The organic farm phenomenon has quickly grown in popularity in the past few years, as more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits that certified organic products pose. There are different ways to grow an organic farm, too, depending on the available space and tools. Overall, every farmer or producer still aims for the same thing — to yield the best products that can adequately be referred to as organic, through proper management.
What is Organic Farming?
Organic farming is a type of agriculture that depends on green manure, crop rotation, compost, mechanical cultivation, biological pest control and other means to keep the productivity of the soil and control pests. These cover excluding the use of synthetic fertilizers and livestock feed additives, plant growth regulators, genetically modified organisms and synthetic pesticides.
From 1990, certified organic products have become very popular in such a short time, that in 2007, the market has grown to $46 billion. Organically grown farmland has been in demand since then. At present, there are about 32.2 million hectares of organically grown farms all over the globe. The total amounts to only about 0.8% of farmland worldwide. Organic wild products are also gathered on about 30 million hectares.
On Organic Agriculture
Organic farming includes organic agricultural methods that are regulated internationally and legitimately enforced by several nations, based largely in part on the IFOAM standards. IFOAM stands for International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. It is an international umbrella agency that started in 1972, focusing primarily on organic groups. IFOAM has a goal in organic farming.
Organic agriculture is defined as a production system that maintains healthy soils, people and the entire ecosystem. It only depends on ecological means, cycles and biodiversity adapted to local conditions, compared to the use of conventional inputs with several bad effects. Organic farms mix innovation, tradition and science, which in turn, will be advantageous to the shared environment, thereby encouraging equal relationships and an ideal quality of life for all people involved.
The Techniques
Soil management is very important if you want to get certified organic food. Plants will need potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous, together with micronutrients to grow properly. Crop rotation and green manure or cover crops will support the plants by providing enough nitrogen. The residues of the crop can be brought back into the soil, so different plants leave off various amounts of nitrogen. Processed fertilizers are still applied like mineral powders and seed meal.
Weed control should also be done as well as pest control since different fungi and bacteria can trigger disease. Insect pests can hinder the growth of organic farms. Standards are always followed to maintain optimum production in all certified organic foods. The agencies that certify do not usually certify individual farms, but instead accredit certification groups to ensure consumers that their source of organic foods meet the set standards every time.
The Industry
As far as the industry is concerned, organic farms support about 2% of the total food supply in the United States. Sales of certified organic products have grown significantly by around 20% each year. It is the fastest growing portion of agriculture. Several chefs, restaurants and establishments all over the country are now using organic produce due to the quality and flavor. Other countries are also quickly embracing the idea such as Germany and Japan, with their own organic markets growing steadily over the past few years.
Tags: certified organic, certified organic food, organic agriculture, organic farm, organic farming, organically grown