Abbreviations and Notes: N = nitrogen; P = phosphorus; K = potassium; Ca = calcium; Fe = iron; Si = silicon. The Origins of Biodynamic Agriculture Biodynamics is system of agricultural management based on a series of lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1924. A philosopher by training, Steiner sought to infl uence organic life on earth through cosmic and terrestrial forces via nine preparations ...

Intensive vegetable farming has the potential to damage soil health, leading to poor productivity and large environmental impacts. This paper reports on changes in soil properties after three and a half years of vegetable cropping and discusses the implications for sustainability. A vegetable farming-systems experiment began in 1992 at Somersby, in NSW, Australia. The aim of the experiment was ...

Factory farming continues to grow around the world as a low-cost way of producing animal products for human consumption. However, many of the practices associated with intensive animal farming have been criticized by public health professionals and animal welfare advocates. The aim of this essay is to raise three independent moral concerns with factory farming, and to explain why the practices ...

This review paper attempts to bring together different issues in the light of recent developments in organic farming. The after effects of green revolution have encouraged the farmers to take up organic farming. This paper has reviewed the global and Indian scenario with reference to organic farming. In India, the cultivated land under certification is 2.8 Mha only. The key issues emerging in o...

Rice-duck farming system is one of the means of organic rice farming, in which the weeds, diseases and insects could be effectively controlled with minimal or no pesticide and herbicide application. Whereas in conventional rice-duck farming system the controlling effect on diseases, insect pests and weeds was slowly disappeared after the rice heading stage at which ducks were driven out of the ...

Organic farming which experienced a constant rise over the last two decades is a system based on sustainability and on a concept tending towards functional integrity. Legislation as well as the wish to produce separately from conventional farming raise the question whether organic farming should be conducted completely apart from conventional farming or not. This paper discusses the aspects tha...

Earthworms, which contribute to important soil functions, suffer from intensive agriculture. Their response depends among other things on the earthworm ecological group (anecic, endogeic, epigeic) and combination of applied farming practices. To advice methodological adaptations that enhance earthworm-mediated effects different practices earthworms need be studied in concert. We investigated ti...

It is a globally important challenge to meet increasing demands for resources and, at the same time, protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Farming is usually regarded as a major threat to biodiversity due to its expansion into natural areas. We compared biodiversity of bees and wasps between heterogeneous small-scale farming areas and protected forest in northern coastal Belize, Central ...

Bacterial communities play an important role in maintaining stable functioning of soil ecosystems, participating decomposition plant residues, accumulation organic matter, formation aggregates and the cycle nutrients. For agroecosystems, diversity microbiocenosis is especially critical because they are essentially less dependent on external control. The agricultural practices used today (plowin...