, and so on. This type of farming has been called 'Conservation Agriculture' or 'CA'. CA does tick some of the boxes, and will sustain land for much longer periods than 'mono-cropping', but it is not, in my humble opinion, a fully self sustaining system.

A self sustaining system is one that has a number of permanent or long term components. It is a system that fertilises itself, providing all the plants nutritional needs. It supports everything on its soils, livestock, people and plants and if done properly on a scale that can be managed by one family, it will produce a healthy excess which the farmer can sell.

This is what must be aimed at, it is an attainable goal, but many obstacles exist.......................

Organic Farming; Integrated Planting and Pest Management

Integrated Planting is to plant an assortment of plants in the same field, each plant having a specific purpose. The whole idea of farming is to produce food and whilst the principles outlined in this article can be used on any scale, it is primarily aimed for use by small scale farmers in developing countries, who do not have access to the same resources available in more developed countries. Having said that, the issue of whether to resort to Organic Farming or not is a global concern and forward thinking and the more enlightened farmers in developed countries are already changing the way they farm.

So, to a subsistence farmer in a developing country, the primary concern is to produce enough food for the family. Any excess is a bonus and that excess is often difficult to get to market before it goes off. Our aim is not only to introduce these farmers to a system of agriculture that is at one with the environment, it will also produce greater yields of superior quality and without any trace elements of toxic chemicals.

Now back to how to select plants for an integrated planting. The things to be considered are

(a) The creation of an environment that will provide an adequate habitat for pest predators

(b) Leguminous plants who's root nodules provide a habitat for Nitrifying bacteria that are essential to the production of Nitrogen in the soil

(c) Trailing plants that provide 'ground cover' and help shade the soil from the direct sunlight

(d) The seasonal crop, which in many cultures, is a staple food such as maize or rice

With the above as a guide, a number of other issues must be considered; What will grow well in the climate of an area, Ideally all the plants selected must produce a crop that will be used and can be sold in the local area, Will some of the plants provide an adequate habitat for pest predators and the plant populations must be carefully considered so that not too much demand is placed on the soil, but enough produce can be yielded.

A basic example is;

The staple crop is maize

The legume crop, pigeon peas

Ground cover using cucumber and pumpkin

Ground nuts can also be used as a ground cover crop

Inter-cropping can be done in a number of ways, and what we want to achieve is a natural balance;

Say for example we plant two rows of maize, two of ground nuts and one row of pigeon peas. All the rows with an 1 meter spacing and an inter-row spacing of say 50cm. We would then plant cucumbers an pumpkin; 1 station every 3 meters in-row and every 4th row. Each year/season, the maize and groundnut rows should be alternated because the ground nuts 'condition' the soil.

Looking at this we now want to establish some permanent structure for our plant predators without taking too much from the soil. This, we will discuss in the next post...........

Organic Farming, a few tips

It is not always possible to make an immediate transition to organic farming, so here are some things that can be done during the initial phases to minimise pest damage and reduce the incidence of disease;

In a healthy natural habitat, pest infestations are controlled by pest predators and if the balance is right, pest numbers are kept to a minimum and plants can remain healthy because that damage is negligible. This includes life that resides in the soil, on the soil or in plants. Unfortunately all life, pests and predators are wiped out when a farmer sprays to control the pest levels. Chemical pest control wipes out the natural control and in monoculture (the practice of single crop fields) the habitat is not ideal for pest predators. So how do we tackle the problem in the transitional phases? Farmers firstly need to provide the ideal habitat for pest predators. My experience is that pest predators do not necessarily require specific plant types in which to live, they require structure in the form of shrubs, trees, grass and a healthy soil adequately covered with dead plant matter. The provision of this structured habitat for predators will take some time to establish properly, so until we have created the right environment, we still have to contend with the pests. This can be done in a controlled manner; (a) by teaching farmers what are predators or pests (b) teaching the farmers to 'scout' their fields and record pest and predator numbers and to use given pest/predator numbers as a guide as to when to spray and (c) to spray using chemicals that pose the least threat to the natural environment.

As already stated, the transition will take time, and until such time the natural balance is achieved and the farmer understands what is required to maintain that balance, some 'modern farming' practices will have to be used, but only as a last resort and only in a strictly controlled way.

More to come......................

Organic Farming, some pictures

A tomato plant has been transplanted from a nursery into a well mulched field.

This field was planted with cabbages and mulched in the initial phase of soil rehabilitation. Interplanted among the cabbages were cow peas for the supply of Nitrogen

Soil rehab

Heavily farmed soils, without man made fertilisers is almost basic parent material which is only one element of soil. The parent material is weathered rock, but healthy soils contain much more. They contain decomposing vegetable and animal matter and water. This additional content feeds a vast terrestrial population of microscopic and non microscopic life and is recycled into food for growing plants. But the health of the soil does not rely solely upon recycled pant and animal matter, plants also play an important role.

The first part of rehabilitating depleted soils is to add moisture and decomposing plant matter to create an environment in which the living organisms that recycle this matter can survive. Also, unlike the modern farming practice of monoculture, we should plant a carefully selected variety of crops and everything must have a purpose, a role within the new micro ecosystem. In addition, the soils should be mulched or covered from the direct sunlight using trailing plants such as pumpkins, so that evaporation is reduced and hence, moisture retention improved and all plant residues from the land should be used as mulch or turned to compost to enrich the soils once the compost is sufficiently decomposed. The advantage of controlled composing is that the decomposition process is accelerated and so the nutrients are ready for use by plants sooner.

So the key 'things to do' on an organic farm are; Do not waste any plant residues, make compost, mulch the soils and plan an 'integrated planting'.

Much, much more to come...........

The transition phase...continued

Continued from the previous post.....

This image shows composting grass pulled out from under a heap of grass cleared from a field in Vinho, Mozambique, and had been piled there for only about a month. Note the advanced state of decomposition.

This image is an example of how quickly nature takes hold, if it is allowed to do so. The problem on farms is that nature is kept at bay and the natural balance of things is lost. The compost in the picture was moist in an area that had received virtually no rain in two months and the reason it was moist is that the sunlight could not penetrate past the outer layer, this is why mulching is vital. It was full of earth worms and a myriad of other life including fungi. Our aim here is to explain how to revive the natural balance of an environment, so I will not digress into the roles played by all of these terrestrial life forms. Suffice to say, everything has a role to play and in a balanced environment, the desirable natural elements thrive and keep the undesirable elements at a level to which they are not detrimental to the health of the plant life in that environment.

In the next article, we will begin with the practical things we can do on the farm, to rejuvenate the soil, showing how natural fertilisation occurs, and then we will move onto the control of pests and diseases using Mother Nature as our guide.

The Transition to Organic Farming

The most daunting decision to make for any farmer who relies on what their land can produce for survival, is to change from a well known system they have used for years, to something that is new, something that in that farmers eyes is open to all sorts of failure. The image above is a grim reality to every hard working farmer; PESTS. Another are crop diseases, and what they find hard to get past is that if they do not control pests and disease, their crops will never amount to anything. One of the most difficult obstacles we have is that the transitional phase may well produce poor results in the first two or three years. So in order to help poor farmers in developing countries make the transition, they would have to be assisted to a point where their land has regained its natural healthy balance and can once again produce abundantly for them.

Next, we will cover the process of bringing the soils and the farming environment back from 'ill health' to a self sustaining, balanced micro ecosystem, of which the people and everything else on the land are an integral part.