Organic farming is the latest trend in agricultural settings; they have been a prevalent system in the agro-based industry to fulfill the farming needs. They are modernized, well-established techniques to widen the periphery of agriculture. It is basically chemical-free fertilization; the system believes in the utilization of all-natural ingredients without harmful synthetic chemicals.
Its prime focus is on the sustainable utilization of limited resources for an eco-friendly farming system that believes in protecting the environment, biodiversity, and natural habitat, Its focus area remains on improving soil health. The prime target lies in promoting healthy food while maintaining a stable ecosystem.
ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES FOR HIGH-YIELD
Organic farming is a mechanism that includes activation most naturally. This process involves the use of biological fertilizers, initiates farming practices without any chemical inputs, and maintains soil fertility. It involves the techniques of crop rotation and sustainable methods of farming methods to save Mother Earth from further degradation.
The agricultural method uses natural and bio-fertilizers, which are derived from animal and plant waste, along with nitrogen fixation or cover cropping. The farming practices are enhanced by cover cropping and crop rotation. The organic residue produced is recycled back into the soil. With the motive of achieving high–yielding crops, farming is done most judiciously in the nature-based surroundings where only natural inputs are utilized.
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THE BEST ORGANIC FARMING TECHNIQUE
Organic methods are sustainable, natural mechanisms for crop cultivation that emphasize judicious utilization, which in return leads to the conservation of soil, water, and other valuable resources, and prohibit the use of other synthetic materials like fertilizers.
1. Rational Grazing: This includes grazing paddock intensively for a short period of time, which enhances biodiversity. It encourages positive environmental footprints and reduces soil pollution. It is inclined towards a more conventional farming system.
It is an effective pasture management system that correlates with plant physiology principles, complying with the principles with nutritional needs of an animal, and improving the soil health through ecological processes. It is a method of animal husbandry where the livestock is shifted to a new paddock. This allows the grass to regrow in the previous paddock.
2. Cover cropping: They are non-cash crops that are grown in addition to the primary cash crops. They are specifically grown to protect the top layers of soil and enhance soil fertility, improving the soil structure, and reducing erosion. They grow over a single winter. Cover cropping manages the different aspects of soil, like soil fertility, soil quality, water, and biodiversity in the ecosystem.
The cover crops are particularly planted to cover the soil rather than for harvesting. Cover crops can enhance microbial activities. This may help in nitrogen diffusion in target crops. It reduces the risk of water pollution and removes CO2 from the atmosphere.
3. Crop Rotation: It is the sequential growing of crops in the same field to improve and uplift the soil health and reduce pest and weed issues. It helps in replenishing and renewing the soil’s health.
4. Green Manuring: It is the initiative to plant cover crops and then plow them to deeply penetrate into the soil to add nutrients and improve the soil composition. This process enhances soil fertility, reduces soil erosion, and protects the groundwater quality and pests.
5. Intercropping: It is the rational method of cultivating two or more crops at the same time in the same field. One spot of land can be harvested multiple times per year. The purpose of intercropping is to increase yield and productivity.
6. Agroforestry: It is a unique land management system that combines agriculture and natural resources management to enhance benefits to people, animals, and plants. Agroforestry is distinct and differentiated in comparison to other farming systems as it uses trees and shrubs in the place of crops to provide a natural roof habitat for wildlife.
7. Companion planting: It is the practice of planting crops adjacent to planting around each base of such plants like beans, peas, and tomatoes. These plants help each other by sharing nutrients, water, and light. It enhances the crop yields.
INCREASE CROP YIELD OF ORGANIC METHOD:
In the organic method, the crop yield has increased to an extent., Many experiments have proved that the use of organic fertilizers, soybean meal, and cattle manure in the crop yield of various varieties has exponentially increased.
The world population has reached 7.6 billion and is expected to rise by 8.6 billion by 2050, to meet the global food requirement, the crop yield needs to be enhanced and various agricultural practices have been initiated and proposed, like the excessive application of fertilizers, pesticides, large scale utilization of water resources and intensive plowing all these have increased food production but is posing a great threat like decrease in organic matter, greenhouse gas emission.
Many scientific studies have been conducted to decrease the environmental impact. It is believed that higher efficiency in organic fertilizers has the potency to increase the crop yield without depleting or degrading the soil health.
By providing long-term food security and environmental preservation. In order to preserve the soil type, organic farming relies on using novel crop types. Precise crop rotation and cover crops, growing vegetables organically, are more productive than growing with chemicals or fertilizers.
Organic farming has two prime objectives: maintaining the sustainability of the system and the safety of the environment. With an ever-increasing population and huge demand for vegetable crops, pure organic food processing is not feasible in a country like India.
SUSTAINABLE HIGH-YIELD ORGANIC FARMING :
The innovative and advanced methods make new trends towards sustainable farming system, which enhances agricultural productivity and change the quality of life of farmers in an environmentally friendly manner.
In other words, organic farming is based upon the sustainable concept of the global agricultural system, and organic farming is considered a necessary and viable step towards sustainable farming.
The prime goal of organic farming is to grow healthier crops without disrupting the environmental health and the ecosystem by conserving the limited resources, which are completely dependent upon the natural process, and avoiding any form of chemical utilization.
CONCLUSION
Organic farming is not just an approach; it is viewed as a revolution in the farming sector. It is reducing the dependency on harmful fertilizers or pesticides, which focuses on a sustainable approach. Organic farming is beneficial to the farmers, the environment, and consumers. We need to inculcate an organic form of farming in our agricultural rituals to bring a transformative change towards a greener and more sustainable future.
The growing emphasis on environmental conservation has become prominent, and modern-day living has made organic farming an essential platform for sustainable development.
India’s climate makes it a thriving place for organic farming regions like Sikki, which has a 100% organic status, which explains that India can achieve this ratio, given global demand.