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PG. 16 THE RURAL
FARM NEWS
Organic farmers:
on the leading edge
by Valerie Bolton
Lawrence Andres, president of the
Natural Farmers' Association,
welcomed over 70 farmers to the First
Annual Natural Farmers' Association
Conference at the Ethel Public
School on November 19.
Doug Green, a professional
engineer with Conservation Manage-
ment Systems, spoke on "Soil Ero-
sion, Causes and Cures" and showed
the film "Soil Today, Food Tomor-
row" which warned farmers of the
dangers of soil erosion. The film
demonstrated the effects of rain and
wind on well -tilled soil, showing that
it is often better to leave crop residue
in the field with only a light discing or
shredding rather than working the
soil well. "This organic mulch from
last year's crop is essential to protect
the soil from water and wind
erosion," Green explained. "Soil ero-
sion is a hot topic in southern On-
tario, as most everyone is recognizing
it as a serious problem." He pointed
out that areas most affected by ero-
sion problems are counties whose
cropping practices are high in row
crops and monoculture.
Looking at the economic impact of
soil erosion, Green stated: "We
observed a dollar decrease of 30 per
cent per year in small grains due to
soil erosion. Over 25 years this com-
putes to a loss of $44 million in small
grain production." He numbered six
factors causing soil erosion: rainfall,
runoff, slope gradient, and manage-
ment practices, soil erodability, slope
length and vegetation cover.
Green informed farmers of the
OMAF program "The Ontario Soil
Conservation and Environmental
Protection Assistance Program"
which is making $25.5 million
available to farmers over the next five
years to provide capital grants for on-
farm erosion control projects and
manure storage facilities.
The province will pay 50 per cent of
the eligible cost to a maximum of
$7500. to producers to control soil
erosion, sustain crop productivity
and protect water resources.
"A well-planned farmland erosion
control system," explained Green,
VOICE, DECEMBER 1983
"can protect against soil loss and/or
breakdown of soil structure, reduce
fertilizer costs, keep valuable crop
land in production, maintain
drainage system performance by con-
trolling runoff of sediment, maintain
land values and protect against the
potential hazardous formation of
gullies in fields."
Fuels and energy, fertilizers and
farm chemicals account for much of
the production cost increases in farm-
ing today.
Farmers need more information on
reducing production costs while
maintaining crop yields. As
Agronomy Co-ordinator with the
Rodale Research Centre in Kutztown
Pennsylvania, Martin Culik made
this statement in his presentation
"Steps in the Transition to Organic
Agriculture."
Culik outlined a five-year Conver-
sion Project which is researching
methods to convert from conven-
tional farming to organic farming.
"Experimental treatments include
three farming systems," explained
Culik. "First, an organic farming
system with livestock as part of the
enterprise: second, an organic farm-
ing system without livestock (organic
cash -grain farm) and third, a conven-
tional cash -grain farming system.
Each treatment involves a five-year
crop rotation." Crop rotation ceased
to be an important element in farm-
ing in the 1950's when synthetic fer-
tilizer became widespread. It was in-
expensive, easy to apply and generally
produced good crops. "Now with in-
creased costs, farmers are turning to
crop rotation as a means of reducing
costs, avoiding pest problems, and
minimizing the risk of uncertain
weather and markets. The cost of
producing corn after soybeans versus
corn after corn is almost 10 per cent
lower," explained Culik.
"The people at the universities are
agreeing with the practices of organic
farmers --- they are on the leading
edge of farming today," he said. He
concluded by giving the following
recommendations: seek information
from land grant universities and ex-
tension personnel on new ideas for
profitable crop and livestock produc-