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Resource Use In Organic Farming
Published: Tue, 29 Nov 2005
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Research Note Full Title
Resource Use In Organic Farming
Organic production systems manage biological cycles, rather than agrochemical interventions. This approach aims to encourage sustainable nutrient management as well as control of weeds, pests and diseases within the farming system.
Public interest and government subsidies for the conversion of land to less intensive farming systems resulted in around a 50-fold increase in the area of land farmed organically in Europe between 1985 and 2003 (currently 5.8 M ha).
In Scotland, the area increased from 22,000 ha in 1997 to 360,000 in 2005. Organic farms are considered as an integrated whole, recognising that complex relationships exist between resource flows on the farm, as well as the many different environmental factors that influence it, and its surrounds.
Understanding these relationships is vital for the development of more efficient organic farming systems which optimise productivity whilst minimising social and environmental impacts.
Objectives
This Scottish Government- funded project aims to optimise resource use on organic farms, although there is scope for the concepts and knowledge gained to be utilised in other farming systems as well. The scientific objectives are:
- Rotations for organic farming -
- Using nutrient budgeting and dynamic models to test the hypothesis that the proportion of legumes within a crop rotation is related not only to nitrogen offtake of the rotation, but also to the risk of N loss to the environment.
- Manage ceral crops to optimise nitrogen utilisation in the current season and following crops.
- Using nutrient budgeting and dynamic models to test the hypothesis that the proportion of legumes within a crop rotation is related not only to nitrogen offtake of the rotation, but also to the risk of N loss to the environment.
- Parameterising resource capital on Scottish organic farms -
- Analyse the distribution of organic farms in Scotland, and the soil nutrient levels of a representative sample of these, including both macro and micronutrients.
- Test the hypothesis that common organic farming practices have a positive impact on biodiversity compared to conventional cropping.
- To test the hypothesis that conversion to organic production does not necessarily compromise animal welfare given the application of control strategies based on preventative husbandry.
- Analyse the distribution of organic farms in Scotland, and the soil nutrient levels of a representative sample of these, including both macro and micronutrients.
- Development of an integrative systems model -
- To address the need for decision support in the development of organic farming systems.
Approach
It is difficult to understand the complex relationships taking place between resource use on the farm and the various interactions with the environment. The effect of many of these relationships is long-term, and difficult to understand based on short-term experiments.
This project aims to use modelling to assist our understanding of these interactions, using data from the field experiments to test the assumptions made in them. It is only by developing interdisciplinary research teams and methods for addressing key biological, environmental and socio-economic issues that we can improve the sustainability of organic systems.
The approach used in this project integrates studies of nutrient use on SAC organic farms, with targeted studies on nutrients, biodiversity and animal welfare on converting and organic commercial farms. A holistic approach to modelling organic systems in the Scottish environment has been taken, with a view to the future development of decision support.
This research aims to benefit conventional as well as organic farming approaches, based on the substantial knowledge transfer opportunities that will be realised as a result of this project’s undertaking.