Organic farming – that phrase is more than a marketing ploy. Organic practices are the most important principles that any grower can implement in their farming production methods. Why is organic farming so important to the farming community? The goal of organic farming is to protect the soil. Soil, our foundation for growth, production, and life, can either be built up by farming, or it can be destroyed. Organic farming focuses on preserving and strengthening the soil not just for the crop in the ground, but for every crop that will be planted for years to come.
Organic farming relies on the soil’s natural composition to provide the nutrients crops need to grow and produce. By harnessing biodiversity and the microbial communities that live and flourish in the soil, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides can be avoided. Farmers have found over the years that soil heavily treated with chemicals begins to rely on the chemicals, and as a result, many of the natural processes that keep nutrients in the soil stop. Using less, or even better, none of the chemicals that can be toxic and also halt soil’s natural richness is a cornerstone of organic farming. But organic involves more than just limiting the use of harmful chemicals. Something has to replace best practices when practices change, and in organic farming, the practices that are utilized are using nature to their own advantage. In the case of organic farming, what replaces the toxic, artificial tactics is the practice of encouraging and protecting the natural processes that make soil healthy. New and better ways to cover and protect soil and control weeds. Diversifying crops reduces pest populations. Encouraging and supporting underground ecosystems, letting earthworms do their subterranean work on farms that aid, not hinder, their nutrient-building activity in the soil.
Healthy soil is also soil that stays in place. Erosion from washout and wind can be prevented if soil achieves the best aggregate. By preserving the natural composition of the soil, organic farming keeps soil naturally able to resist erosion, flooding, and drought. Reducing exposure to caustic chemicals and limiting disruptive tilling allows soil to retain a stronger, more resilient aggregate. Allowing soil to cycle through natural states throughout the growing process protects the physical integrity of the soil. Soil needs a structure that allows water absorption and retention without becoming swamped. The soil has a Goldilocks relationship with water: Not too dry, not too wet, able to absorb water, and still able to drain. Soil aggregate is the key to that Goldilocks zone. A soil composition that is not too big and not too small, composed of a wide enough range of clay and sand is a soil that can use water to a crop’s advantage. Organic farming practices preserve that special composition, that necessary aggregate that uses water to the best advantage and prevents erosion.
Organic farming is important to soil, and that is why organic practices are so important to Worm Power. A richer, more resilient soil is the goal of every grower, and that’s why it’s our goal, too. Organic practices are important to us because they are ethical and because organic works. In our book, those are both good reasons.