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Organic farming

About: Organic farming is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7254 publications have been published within this topic receiving 138030 citations. The topic is also known as: pertanian organik & organic farming.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the problem of pesticide residues in various components of environment, the present study was conducted on different organic farms and market samples (conventional farms) and four groups of pesticides, i.e., organochlorine, carbamates, organophosphorous and pyrethrites were analyzed in wheat and rice samples.

137 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the model software REPRO (REproduction of soil fertility) designed for analyzing interlinked carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes in the system soil-plant-animal-environment.
Abstract: The paper describes the model software REPRO (REPROduction of soil fertility) designed for analyzing interlinked carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes in the system soil–plant–animal–environment. The model couples the balancing of C, N and energy fluxes with the target to estimate the climate-relevant CO2, CH4 and N2O sources and sinks of farming systems. For the determination of the net greenhouse effect, calculations of C sequestration in the soil, CO2 emissions from the use of fossil energy, CH4 emissions from livestock keeping and N2O emissions from the soil have been made. The results were converted into CO2 equivalents using its specific global warming potential (GWP). The model has been applied in the experimental farm Scheyern in southern Germany, which had been divided into an organic (org) and a conventional (con) farming system in 1992. Rather detailed series of long-term measuring data are available for the farm in Scheyern, which have been used for validating the software for its efficiency and applicability under very different management yet nearly equal site conditions.The organic farm is multi-structured with a legume-based crop rotation (N2 fixation: 83 kg ha−1 yr−1). The livestock density (LSU=Livestock Unit according to FAO) is 1.4 LSU ha−1. The farm is oriented on closed mass cycles; from the energetic point of view it represents a low-input system (energy input 4.5 GJ ha−1 yr−1). The conventional farm is a simple-structured cash crop system, based on mineral N (N input 145 kg ha−1 yr−1). Regarding the energy consumption, the system is run on high inputs (energy input 14.0 GJ ha−1 yr−1). The organic crop rotation reaches about 57% (8.3 Mg ha−1 yr−1) of the DM yield, about 66% (163 kg ha−1 yr−1) of the N removal and roughly 56% (3741 kg ha−1 yr−1) of the C fixation of the conventional crop rotation. In the organic rotation, 18 GJ per GJ of fossil energy input are bound in the harvested biomass vis-a-vis 11.1 GJ in the conventional rotation. The strongest influence on the greenhouse effect is exerted by C sequestration and N2O emissions. In Scheyern, C sequestration has set in under organic management (+0.37 Mg ha−1 yr−1), while humus depletion has been recorded in the conventional system (−0.25 Mg ha−1 yr−1).Greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) due to fuel consumption and the use of machines are nearly on the same level in both crop rotations. However, the conventional system emits an additional 637 kg CO2 eq ha−1 yr−1, which had been consumed in the manufacture of mineral N and pesticides in the upstream industry.Besides the analyses in the experimental farm Scheyern, the model has been applied in 28 commercial farms (18 org and 10 con) with comparable soil and climate conditions in the surroundings of Scheyern (mean distance 60 km). The program calculations are aimed at benchmarking the results obtained in the farming systems Scheyern; they are expected to disclose management-specific variations in the emission of climate-relevant gases and to rate the suitability of the model for describing such management-specific effects. In order to make the situation in the farms comparable, only the emissions from cropping systems were analyzed. Livestock keeping remained unconsidered. Due to lower N and energy inputs, clearly lower N2O and CO2 emissions were obtained for the organic farms than for the conventional systems.The analyses have shown possibilities for the optimization of management and the mitigation of GGE. Our findings underline that organic farming includes a high potential for C sequestration and the reduction of GGEs. Currently, the model REPRO is tested by 90 farms in the Federal Republic of Germany with the aim to apply it in the future not only in the field of research but also in the management of commercial farms.

137 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is in developing countries that are rich in endemic plant biodiversity where these pesticides may ultimately have their greatest impact in future integrated pest management (IPM) programmes, given their safety to non-target organisms and the environment.
Abstract: Many plant extracts or allelochemicals show a broad spectrum of activity against pests and such products have long been touted as attractive alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides for pest management because they pose little threat to the environment or to human health. The studies available suggest that plant-based materials do affect arthropod pests, vectors and other pathogens, yet only a handful of botanicals are currently used in agriculture in the industrialized world, and there are few prospects for commercial development of new botanical products. Secondary allelochemicals from plants are usually commercialized as single, concentrated compounds, despite research showing that compound mixtures reduce pest resistance better than single compounds. Several factors appear to limit the success of botanicals, most notably regulatory barriers and the availability of competing products of microbial origin and fermentation products that are costeffective and relatively safe compared with their predecessors. In the context of agricultural pest management, botanical pesticides are best suited for use in organic food production in industrialized countries but can play a much greater role in the production and post-harvest protection of food in developing countries. It is in developing countries that are rich in endemic plant biodiversity where these pesticides may ultimately have their greatest impact in future integrated pest management (IPM) programmes, given their safety to non-target organisms and the environment. However, there is a need to organize natural sources, develop quality control, adopt standardization strategies and modify regulatory mechanisms.

137 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: All variables that differed among the two farming systems had highest values - often several times higher - in the organic system with four exceptions: total biomass, biomass of crop, proportion of a single broad-leaved taxon and of grasses.
Abstract: Summary The vegetation of weeds was sampled in matched pairs of long established organic and contemporary conventional cereal fields in summer 1987, and in spring and summer 1988, with an extended Raunkiaer circle at distances up to 50 m from the field boundary. In spring 1988, the number of plants were also counted. Species density, plant density, a proxy measure of plant density (accumulated Frequency Sum), crop and weed biomass, and occurrence of plants assigned to functional groups, are compared between farming systems. The plants were assigned to functional groups according to: (i) herbivore associations to broad-leaved taxa and (ii) flower location in the canopy, i.e. visibility and availability to flying insects. Furthermore, crop margin and mid-field were compared concerning species density and accumulated Frequency Sum. All variables that differed among the two farming systems had highest values - often several times higher - in the organic system with four exceptions: total biomass, biomass of crop, proportion of a single broad-leaved taxon and of grasses. The differences between the two systems were largest mid-field due to a pronounced pre-herbicide spraying gradient in species and plant density from crop margin to mid-field in conventional fields. A similar gradient was not found in the organic fields.

137 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the level of nitrogen leaching from organic compared to conventional farming was evaluated by using a systems modelling approach using a simple function in which nitrate leaching is dependent on percolation, soil clay content, average nitrogen input and crop sequence.

137 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023342
2022687
2021376
2020388
2019362
2018390