Is Organic Farming / Natural Farming practical?

News and Views
8

Hello cowherd,

Good info, all the more valuable coming from a ‘pull-up-your-sleeves-and-get-your-hands-dirty’ farmer! You convince me organic/natural farming is indeed practical - well, almost. I will await the pics, and will meanwhile attempt to stretch your patience further. In addition, it would be nice if you could add your introduction in the The forum introductions

Here are a few follow on questions.

  1. Are you suggesting almost any soil, even if deficient, can regenerate itself with natural farming?
  2. My understanding is earthworms and microbes are active and mine in the top soil alone. Do you disagree that the churning is limited even if he lower layers have adequate nutrients?
  3. When you say Nitrogen is taken by plants from the atmosphere, I assume you are referring to the leguminous plants that indirectly do that by symbiosis with Rhizobia; and in most other plants, it comes from the soil as well.
    I do agree that the nutrient absorption from soil is only a part of total plant nutrient needs, though I can not comment on the percentage offhand. However do you not agree that plants fail to reach full potential even if micrograms of a micronutrient are unavailable. Do you support chemical fertilization for correcting such deficiencies, or believe these will be automatically taken care of by nature?
  4. In your experience, did you see crops yield better quality and 85-90% yields where fertilizers and pesticides have not been traditionally been used - such as in the North East India and some of the ‘less developed’ countries?
  5. My question remains on how pests and diseases are managed without use of chemicals - as I said even a kitchen garden can sometimes not be saved from complete devastation. What realistic alternatives do you suggest will work?
  6. My question remains on how natural farming requires less water.

Also, can you detail how exactly you have applied these principles in practice? I believe that would be helpful to a lot of other practitioners.

Thanks for your practical answers and your time. I would like to get these perspectives before all of us and would certainly look forward to visiting some of these farms.

Best regards.