Organic Farming - Organic Farming and Crop Planning
What is Organic Farming? | Organic
Farming Overview | Organic
Farming Methods | Organic
Farming Fertilization
Organic Farming Pest Control | Organic
Farming and Crop Planning | Organic
Farming and Livestock | Organic
Farming Systems
Organic Farming and Crop Planning
Crop diversity is another distinctive characteristic of organic farming. Conventional farming focuses on mass production of one crop in one location, a practice called monoculture. This makes apparent economic sense: the larger the growing area, the lower the per unit cost of fertilizer, pesticides and specialized machinery for a single plant species. The science of agroecology has revealed the benefits of polyculture, or multiple crops in the same space; organic farming often, but not always, applies polyculture. Planting a variety of vegetable crops supports a wider range of beneficial insects, soil microorganisms, and other factors that add up to overall farm health, but managing the balance requires expertise and close attention. In large commercial operations, technology is used to regulate local conditions—hybrid seed, synthetic chemicals, high-volume irrigation—while sophisticated machinery does most of the work, and operators' feet may seldom touch the ground. It can take several organic farms to provide the same output as one large-scale, chemical-based farm, but the comparison goes beyond simple numbers: the day-to-day activities and required skill sets are quite different.
From Wikipedia.