Certification 1
How long does land need to be free of using chemicals before it can qualify as organic?
3 years
How long do you have to wait to harvest a crop after applying raw manure to the soil?
120 days if the edible portion is in contact with the soil surface or soil particles, 90 days if the edible portion is not.
Why did John Jeavons develop the Grow Biointensive method?
To grow as much food as possible on as little land as possible while enriching the soil, because of the increasing population of the earth and decreasing amount of fertile soil.
What is the one thing Ray Achuleta would like to see all across America?
Keep the soil covered. Make America green.
What are 3 problems with conventional agriculture?
Soil erosion. Loss of biodiversity. Unhealthy crops invite insects and diseases. Excessive greenhouse gas emissions. Food with low nutrient density. Toxic pesticides contaminate our air, water, and food. Death of soil microorganisms. Etc.
What types of paper cannot be used in a compost pile?
Glossy paper or paper with colored ink
Why is there a restriction on when a crop can be harvested after applying raw manure to the soil?
To prevent contamination of the crop with pathogens from the manure
Where do the microbes used to make products for Korean Natural Farming come from?
They are indigenous microbes naturally present in the environment, ideally from an undisturbed nearby mature ecosystem.
What is shallow organic and deep organic?
Shallow organic uses input substitution to solve problems. Deep organic designs a system so that problems do not arise. "Avert the danger that has not yet come?"
Why is it a myth that we need conventional agriculture to feed the world?
Most conventional farm land is used to feed cattle or supply industry (ethanol), not to feed people. 70% of the food in the world is grown by small farms. Conventional agriculture is degrading the soil, which will soon make it unsuitable for growing food.
What does it mean if a product has the OMRI logo on it?
It has been reviewed by the Organic Materials Review Institute and they have determined that it meets the organic standards
Why did organic farmers want a national organic program?
There were many certifiers and many organic standards and the lack of uniform standards created problems
How is it that Grow Biointensive growing regenerates the soil even though it uses deep tillage?
Compost is added to the soil whenever it is tilled. Also, the tillage is more gentle than tillage with a machine.
Explain Eliot Coleman's wrong side of the tapestry analogy.
On the right side of the tapestry we see clearly how all parts of nature work together to create a perfectly functioning system. This is like a regenerative system that works with natural systems. The back side of the tapestry it is not clear and it is hard to see what is going on. It appears that the system needs a lot of help to function. This is like conventional agriculture trying to control nature and to supplement what appears to them to be problems with nature's systems.
Describe how mites farm fungi in the soil
Their hairs capture spores of the type of fungus they like to eat so the spores are spread around in the soil as the mites move. The spores are not digested and are fertilized with the mite's manure when they are pooped out.
What is the National List, with respect to organic certification?
It lists synthetic inputs that are allowed and non-synthetic inputs that are not allowed for use in organic production
What should the initial carbon to nitrogen ratio be in a compost pile?
Between 25 and 40
What is the KNF preparation that is made by fermenting rice water?
Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB)
Why is complexity important in an agroecosystem?
There are many functions that are necessary to maintain, such as decomposition, recycling nutrients, nitrogen fixation, etc., and each of these functions are performed by different microorganisms.
What problems does using superphosphate (soluble phosphorus fertilizer) create?
It discourages plants from associating with mycorrhizal fungi and it makes trace minerals less available to the plants
In what situations is organic certification useful and when is it not necessary?
Certification is useful when a consumer is not able to know the farmer, such as buying in a grocery store. It is not necessary when the consumer knows the farmer.
What are the temperature and turning requirements for a compost pile that contains manure?
Temperature between 131 and 170 for 15 days and turned 5 times
What are three purposes of the berms between sections of field on JM Fortier's farm?
Windbreak, attract beneficial insects, attract birds
Why does rotational grazing benefit the soil but continuous grazing degrades the soil?
Rotational grazing keeps the plants in the stage of rapid growth where they are producing lots of sugars through photosynthesis and exuding them from their roots into the soil to feed the microbes. The hooves of the livestock press organic matter into the soil. The plants have time to recover before they are grazed again. With continuous grazing the plants are eaten until they are too small and stressed and they never have a chance to recover. They are growing slowly and have little sugar to put into the soil.
The whole is more than the sum of the parts. How is this principle from the science of consciousness exhibited in regenerative agriculture?
All of the parts (soil organic matter, soil organisms, plants, beneficial insects, etc.) work together to create a whole system that creates healthy nutritious food.