Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Conservation Agriculture

The Economist writes about a hurdle for organic farms: erosion caused by ploughing. Many organic farms rely on ploughing, instead of chemical fertilizers, to control weeds. Economist.com says that the practice isn't so environmentally friendly as we hoped. Luckily the Food and Agriculture Organization is working on a solution.

From green.view:
In response to this growing appreciation of the problems of ploughing, Theodor Friedrich from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, is trying to champion a new style of farming called “conservation agriculture,” which revolves around a no-till system. There are three principles involved: minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations. But of course such an approach means that herbicides are needed to reduce weeds.

Read the rest of the column here: http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/greenview/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11911706

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