Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to restore their health. That is exactly what you are doing with the soil. The end result is
healthy animals that you have no problems with (Douglas 2006 ).
Like the organic growers of the 1940s and 1950s, Victorian dairy farmers Ron
and Bev Smith describe bringing life to their soil through organic methods. When
they began farming organically in 1980 “the soil smelt lifeless” , they recall. After
25 years of organic practices “there was abundant soil, life, bacteria and fungi [
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]
The soil smells rich and sweet” (Smith 2008 ).
Compost, animal manure and green cover crops remain the stalwarts of organic
farming. Australian organic standards recommend compost, animal manure and
green manure as fertilizer and soil conditioner (Standards Australia 2009 2.5)
just as the organic societies did in the 1940s and 1950s and these are all core
practice undertaken by Australian organic farmers today. Queensland, sugar-cane
farmers Anthony and Debbie Skopp, also interviewed by the author, practice sheet
composting where they spread organic matter directly onto the soil to decompose
and increase the humus content in the soil (Skopp and Skopp 2006 ). To fertilize
his farm Queensland banana farmer Desmond Chappel applies composted chicken
manure rather than the artificial fertilizers used by conventional banana growers and
Victorian organic sheep and wheat farmer Anthony Sheldon rotates grazing animals
and crops so the animal manure will fertilize the fields prior to sowing (Chappel
2006 ; Sheldon 2006 ).
Although composting, manuring and green cover crops remain essential organic
methods, the use of human sewage as fertilizer, enthusiastically promoted by organic
societies in the 1940s and 1950s is now prohibited by Australian organic standards
on land used for the production of human or animal feed (Standards Australia
2009 4.1). Preoccupation with hygiene, concern about the heavy metal content of
municipal sewage as well as fear of a negative public image of organics have all
contributed to the rejection of human sewage as a fertility source by commercial
organic farmers. When the United States government proposed the use of sewage
sludge in its own national organic standards there was strong dissent from organic
groups (Vos 2000 ).
The certification of aquaculture operations, such as mussel farms, in Australia
has seemingly created an anomaly for organic agriculture today which continues to
be defined as soil-based systems (Mansfield 2004 ). However, this anomaly reflects
the history of organic farming in Australia as overwhelmingly land-based and the
continued importance the foundation of Australian organic growing societies on
belief in the importance of soil humus organic food production.
11.3.2
Chemical Free
For many people today 'chemical free' is synonymous with organic production.
Raising plants and animals without the use of synthesized chemical fertilizers,
pesticides, herbicides and fungicides continues to be a significant means by which
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