Farmers of Forty Centuries (1911, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0486436098).
King probably did not view himself as part of a movement, organic or otherwise, but in later years his book became an important organic reference.
In 1939, influenced by Sir Howard's work, Lady Eve Balfour launched the Haughley Experiment on farmland in England. It was the first scientific, side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional farming. Four years later, she published The Living Soil , based on the initial findings of the Haughley Experiment. Widely read, it led to the formation of a key international organic advocacy group, the Soil Association.
The coinage of the term organic farming is usually credited to Lord Northbourne, in his book, Look to the Land (1940), wherein he described a holistic, ecologically-balanced approach to farming.
|
In Japan, Masanobu Fukuoka, a microbiologist working in soil science and plant pathology, began to doubt the modern agricultural movement.
In the early 1940s, he quit his job as a research scientist, returned to his family's farm, and devoted the next 30 years to developing a radical no-till organic method for growing grain, now known as Fukuoka farming.
|
Post-World War II - Technological advances during World War II accelerated post-war innovation in all aspects of agriculture, resulting in big advances in mechanization (including large-scale irrigation), fertilization, and pesticides. In particular, two chemicals that had been produced in quantity for warfare, were repurposed to peace-time agricultural uses. Ammonium nitrate, used in munitions, became an abundantly cheap source of nitrogen. And a range of new pesticides appeared: DDT, which had been used to control disease-carrying insects around troops, became a general insecticide, launching the era of widespread pesticide use.
At the same time, increasingly powerful and sophisticated farm machinery allowed a single farmer to work ever larger areas of land.
Fields grew bigger, and agribusiness as we know it today was well on its way.
|
In 1944, an international campaign called the Green Revolution was launched in Mexico with private funding from the US. It encouraged the development of hybrid plants, chemical controls, large-scale irrigation, and heavy mechanization in agriculture around the world.
During the 1950s, sustainable agriculture was a topic of scientific interest, but research tended to concentrate on developing the new chemical approaches. In the US, J.I. Rodale began to popularize the term and methods of organic growing, particularly to consumers through promotion of organic gardening.
|
In 1962, Rachel Carson, a prominent scientist and naturalist, published Silent Spring , chronicling the effects of DDT and other pesticides on the environment.
A bestseller in many countries, including the US, and widely read around the world, Silent Spring is widely considered as being a
key factor in the US government's 1972 banning of DDT. The book and its author are often credited with launching the worldwide environmental movement.
|
In the 1970s, global movements concerned with pollution and the environment increased their focus on organic farming. As the distinction between organic and conventional food became clearer, one goal of the organic movement was to encourage consumption of locally grown food, which was promoted through slogans like "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" .
|
IFOAM In 1972, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, widely known as IFOAM, was founded in Versailles,
France, and dedicated to the diffusion and exchange of information on the principles and practices of organic agriculture of all schools and across national and linguistic boundaries.
|
In 1975, Fukuoka released his first book, One Straw Revolution , with a strong impact in certain areas of the agricultural world. His approach to small-scale grain production emphasized a meticulous balance of the local farming ecosystem, and a minimum of human interference and labor.
|
In the 1980s, around the world, various farming and consumer groups began seriously pressuring for government regulation of organic production. This led to legislation and certification standards being enacted through the 1990s and to date.
Since the early 1990s, the retail market for organic farming in developed economies has been growing by about 20% annually due to increasing consumer demand. Concern for the quality and safety of food, and the potential for environmental damage from conventional agriculture, are apparently responsible for this trend.
|
21st Century - Throughout this history, the focus of agricultural research, and the majority of publicized scientific findings, has been on chemical, not organic farming. This emphasis has continued to biotechnologies like genetic engineering. One recent survey of the UK's leading government funding agency for bioscience research and training indicated 26 GM crop projects, and only one related to organic agriculture.
History of organic farming
BBSRC
- This imbalance is largely driven by agribusiness in general, which, through research funding and government lobbying, continues to have a predominating effect on agriculture-related science and policy.
Agribusiness is also changing the rules of the organic market. The rise of organic farming was driven by small, independent producers, and by consumers. In recent years, explosive organic market growth has encouraged the participation of agribusiness interests. As the volume and variety of "organic" products increases, the viability of the small-scale organic farm is at risk, and the meaning of organic farming as an agricultural method is ever more easily confused with the related but separate areas of organic food and organic certification.
|
In Havana, Cuba a unique situation has made organic food production a necessity. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and its economic support, Cuba
has had to produce food in creative ways like instituting the worlds only state-supported infrastructure to support urban food production.
Called organopóos, the city is able to provide an ever increasing amount of its produce organically. If the U.S. embargo is lifted, however, the future of organic urban growing here may be in peril.
|
History of Composting and Organic Agriculture
|
Allways happened naturally ! - Long before people inhabited the planet, composting was just something that happened. In every swamp, forest and meadow - wherever there was vegetation - there was composting.
Then, sometime in the distant past one of our ancestors noticed that crops grew better near piles of rotting manure and vegetation. The discovery was passed down to succeeding generations. Composting, that perfectly natural process that just happens, became something our ancestors learned to use.
|
1,000 years before Moses - One of the earliest references to compost use in agriculture appears on a set of clay tablets from the Akkadian Empire in the Mesopotamian Valley 1,000 years before Moses.
The Romans knew about compost, the Greeks and the tribes of Israel both had a word for it. There are references to it in the Bible and Talmud.
|
15th century - There are also references to composting in medieval church texts and Renaissance literature. William Caxton, a 15th century printer, spelled it 'compostyng.' Hamlet advises, "do not spread the compost on the weeds, to make them ranker."
|
The Chinese systematically applied the principles of composting. Cropwastes were laid on roads and pathways to be crushed by passing carts and then returned to the fields with human and animal manure.
|
In New England in the 19th century, Stephen Hoyt and Sons used 220,000 fish in one season of compost-making. Their method: spread a layer of "muck" (marsh and swamp mud) one third of a metre thick, then a layer of fish, then a layer of muck and so on. They combined 10 to 12 loads of muck to every load of fish until the pile reached a height of 1.8 metres. Then they turned the pile until composting was complete.
|
The early 20th century, and especially the post Second World War period, can be described as ushering in a new "scientific" method of farming. Scientific farming called for the application of nutrient-rich chemical fertilizers. Combinations of muck and dead fish didn't look very effective beside a bag of chemical fertilizer. For farmers in many areas of the world, the new chemical fertilizers replaced compost.
|
Sir Albert Howard, a British government agronomist, went to India in 1905. He stayed for
29 years and experimented with different ways to make compost before settling on the
Indore Method. This method calls for three parts plant material to one part manure, with materials spread in layers and turned during decomposition.
Publication of Sir Howard's book, An Agricultural Testament (1943), generated renewed interest in organic methods of agriculture and gardening. Howard's work and the research it has promoted has earned him recognition as the modern-day father of the organic method.
J. I. Rodale, in North America, carried Howard's work further. He established the Farming
Research Centre and Organic Gardening magazine. Now, organic methods in gardening and
farming are becoming increasingly popular. Even farmers who rely on expensive fertilizers
recognize compost's value for plant growth and restoring depleted and lifeless soil.
|
Fertilizer History 2023
2023 Land Expo speakers address the end of the world, fertilizer ... Successful Farming
Food production's historical perspective – AgriNews Agri-News
Vilsack focuses farm bill on problems, announces fertilizer aid to ... Tri-State Livestock News
2023 fertilizer outlook provided – Wyoming Livestock Roundup Wyoming Livestock Roundup
|