Benefits of Organics - Fertile Soil for the FutureKeeping soil healthy ensures productive crops in the long-term.
What is healthy soil?Qualities of healthy soil include:
- Good structure that resists erosion, absorbs water quickly, and has a high water-holding capacity.
- Abundance of living microbes and organisms that contribute to good soil structure and release, transform, and transfer nutrients.
- Retention of more carbon, which helps reduce the impact of global warming.
Ways to maintain itOrganic methods nurture soil's natural health and fertility:
- Plant diverse crops and rotate them each season.
Nourishes the most natural microbes, which foster solid, nutrient-rich soil. Also disrupts the habitat for weeds and pests, and builds natural resistance to disease.
- Use "cover crops".
Farmers blanket the soil which helps retain moisture, supplies essential nutrients, aerates the soil, and prevents weed growth.
- Plant crops that are well-suited for the natural environment.
Reduces the need for assistance from fertilizers and pest controls.
- Use natural fertilizers and pest controls.
Preserves the natural state of soil and groundwater; there’s no harmful run-off into our water resources or oceans.
Ways to degrade itConventional farms (and even some unsustainable, organic farms) use methods that degrade soil, making it incapable of sustaining itself:
- Planting a single crop year after year (also known as mono-cropping).
- Planting crops that do not naturally flourish in the area, or in particular season.
- Using chemical, synthetic, genetically-modified materials to fertilize and control pests.
Organics – Fresh Water & Oceans
Conventional Farming - Degraded Soil