What Does Organic Mean
Morning class!
Today is your first lesson in organic farming.
Quiet please.
I'm very excited. We have a guest teacher today! His name is Thomas Linders. Thomas is a very special being. He also happens to be a leading authority in organic farming. He is just the man to get the ball rolling on this little adventure that we call Countdown to Planting Season.
You've all herd the term "organic," but what on Earth does it actually mean? It sounds simple, but the entire concept has become warped and twisted by... well, let's not go there today.
Darryl!!!!! Are you paying attention or must I send you to the headmaster's office... AGAIN??
Now... Mr. Linders, why is there so much confusion around the term "organic"?
Well, I guess Organic is a very broad term, and whenever this is the case people will take advantage of it. It's like the word "eco." At present anyone can label something organic, without needing to substantiate it. Unfortunately until now, there has been no legislation in South Africa that certifies organically grown food. For years we have been waiting for the Standards for Organic Agriculture to be acknowledged by the Minister of Agriculture and to be passed through Parliament.
At present you can only be sure that something is grown naturally without synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides etc., if the product has a label from an organic certifying agency, like Ecocert/Afrisco and others, with a producers name and certifying number on it.
The certification process must be very difficult and expensive to manage. How do small organic farmers cope?
With great difficulty. Luckily there are alternatives being developed to conventional certification, especially for small scale farmers, that cannot afford the expensive certification process. One of them is called PGS - the Participatory Guarantee System, which involves farmers, consumers and a regulatory party (the certifier) to work together intensely. A set of guidelines is worked out, based on international Organic Standards (e.g. IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements), to which the farmers will have to perform. The farms and market gardens are inspected on a yearly basis by a group that consists of fellow farmers in the group, interested consumers and the ‘certifier’ and assessed according to these guidelines. This system is cheaper, because the ‘inspectors’ are volunteers and chosen on a rotational basis from the pool of farmers and consumers and the certifier has only an overseeing role. I know of such groups successfully working in Ghana, Uganda, Kwa Zulu Natal and the Organic Market in Bryanston, Johannesburg has also instituted such a system successfully.
Where did this confusion come from?
We are in this quandary partly because we as consumers have become so alienated from the gardeners and the farmers who produce our food, that they can get away with anything. Very few people know what really goes on behind the scenes to bring food to our table. If we could become more interested in how we feed ourselves and make conscious choices of where we source our food from (which would involve an active relationship with the food producers), we would not need certification. We could verify ourselves that the processes are natural and life supporting. A bit of navel gazing is possibly in order here for we spend more time in researching the next car, computer, toy purchase than what we ingest everyday. Our food is the basis of our health. The more nutritionally dense it is, the more it will support our health and well-being, the less we need to eat, the less we need to visit the doctor.
"Nutritionally Dense?" What does that mean?
It is by now well documented that organically grown food is much more nutritionally dense, some nutrients are up to 20 times higher compared to chemically grown produce. An article in www.medicalnewstoday.com (11 July 2004) comes to the conclusion that a predominantly organic diet:
Are you saying that in order to be truly "organic" you need to be more in tune with the actual person that grows your food?
Absolutely! All over the world consumers have woken up to this fact and that has spawned a variety of modalities of farmer - consumer relationships. In my mind the most progressive are CSA’s - Community Supported Agriculture, where a group of people come together and work out with their chosen local organic or biodynamic farmer, what his budget is for the year. The consumers will then divide this amount up into shares that they sell amongst themselves. This will ensure them a regular weekly supply of fresh produce and for the farmer money upfront, so he can concentrate on what he is best at - producing healthy nutritionally dense food. Additionally the consumers can get involved in special cultural activities on the farm and can help in times of intense workload, e.g. for the potato harvest. The closest that I have seen in South Africa are the so-called box schemes, where the consumer takes out a subscription with a farmer/market gardener and gets delivered a box of produce on a weekly basis. Of course the most intimate and assured way of putting fresh healthy produce on our tables, is if we grow it ourselves. We will make sure that we develop a healthy soil, which is the basis of our health, and not spray all kinds of synthetic chemicals for ‘crop protection’.
Wait a second... are you saying that pesticides are not necessary?
With correct farming methods, of course not. You see, here is the fundamental difference between organic and chemical farming - In chemical farming the soil is merely a means to support the crops grown and all nutrients are ‘force-fed’ into the plants through soluble salts (N,P,K and trace elements). Much research, especially by Francis Chaboussou, has shown that this is actually the cause of all pest and disease attacks. Because the plant is forced to take up the soluble salts and it takes a while to transforms them into plant-own proteins, there is a window, where the plant suffers under ‘indigestion’, metabolic disturbance. This is a signal to pests and diseases that there is an organism that needs to be eliminated, as it has no place in a healthy, balanced environment, and they come to feed on the non-digested nutrients. Chaboussou coined the phrase ‘A pest starves on a healthy plant!' It is exactly the same with the human body. A healthy body resists infection... and so do plants! In organic farming the soil is the centre of attention, for not only is it the substrate that holds the plants, it is also the source of all its nutrition. We as organic growers have a great teacher in ‘Mother Nature’, who has arguably 3.8 billion years of R&D behind her in working out the best systems for supporting life on this planet. The answers to all our questions are found in studying intimately the relationships in nature. A great teacher of mine, Victor Schauberger, expressed it so: ‘Comprehend Nature and then copy it’ - we don’t have to add anything, because we think we are clever, just copy it! I guess this is the basis of the great ‘new science’ of bio-mimicry.
Many farmers argue that they need chemicals to increase crop yields. Is this true?
Only if the wrong processes are used and you want to impose your will on nature. If the right processes are used, then you can grow as nature intended. It is easier to implement this on a smaller scale which is why home or commnity gardens are so important. All agriculture a 150 years ago was organic, supporting all agrarian cultures and, as we more and more discover through archaeological investigations, in many cases farmers had yields of up to 6 times of that which a chemical farmer expects on average (Sumerian agriculture, chinampa farming in South America, etc.) So, it is common sense and the healthy direction we should all take to look at what was successful in the past, combine it with modern investigations into nature and therefore grow organic!
And there are health reasons, of course...
I have read a paper that researched the involuntary consumption of agro-chemicals of British consumers, which concludes that it is estimated that the average British consumer eats with his vegetables and fruits around 5 kg of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides per year; still on top of that is the hormonal overload from animal food sources.
This should make you think, then act!
Happy growing!
www.plantingseason.co.za
Today is your first lesson in organic farming.
Quiet please.
I'm very excited. We have a guest teacher today! His name is Thomas Linders. Thomas is a very special being. He also happens to be a leading authority in organic farming. He is just the man to get the ball rolling on this little adventure that we call Countdown to Planting Season.
You've all herd the term "organic," but what on Earth does it actually mean? It sounds simple, but the entire concept has become warped and twisted by... well, let's not go there today.
Darryl!!!!! Are you paying attention or must I send you to the headmaster's office... AGAIN??
Now... Mr. Linders, why is there so much confusion around the term "organic"?
Well, I guess Organic is a very broad term, and whenever this is the case people will take advantage of it. It's like the word "eco." At present anyone can label something organic, without needing to substantiate it. Unfortunately until now, there has been no legislation in South Africa that certifies organically grown food. For years we have been waiting for the Standards for Organic Agriculture to be acknowledged by the Minister of Agriculture and to be passed through Parliament.
At present you can only be sure that something is grown naturally without synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides etc., if the product has a label from an organic certifying agency, like Ecocert/Afrisco and others, with a producers name and certifying number on it.
The certification process must be very difficult and expensive to manage. How do small organic farmers cope?
With great difficulty. Luckily there are alternatives being developed to conventional certification, especially for small scale farmers, that cannot afford the expensive certification process. One of them is called PGS - the Participatory Guarantee System, which involves farmers, consumers and a regulatory party (the certifier) to work together intensely. A set of guidelines is worked out, based on international Organic Standards (e.g. IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements), to which the farmers will have to perform. The farms and market gardens are inspected on a yearly basis by a group that consists of fellow farmers in the group, interested consumers and the ‘certifier’ and assessed according to these guidelines. This system is cheaper, because the ‘inspectors’ are volunteers and chosen on a rotational basis from the pool of farmers and consumers and the certifier has only an overseeing role. I know of such groups successfully working in Ghana, Uganda, Kwa Zulu Natal and the Organic Market in Bryanston, Johannesburg has also instituted such a system successfully.
Where did this confusion come from?
We are in this quandary partly because we as consumers have become so alienated from the gardeners and the farmers who produce our food, that they can get away with anything. Very few people know what really goes on behind the scenes to bring food to our table. If we could become more interested in how we feed ourselves and make conscious choices of where we source our food from (which would involve an active relationship with the food producers), we would not need certification. We could verify ourselves that the processes are natural and life supporting. A bit of navel gazing is possibly in order here for we spend more time in researching the next car, computer, toy purchase than what we ingest everyday. Our food is the basis of our health. The more nutritionally dense it is, the more it will support our health and well-being, the less we need to eat, the less we need to visit the doctor.
"Nutritionally Dense?" What does that mean?
It is by now well documented that organically grown food is much more nutritionally dense, some nutrients are up to 20 times higher compared to chemically grown produce. An article in www.medicalnewstoday.com (11 July 2004) comes to the conclusion that a predominantly organic diet:
- Reduces the amount of toxic chemicals ingested
- Totally avoids GMO’S (Genetically Modified Organisms)
- Reduces the amount of food additives and colourings
- Increases the amount of beneficial vitamins, minerals, EFA’s (essen-tial fatty acids) and antioxidants consumed
- Appears to have the potential to lower the incidence of common conditions such as cancer, coronary heart diseases, allergies and hyperactivity in children
Are you saying that in order to be truly "organic" you need to be more in tune with the actual person that grows your food?
Absolutely! All over the world consumers have woken up to this fact and that has spawned a variety of modalities of farmer - consumer relationships. In my mind the most progressive are CSA’s - Community Supported Agriculture, where a group of people come together and work out with their chosen local organic or biodynamic farmer, what his budget is for the year. The consumers will then divide this amount up into shares that they sell amongst themselves. This will ensure them a regular weekly supply of fresh produce and for the farmer money upfront, so he can concentrate on what he is best at - producing healthy nutritionally dense food. Additionally the consumers can get involved in special cultural activities on the farm and can help in times of intense workload, e.g. for the potato harvest. The closest that I have seen in South Africa are the so-called box schemes, where the consumer takes out a subscription with a farmer/market gardener and gets delivered a box of produce on a weekly basis. Of course the most intimate and assured way of putting fresh healthy produce on our tables, is if we grow it ourselves. We will make sure that we develop a healthy soil, which is the basis of our health, and not spray all kinds of synthetic chemicals for ‘crop protection’.
Wait a second... are you saying that pesticides are not necessary?
With correct farming methods, of course not. You see, here is the fundamental difference between organic and chemical farming - In chemical farming the soil is merely a means to support the crops grown and all nutrients are ‘force-fed’ into the plants through soluble salts (N,P,K and trace elements). Much research, especially by Francis Chaboussou, has shown that this is actually the cause of all pest and disease attacks. Because the plant is forced to take up the soluble salts and it takes a while to transforms them into plant-own proteins, there is a window, where the plant suffers under ‘indigestion’, metabolic disturbance. This is a signal to pests and diseases that there is an organism that needs to be eliminated, as it has no place in a healthy, balanced environment, and they come to feed on the non-digested nutrients. Chaboussou coined the phrase ‘A pest starves on a healthy plant!' It is exactly the same with the human body. A healthy body resists infection... and so do plants! In organic farming the soil is the centre of attention, for not only is it the substrate that holds the plants, it is also the source of all its nutrition. We as organic growers have a great teacher in ‘Mother Nature’, who has arguably 3.8 billion years of R&D behind her in working out the best systems for supporting life on this planet. The answers to all our questions are found in studying intimately the relationships in nature. A great teacher of mine, Victor Schauberger, expressed it so: ‘Comprehend Nature and then copy it’ - we don’t have to add anything, because we think we are clever, just copy it! I guess this is the basis of the great ‘new science’ of bio-mimicry.
Many farmers argue that they need chemicals to increase crop yields. Is this true?
Only if the wrong processes are used and you want to impose your will on nature. If the right processes are used, then you can grow as nature intended. It is easier to implement this on a smaller scale which is why home or commnity gardens are so important. All agriculture a 150 years ago was organic, supporting all agrarian cultures and, as we more and more discover through archaeological investigations, in many cases farmers had yields of up to 6 times of that which a chemical farmer expects on average (Sumerian agriculture, chinampa farming in South America, etc.) So, it is common sense and the healthy direction we should all take to look at what was successful in the past, combine it with modern investigations into nature and therefore grow organic!
And there are health reasons, of course...
I have read a paper that researched the involuntary consumption of agro-chemicals of British consumers, which concludes that it is estimated that the average British consumer eats with his vegetables and fruits around 5 kg of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides per year; still on top of that is the hormonal overload from animal food sources.
This should make you think, then act!
Happy growing!
www.plantingseason.co.za
