Organic Farming: The Ecological System

Organic Farming: The Ecological System was published, with influences from the work supported an NCR-SARE grant. The book relates farming practices, understanding of components and mechanisms, and design of systems using natural environments as models. Understanding the sustainability of natural ecosystems, the importance of biodiversity, resilience, cycles and conservation of resources, among other principles, will be key to creating durable and productive systems in the face of limitations. Authors of the fifteen chapters share experiences and perspectives from the North American context, and represent a highly diverse and productive collection of agroecozones and farming systems.

Learn about history and certification, ecological knowledge as the basis of sustainability, biodiversity, crop–animal systems, forages, grain, oil seed, specialty crops, soil nutrient needs, vegetation and pest management, marketing, food security, education and research, and the future outlook. Combining farmer experience and wisdom with the best that science has to offer can help us better understand organic systems and how to design them to meet human needs and preserve an environment where we would like to live.

Want more information? See the related SARE grant(s) ENC06-092 , Training for Organic Farming and Ranching in the Great Plains .