How Organic Farming Works: Organic Farming Guide

Organic agriculture is a complex system of management practices for everything from soil to pests. This holistic farming method has risen in popularity due to consumer demands for produce grown without the use of synthetic chemicals for their households.

Organic farming is an agricultural practice in which farmers use naturally occurring matter and methods (instead of synthetic chemicals) to produce crops. However, at its core, organic farming is more than just omitting synthetic chemicals, it’s about using nature’s model at every stage of the process, from planting to harvesting, to encourage healthy, sustainable crops.

Organic farming is in contrast with conventional farming methods, in which farmers use artificial chemicals in both fertilizers and pesticides.

For thousands of years, organic farming was the only option when it came to agricultural systems. However, with the invention of synthetic fertilizers in the mid-1800s, farmers turned to artificial chemicals to increase their crop production. These chemical fertilizers, while effective, eventually began to create problems, including increased soil erosion and compaction.

In the early 1900s, botanist Albert Howard called for a return to nonsynthetic fertilizers in order to promote healthy soil once again. Farmer J.I. Rodale took this initiative to heart, and in the 1940s developed the first modern organic farmland in the United States. Since then, the US has established systems for organic food, including the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP), which regulates and certifies “USDA organic” food.

Organic farming systems mirror the methods of Mother Nature to solve common crop problems.

• Natural fertilizers: Organic farming methods eschew synthetic chemicals in their fertilizers, opting instead to use natural matter to give their plants nutrients. Natural fertilizers like compost (broken down organic matter), animal manure, and green manure (cover crops left to decompose in the fields) help to reinvigorate the soil with nutrients in preparation for a new crop.
• Crop diversity and rotation: When a wide field is sown with just one crop, and that crop is the same year-after-year, two problems arise: first, the soil can quickly run out of the right nutrients, and second, the cropland becomes a huge target for pests, which discover that they can enjoy their entire reproductive cycle in the same spot rather than traveling to find more plants. To build up soil fertility and discourage pests, organic farmers often intermingle several crops in one field and alternate which fields host which crops in a tactic called crop rotation.
• Weed suppression: While conventional farming is all about “weed elimination,” or eradicating weeds with herbicides after they’ve sprouted, organic farming takes the approach of “weed suppression,” or working to prevent the weeds from sprouting in the first place. To discourage weeds from growing, organic farmers turn the soil between crops, mulch around crops, sow cover crops, and keep their plants healthy to outcompete the weeds. When weeds do sprout, they can use several organic methods to remove them, including mowing, thermal weeding, natural chemicals, and even grazing animals like geese.
• Predatory insects: In conventional farming, predatory insects are often missing from the farming process, thereby allowing pest populations to swell. Organic producers combat this by attracting predatory insects to their fields, usually by sowing desirable plants in or around their fields that the predatory insects use for laying eggs.

Organic farming has several advantages:

• No harmful pesticides. Most synthetic pesticides used in conventional farming can be toxic to humans and animals. These pesticides can leach into the air and groundwater sources, polluting the area surrounding the farm. In addition, weeds that are persistently exposed to pesticides often begin to develop resistance to the chemicals, resulting in stronger weeds that require even stronger chemicals to keep them at bay. With organic crops, pesticide use is omitted entirely, meaning the risk of pollution is significantly lower.
• Sustainably healthy soil. Conventional farming strips the soil of its valuable nutrients, artificially adding the nutrients back in with synthetic fertilizers. This process doesn’t encourage the growth of healthy bacteria or other decomposers who maintain soil health in nature, meaning that if a conventional farmer left their field to sit, the soil would struggle to build its nutrients back up to healthy levels. On the other hand, organic farming aims to be sustainable agriculture, and it infuses soil with healthy bacteria and decomposers, resulting in soil that is more sustainable. In addition, organic soil combats erosion much more effectively than synthetically treated soil, meaning that soil will last longer and won’t be washed away by rainfall or wind.
• Biodiversity. Organic fields aim for biodiversity in plants, meaning that a wide variety of plant species thrive on the farm during a given year. Not only is this biodiversity healthier for the soil and better at controlling pest populations, it also creates a healthy environment for wild fauna like birds, deer, reptiles, rodents, and other animals—creating a more balanced ecosystem.

There are a few reasons that organic farming hasn’t replaced conventional farming:

• High costs. While organic farming may enjoy higher profits than conventional farming (due to price premiums on organic produce and the high cost of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides), organic farming’s crop-rotation methods are an inefficient way to make money. Take, for example, strawberries, which are a high-profit crop: conventional farmers can grow and harvest multiple strawberry crops in rapid succession, while organic standards require a rotational crop like broccoli in between strawberry crops to refresh the soil. In addition, an organic production system requires more labor, so its labor costs are significantly higher.
• Land requirements. On the whole, organic farming practices require more land than conventional farming, in order to accommodate things like crop rotation and healthy livestock.
• Difficult transition periods. If a conventional food farm wants to receive organic certification in the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certifiers must operate without synthetic chemicals for three full years. That means that a farm must commit to three years of more expensive conditions (for instance, requiring more labor) without enjoying any of the benefits of selling certified organic food.

Organic and conventional farming have a few key differences:

• Fertilizer: While organic farms commit to using natural material (like manure and compost) to provide nutrients to their crops, conventional farmers may use anything from synthetic fertilizers to treated municipal waste (also called sewage sludge).
• Pest management: Organic farming opts for natural pest-control measures, like tilling, crop rotation, mulch, and predatory insects. Conventional farmers use powerful chemical pesticides and herbicides to eradicate insect pests and weeds.
• Biodiversity: Organic farming implements biodiversity, often planting different crops together and rotating crops between fields. Conventional agriculture doesn’t aim for biodiversity—farmers can plant one type of crop for maximum profit and efficiency.
• Genetic modification: Organic farming prohibits genetically modified organisms, (GMOs), growth hormones, or antibiotic therapy, opting instead for natural products and treatments for animal health. Conventional agriculture may use genetic modification to improve its animal and crop yields.

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