Organic Farming and Environment

It may be amazing to know that Zero Budget Organic Farming (ZBNF) on just 50 percent of cropland and pasture would impound enough emissions to rally 41 gross tones of CO2 emission in a year. It has already been verified that organic farming can cut down Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to a significant extent and protect environment. In future, we can expect safeguarding ozone umbrella through taking up vigorous organic farming. Global level surveys found that organically grown crops gave higher yields during droughts than traditionally grown crops. Research projects have proved that organic corn yields have shown 31 % higher yield during drought than with non-organic corn under the same climatic conditions.

As the seeds are procured from organic plants through traditional breeding, there is no GMO and the produced plants yield healthy natural produce. Organic fertilizers such as cow dung  and neem oil are used and they can give good yields and as per the biodiversity manual tilling is used harmful insects are attracted by intercropping and the plants selected for intercropping also improve quality of the soil.

Many complex entities and relationships involving factors such as soil type, regional climate, cropping system, and timing of farming. Combinations of beneficial on-farm practices take part in prospective to reduce GHG emissions and alleviate climate change.

There are few ways in which organic farming can combat climate change,

1. Decrease on-farm fossil fuel energy use
2. Decrease the embodied energy of agriculture inputs
3. Removal of carbon dioxide from atmosphere and sequester carbon in soils and woody biomass

Organic Farming

Organic farming employs manual tilling for weed control and it will include cover crops. Organic production appears to store greater net amounts of carbon compared to conventional systems. Research studies have found that with 40 to 50 years of synthetic nitrogen based fertilizer applications; the net soil carbon content has decreased even though incorporation of large amounts of carbon from crop residues resulted.

Organic farming is referred due to the following reasons,

1. Increased soil fertility
2. Reduced soil erosion
3. Improved water infiltration to increase water observation and limit the effect of flooding
4. Decreased dependence on fossil fuel based fuels and in outs such as synthetic fertilizers
5. Increased habitat for beneficial insects

Carbon emissions are more in when the natural produces are kept as such and preservatives are added. But with shade drying, deep freeze drying gives leaf powder, root powder or seed powder without losing any nutrients. Herbal capsules may give excellent nutritional benefits. Color of the organic produces reflects the natural colors and various organizations such as USDA, European and Indian NPOP provide organic certifications.

Commercial grade personal care and health care products have low price. Petroleum derivative additives used such as paraben are used to increase the shelf life of personal care products such as shampoos soaps hair conditioners etc,. Synthetic coloring agents are also used in these low priced personal care products. Carbon emission in distribution networks can be controlled, when we start to use fresh fruits vegetables.

Use of nitrogen fertilizers causes increased nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. A research survey showed that nitrous dioxide emissions contribute over 50% of GHG emissions from UK agriculture. Evidences show that lower nitrogen inputs in organic farming systems can lead to lower N2O emissions compared to non-organic farms on an area basis. High water-holding capacity of soils under organic management can give higher yields compared to non-organic systems.