The Rural Voice, 1983-05, Page 8Another View: Ecological Farming
Lawrence Andres, newly -elected president of the Natural Farmers Association of
Ontario at home on his farm in Kincardine township.
by Valerie Bolton
Biological farming is the cutting edge
in the future of agriculture. It is the
fertility of our soil on which the future of
the human race depends.
This was the message received by 140
people attending the 1st Annual Spring
Organic Growers Conference held in
Ethel in April. The day long program was
co-sponsored by the Natural Farmers
Association of Ontario and Oak Manor
Farms.
"The viewpoint of organic, biological
or ecological farming is that massive
amounts of artificial fertilizers, pesti-
cides and herbicides, the predominance
of monocultures and bad tillage practices
are destroying the soil" stated the first
speaker, Joe Smillie, an agronomist from
Weedon, Quebec.
Complementing his presentation with
slides, he explained "The soil is a
teeming universe of busy micro-organ-
isms that feed us. Soil life supports all
plant life which in turn feeds the animals.
It follows that if the soil is nutritionally
deficient, unhealthy or even toxic, this is
passed along to us through the food
chain." The methods of biological farm-
ing are not a return to farming practices
of the 1920's but a combination of the
PG. 6 THE RURAL VOICE, MAY 1983
newest scientific advancements in soil
management and the well learned les-
sons of centuries of farm practices.
"Chemical farming is the fad not
biological farming" Smillie stated.
He explained the simplicity of creating
high quality compost for the promotion
of healthy soil on a farm scale. With the
equipment presently on your farm, a
tractor, front end loader, and power
take -off manure spreader, he and a
couple of other farmers were composting
as much as 100 tons of compost in one
day. "Composting is also necessary for
the creation and preservation of soil
fertility. All plant and animal waste are
prime ingredients for the creation of
active humus."
Smillie described the benefits of
'catch' crops in organic management.
These are seedings made after the cash
crop harvest that are tilled into the soil
for green manure. He warned farmers of
plowing in green manure which would
simply rot in the ground. "You must disc
it down lightly on a sunny day. When
brown, disc it in again." He described
good farm management often meant
sensitive timing.
Joe Scrimger, a farmer associated with
the Michigan Organic Growers Associa-
lion, presented a slide show on the
tillage methods he uses on his farm. He
stressed the importance of patience in
his tillage program. "Disc, leave set and
chisel plowing".
Bio -dynamic farmers recognize there is
increasing evidence that plowing, gen-
erally speaking, is a harmful method of
tillage. Smillie said "Plowing kills off
aerobic bacteria and acidifies humus by
burying his productive soil layer (the
rhizosphere) six or more inches into
anaerobic conditions. Among other bad
effects plowing cuts off capillary water
movement to the surface and creates a
hardpan below the surface." Scrimger
stated he only chisel plows when soil
compaction calls for it. Otherwise,
discing is adequate. "I never till the soil
without walking over the land and
determining what is indicated."
To control weeds, Scrimger cultivates
several times, preferring hot sunny days(
for maximum weed kill. "I don't really
have any problem with weeds, the few we
have don't interfere with the crop yield."
A crop of weeds tells him he worked the
soil a bit wet. Weeds can also be an
indicator of soil imbalances or a defi-
ciency. Quack grass for example, is an
indicator of a calcium deficiency. The
audience laughed when he boasted of the
manure aeration system on his farm and
flashed a picture of a couple of pigs in
the composting yard.
He concluded his presentation by
exhorting farmers to manage the living
organisms beneath the soil with as much
management skill and care given the
cattle grazing on the surface of the land.
The afternoon session began with
Bernard Hack, a bio -dynamic mixed
farmer from the Kincardine area outlining
the challenge of transition to organic
farming. The three goals of transition
were how to get full fertility, manage
weeds and develop a healthy soil. "It is
with the growing incidence of human ill
health that we are being led to organic
practices. We will never grow healthy
plants on an ill soil, and we will never
have healthy animals or people relying on
unhealthy plants."
He advised that all farms should plant
20-30 per cent of their cropland in
(nitrogen fixing) legumes and a farm in
transition should be planting even more
legume crops. He recommended cow
manure as the best substance for making