Development & principles of organic farming

1. Development and principles of Organic
farming
Sankrita Gaonkar
Assistant Professor in Botany
sankrita002@gmail.com

2. Contents
• Development of organic farming
• Principles of organic farming
• References

3. Development of Organic farming
• Organic farming practices – only option for
earliest farmers.
• Only option to work with biological system.
• Fertilizers – animal dung, plant waste.
• Organic farming – original agriculture
• No crop rotation – build up of pest – no
pesticides to control them.

4. Cont….
• Sir Humphry Davy and Justus von Liebig – key founders of
industrial agriculture.
• Came up with theory – mineral salts in manure absorbed by
plants and not organic matter.
• They published in – Elements of Agricultural Chemistry
(Davy, 1813) and Organic Chemistry in its Application to
Agriculture and Physiology (von Leibig, 1840).
• Their argument – inorganic fertilizers can replace manures –
increase production.
• Agricultural revolution – began 1840s – first commercial
production of inorganic fertilizers.

5. Cont….
• In 1900 – Rudolph Steiner (founder of
‘Anthroposophy’ – spread agricultural
awareness.
• Sir Albert Howard (1920s) – linkage between
soil health and health of plants and animals fed
by that soil  ‘Composting’ methods.
• Book – The waste products of Agriculture.

6. Cont….
• Formation of global network – IFOAM
(International federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements) in 1972.
• America, Asia, Africa – practice of organic
agriculture.
• 1990s – switch to industrial agriculture due to
problems raised by organic farming.

7. Current status
• 172 countries practicing organic
farming.
• 0.4% total agricultural land – under
organic farming.
• Indian scenario:
• > 60% agricultural land – organic
farming.
• >15,000 authorised organic farms.

8. Principles of organic farming
1) Principle of health:
• Sustain health of soil, plants, animals, human and
planet.
• Healthy soil – healthy crops – healthy animals
and human.
• Farming, processing, distribution or consumption
– enhance the health of ecosystems.

9. Cont….
2) Principle of ecology:
• Organic agriculture – based on living ecological systems
and cycles.
• Production – based on ecological processes and recycling.
• Reduce inputs by reuse, recycling and efficient
management of materials and energy.
• Maintain environmental quality and conserve resources.
• Attain ecological balance – design of farming system.
• Maintain agricultural diversity.

10. Cont…
3) Principle of fairness:
• Fairness at all levels – farmers, workers,
processors, distributors, traders and
consumers.
• Produce sufficient supply of quality food.
• Sustainable use of natural resources – thinking
of future generation.

11. Cont…
4) Principle of care:
• Management in responsible manner – to
protect health of present and future generations
and the environment.
• Precautions and responsibility – key concerns
in management, development and technology
choices in organic farming.

12. References
• Kristiansen P., Taji A., Reganold J. (2006). Organic
agriculture: A global perspective. CSIRO Publishing.,
Australia.
• Manida M (2021). Organic Farming – Current Status and
Opportunities for Future Development.
• Meena H.P. (2013). Organic farming: concept and
components.