#Improve soil fertility organically

[bharatvarsh22]

In the world of organic farming, soil health is of utmost importance. Organic farmers understand that healthy soil is the foundation for a successful and sustainable farm. Soil that is rich in nutrients, microorganisms, and organic matter creates an ideal environment for plants to thrive and resist diseases and pests. However, maintaining soil health in organic farming requires careful and strategic soil management practices.

Do Visit: https://bharatvarshnaturefarms.com/soil-health-in-organic-farming/

[brandandbranch]

5 Easy Steps to Start Your Hydroponic Vertical Farm - bg-bio520

Start your hydroponic vertical farm in just 5 easy steps with BG-Bio520! From planning and setup to selecting nutrients and optimizing growth, our expert solutions ensure sustainable and productive farming.

[gardenholic]

Best Use Organic Fertilizers and It's 3 Benifits for Gardening

Organic fertilizers are derived from plant, animal or mineral resources and are used to improve the health and productivity of soil and plants. They are a major component of organic gardening and farming. The importance of organic fertilizers in gardening lies in their many benefits: 1. Supply of Nutrients: Organic fertilizers provide essential nutrients to plants, including nitrogen,…

[reasonsforhope]

"Marginal improvements to agricultural soils around the world would store enough carbon to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating, new research suggests.

Farming techniques that improve long-term fertility and yields can also help to store more carbon in soils but are often ignored in favor of intensive techniques using large amounts of artificial fertilizer, much of it wasted, that can increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Using better farming techniques to store 1 percent more carbon in about half of the world’s agricultural soils would be enough to absorb about 31 gigatons of carbon dioxide a year, according to new data. That amount is not far off the 32 gigaton gap between current planned emissions reduction globally per year and the amount of carbon that must be cut by 2030 to stay within 1.5C.

The estimates were carried out by Jacqueline McGlade, the former chief scientist at the UN environment program and former executive director of the European Environment Agency. She found that storing more carbon in the top 30 centimeters of agricultural soils would be feasible in many regions where soils are currently degraded.

McGlade now leads a commercial organization that sells soil data to farmers. Downforce Technologies uses publicly available global data, satellite images, and lidar to assess in detail how much carbon is stored in soils, which can now be done down to the level of individual fields.

“Outside the farming sector, people do not understand how important soils are to the climate,” said McGlade. “Changing farming could make soils carbon negative, making them absorb carbon, and reducing the cost of farming.”

She said farmers could face a short-term cost while they changed their methods, away from the overuse of artificial fertilizer, but after a transition period of two to three years their yields would improve and their soils would be much healthier...

Arable farmers could sequester more carbon within their soils by changing their crop rotation, planting cover crops such as clover, or using direct drilling, which allows crops to be planted without the need for ploughing. Livestock farmers could improve their soils by growing more native grasses.

Hedgerows also help to sequester carbon in the soil, because they have large underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi and microbes that can extend meters into the field. Farmers have spent decades removing hedgerows to make intensive farming easier, but restoring them, and maintaining existing hedgerows, would improve biodiversity, reduce the erosion of topsoil, and help to stop harmful agricultural runoff, which is a key polluter of rivers."

-via The Grist, July 8, 2023

[probablyasocialecologist]

RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau has shown for the first time, in a joint study with BOKU University, that permaculture brings about a significant improvement in biodiversity, soil quality and carbon storage. In view of the challenges of climate change and species extinction, this type of agriculture proved to be a real alternative to conventional cultivation—and reconcile environmental protection and high yields. Permaculture uses natural cycles and ecosystems as blueprint. Food is produced in an agricultural ecosystem that is as self-regulating, natural and diverse as possible. For example, livestock farming is integrated into the cultivation of crops or the diversity of beneficial organisms is promoted in order to avoid the use of mineral fertilizers or pesticides. In a study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers from RPTU and BOKU have now, for the first time, comprehensively investigated the effects of this planning and management concept on the environment.

[...]

"Permaculture appears to be a much more ecologically sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture," said Julius Reiff . At the same time, the yields from permaculture are comparable to those of industrial agriculture, as the researchers' not yet published data shows. "In view of the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, the observed improvements would represent a real turnaround when applied to larger areas," says ecosystem analysis expert Martin Entling from RPTU.

4 July 2024

[cognitivejustice]

Learning from the land: Using indigenous knowledge for climate-sensitive circular lifestyles

Indigenous techniques like natural resource renewal, tree-based farming, traditional mud-and-wood housing, and consuming local, uncultivated foods, can address some aspects of climate change and also bring about a sense of responsibility and connection with nature. Promoting agroforestry and integrating trees into farms can improve biodiversity and soil health. Adopting drought-resistant crops and traditional methods like rainwater harvesting, mulching, and using organic manure is vital for conserving moisture, enhancing soil fertility, and minimising external inputs. Building on these approaches, there is a powerful social dimension that further amplifies their impact.

But before proposing viable solutions, we need meticulous landscape mapping: understanding community environments, traditional knowledge systems, and specific vulnerabilities. Fully understanding these dimensions can pinpoint exact strategies to reduce our ecological footprint, and promote lifestyles that minimise electricity consumption and resource use, while drawing on ancient wisdom to enhance our modern lives.

[hardly-an-escape]

growth | Buck/Tommy | 1236 words | rated T

tags: Tommy Kinard character study, gardening

A few weeks before Tommy picked up Howie's call and ended up flying four members of his former station into a hurricane – and incidentally inviting the beautiful hurricane that was Evan Buckley into his life – he'd planted an herb garden.

In retrospect, he wasn't even sure why he'd done it. He wasn't much of a gardener, and neither was he a particularly gifted home chef. His backyard looked nice, but it wasn't exactly artistic; there were no carefully-curated flower beds or beautiful raised plots overflowing with homegrown vegetables. Likewise, when he cooked at home, he stuck to the same handful of fairly utilitarian meals: spaghetti with turkey meatballs and sauce from a jar, or brown rice and baked salmon and green beans. Not that his food wouldn't have benefited from fresh herbs — it just didn't need it.

And yet, for some reason, he got off a shift and twenty minutes later found himself wandering the lumber aisles in the Lowe's near his house, 48 hours off ahead of him and a random home improvement magazine clutched in one hand.

Tommy's house was a little two bedroom bungalow, which the realtor had called "cozy" and Tommy would have described as "cramped" if he wasn't kind of a minimalist by nature (and more interested in the detached garage). The kitchen was small but functional, and located at the back of the house, which faced south. It had a big window over the sink, and a back door that opened out onto a small cedar deck that had been Tommy's first DIY project after he bought the place.

It wasn't the best deck in the world. It sloped a little to one side, and he'd applied the finish a little unevenly. But he was still proud of it.

He chose similar cedar boards for the herb garden. Built a counter kind of thing, a little taller than elbow height, with spaces where planters could nestle in and a shelf below for storage. He set it on the deck right below the kitchen window, thinking that once the plants got tall enough, he'd be able to see them through the window, maybe while he was doing dishes or something.

Maybe the green would be inspiring. Maybe he'd go out to the deck and trim a few sprigs of something to throw on his salmon. Add a little flavor to his life.

Tommy snorted to himself. Add a little flavor to his life. Who did he think he was? And yet...

He built the framework. Bought some terracotta planters. Went to a garden store the next day, carefully chose a big bag of potting soil and some seedlings and organic fertilizer and, a little self-consciously, a small blue enamelware watering can. He thought it might look nice on the storage shelf beneath the planters.

He started with just the basics, things that sounded familiar, like he might actually use them sometime: basil, mint, cilantro, oregano. Rosemary, because it reminded him of his mother.

Against all odds, the herb garden thrived. Tommy did discover the hard way that it really needed to be watered every day, when he came home from three OT shifts in a row to find his basil plants more than a little blasted by the LA sun. He rigged up a slightly janky DIY self-watering system with an old wine bottle, and that seemed to do the trick.

He still didn't really know what he was doing. Or why he was doing it. But he liked his herbs. It felt good to go out on the deck in the morning, and drink his coffee while he plucked the few weeds that appeared, and made sure the soil was properly moisturized.

Then Howie called.

Then Evan somersaulted into his life and looked at Tommy with stars in his eyes and sprained his best friend's ankle. Evan let Tommy kiss him in his kitchen, out of the blue, two fingers digging into the stubble on his chin. Evan asked him out for coffee and asked him for a second chance and asked him to a wedding.

Three weeks to the day after their disappointing first date, Evan came over to Tommy's house for the first time. The plan was that they would make dinner together and then walk down to the park in Tommy's neighborhood that was showing movies every Friday and Saturday, projecting them on a big inflatable screen.

He honestly wasn't sure whether they would make it to the movie this time, either – but now it was more because they seemed to have a hard time keeping their hands off one another whenever they were within arms' reach. He'd let the evening unspool in his head before Evan ever arrived: a nice dinner, and then dessert on the deck, and conversation, and then, when the mosquitos got too bad, a glass of wine in the living room, lights low, hands wandering. He didn’t really care about the movie.

They hadn't used the word "boyfriend," yet. But Tommy knew what it meant, if you asked a man to come over and cook you dinner at 7:00 PM in your own house.

So, Evan arrived, that first time. Tommy gave him the nickel tour, not that there was much to see – the living room, with its sparse bookshelf and much more robust DVD shelf; the office-slash-guest room; the master bedroom and the painfully obviously freshly-made bed; the garage and the car lift and Muay Thai mats. Evan was polite, complimentary, interested in the renovations Tommy had made during the five years he’d owned the place.

It wasn’t until they walked out on the deck that he’d shown real excitement.

“Look at this!” he cried, gravitating toward Tommy’s weird little herb garden like a puppy to a chew toy. “You didn’t tell me about this.”

“It’s – it’s nothing much,” Tommy said awkwardly. “Just something new I built a couple weeks ago. I don’t even know what to do with them, really.”

“You built this?” Evan said, enchanted, and Tommy watched him run his fingers along the sanded cedar frame, and bury his face in the fragrant plants, and rub one basil leaf gently between two fingertips and bring his fingers to his nose, breathing deep and turning to Tommy with a smile on his face. “This is incredible.”

“You think?” said Tommy, uncertain.

“Yeah, I think,” said Evan, beaming, and crossed the deck in two long strides and caught Tommy by the waist and kissed him, once, twice: brief, deep kisses that knocked Tommy’s whole world slightly off center. “Your oregano is gorgeous, it’s going to be absolutely perfect in the sauce.”

And then he whirled away, back inside, rattling around Tommy’s kitchen as if he belonged there, searching out pots and cutting boards and strainers. Tommy stood for a long moment in the middle of his own deck, slightly poleaxed, listening to Evan’s clatter with one ear and the burgeoning backyard crickets with the other, smelling the wafting scent of his herbs and the neighbors’ honeysuckle vines.

Oh, he thought. This is why I wanted an herb garden.

Because on some level, in some remote corner of his brain, he had known that Evan was waiting for him, a storm system just over the horizon. He’d needed to be ready for this. For making pasta sauce with fresh oregano, and kissing on the back deck, and growing something real.

read on AO3 >>>

[miyoriia]

It's called a mushroom circle! what happens is a creature perishes and dissolves into the soil. Then mycellium grows on the fertile spot created by the creature's body, and they send up the mushrooms (the fruiting body (secret mushroom sex organs)) up and away from the central point to improve spread of spores.

I think as someone who cares about snuff kink you'd be fascinated by these things. They're rumored to take to you a fae realm if you step inside of them.

Also the ones in Dungeon Meshi turn make you trans(form into a different fantasy race) so it's like, super kitty / doggy related :3c

Typing that out has me so excited for remembering the stuff we learned in my entomology (bugs) university course about stages of decomposition and the different organisms that are present at different stages. It's like a whale-fall but on land ^w^

wow i can't wait to die the world is so wonderful

[gardeningloverfamily]

🥥🥥What’s your favorite organic fertilizer recipe?

🥥 My Favorite Organic Fertilizer Recipe Secret:

One of my favorite organic fertilizer recipes is Banana Peel and Coffee Grounds Fertilizer. It’s easy to make, full of essential nutrients, and great for vegetables, houseplants, and flowers.

🥄 Ingredients:

🍌 2-3 banana peels (potassium and phosphorus)

☕ 1 cup used coffee grounds (nitrogen)

🧂 1 tablespoon Epsom salt (magnesium)

💧 Water (enough to fill a 1-liter container) 🛠 Instructions: 1️⃣ Cut the banana peels into small pieces. 2️⃣ Combine the peels, coffee grounds, and Epsom salt in a blender. 3️⃣ Add water and blend until smooth. 4️⃣ Use immediately or store the mixture for up to a week in a sealed container. 5️⃣ Apply it to your plants by pouring the mixture around the base once every 2-3 weeks.

This recipe feeds your plants organically while improving soil health. It’s ideal for those seeking eco-friendly and chemical-free gardening solutions.

🌱 Boost your garden naturally with this easy-to-make organic fertilizer recipe using banana peels, coffee grounds, and Epsom salt. Perfect for healthy vegetables, houseplants, and flowers!

[thehopefuljournalist]

weird question, but do you know if regenerative agriculture is growing, and by what rate? it's important to me but looking for articles on my own can trigger a panic attack :[ no worries if not !

Hey! Thank you so much for asking. Honestly, agriculture and sustainable agriculture specifically are very close to my heart as well, so I was glad for the excuse to do some research :) 

Also, thank you for your patience, I know you sent this Ask a bit ago. It’s good that you’re listening to yourself and not going around searching for things that might cause you harm, so thanks again for reaching out!

So, what is regenerative agriculture? 

Regenerative agriculture is a way of farming that focuses on soil health. When soil is healthy, it produces more food and nutrition, stores more carbon and increases biodiversity – the variety of species. Healthy soil supports other water, land and air environments and ecosystems through natural processes including water drainage and pollination – the fertilization of plants.

Regenerative agriculture is a defining term for sustainability in our food system - while there is no one true definition of regenerative agriculture, the concept has been around for centuries, taking root in Indigenous growing practices. Regenerative approaches can bolster soil health and watershed health. They can also add to climate mitigation and potentially tie into regulatory or commercial incentives for a more sustainable diet. 

Regenerative farming methods include minimizing the ploughing of land. This keeps CO2 in the soil, improves its water absorbency and leaves vital fungal communities in the earth undisturbed.

Rotating crops to vary the types of crop planted improves biodiversity, while using animal manure and compost helps to return nutrients to the soil. 

Continuously grazing animals on the same piece of land can also degrade soil, explains the Regenerative agriculture in Europe report from the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council. So regenerative agriculture methods include moving grazing animals to different pastures.

How can it help?

Regenerative farming can improve crop yields – the volume of crops produced – by improving the health of soil and its ability to retain water, as well as reducing soil erosion. If regenerative farming was implemented in Africa, crop yields could rise 13% by 2040 and up to 40% in the future, according to a Regenerative Farming in Africa report by conservation organization the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the UN.

Regenerative farming can also reduce emissions from agriculture and turn the croplands and pastures, which cover up to 40% of Earth’s ice-free land area, into carbon sinks. These are environments that naturally absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, according to climate solutions organization Project Drawdown.

5 ways to scale regenerative agriculture:

1. Agree on common metrics for environmental outcomes. Today, there are many disparate efforts to define and measure environmental outcomes. We must move to a set of metrics adopted by the whole food industry, making it easier for farmers to adjust their practices and for positive changes to be rewarded. 2. Build farmers’ income from environmental outcomes such as carbon reduction and removal. We need a well-functioning market with a credible system of payments for environmental outcomes, trusted by buyers and sellers, that creates a new, durable, income stream for farmers. 3. Create mechanisms to share the cost of transition with farmers. Today, all the risk and cost sits with the farmers. 4. Ensure government policy enables and rewards farmers for transition. Too many government policies are in fact supporting the status quo of farming. The food sector must come together and work jointly with regulators to address this. 5. Develop new sourcing models to spread the cost of transition. We must move from sourcing models that take crops from anywhere to models that involve collaboration between off-takers from different sectors to take crops from areas converting to regenerative farming.

The rise of regenerative agriculture

In 2019, General Mills, the manufacturer of Cheerios, Yoplait and Annie’s Mac and Cheese (among other products), announced it would begin sourcing a portion of its corn, wheat, dairy and sugar from farmers who were engaged in regenerative agriculture practices and committed to advancing the practice of regenerative agriculture on one million acres of land by 2030. In early 2020, Whole Foods announced regenerative agriculture would be the No. 1 food trend and, in spite of the pandemic and the rapid growth of online shopping overshadowing the trend, business interest in the field still spiked by 138%. 

More recently, PepsiCo announced it was adopting regenerative agriculture practices among 7 million acres of its farmland. Cargill declared it intends to do the same on 10 million acres by 2030, and Walmart has committed to advancing the practice on 50 million acres. Other companies pursuing regenerative agriculture include Danone, Unilever, Hormel, Target and Land O’ Lakes.

According to Nielsen, 75% of millennials are altering their buying habits with the environment in mind. This sentiment, of course, does not always materialize into tangible actions on behalf of every consumer. However, it is clear from the actions of PepsiCo, General Mills, Walmart, Unilever and others that they believe consumers’ expectations of what is environmentally friendly are shifting and that they will soon be looking to purchase regeneratively-produced foods because of the many benefits they produce.

The next step in the transition to regenerative agriculture is certification. The goal is to create labeling that will allow the consumer to connect to the full suite of their values. Some companies are partnering with nonprofit conveners and certifiers. The Savory Institute is one such partner, convening producers and brands around regenerative agriculture and more holistic land management practices.

In 2020, the Savory Institute granted its first “Ecological OutCome Verification (EOV) seal to Epic’s latest high protein bars by certifying that its featured beef was raised with regenerative agriculture practices. 

The program was developed to let the land speak for itself by showing improvement through both leading and lagging functions such as plant diversity and water holding capacity. There are now thousands of products that have been Land to Market verified, with over 80 brand partnerships with companies such as Epic Provisions, Eileen Fisher and Applegate.  Daily Harvest is giving growers in that space three-year contracts as well as markets and price premiums for the transitional crop. It's focusing on that transitional organic process as a stepping stone toward a regenerative organic food system.

Daily Harvest’s Almond Project creates an alliance with the Savory Institute and a group of stakeholders - including Simple Mills and Cappello’s - to bring regenerative practices to almonds in the Central Valley of California.

These companies are working with Treehouse California Almonds, their shared almond supplier, to lead soil health research on 160 acres of farmland. Over five years, the Project will focus on measuring outcomes around the ecosystem and soil health of regenerative practices – comparing those side by side with neighboring conventional baselines.

“We need industry partnership; we need pre-competitive collaboration,” says Rebecca Gildiner, Director of Sustainability at Daily Harvest, of the Almond Project. “Sustainability cannot be competitive. We are all sharing suppliers, we are all sharing supply – rising tides truly lift all boats. The industry has to understand our responsibility in investing, where historically investments have disproportionately focused on yields with a sole focus of feeding the world. We know this has been critical in the past but it has overlooked other forms of capital, other than financial. We need to look towards experimenting in holistic systems that have other outcomes than yield and profit - instead of saying organic can’t feed the world, we have to invest in figuring out how organic can feed the world because it’s critical.”

////

In short!!!

Many articles are stating regenerative agriculture as a defining, and rising “buzz word” in the industry. It seems that consumers are becoming more and more aware and are demanding more sustainable approaches to agriculture. 

We, of course, have a way to go, but it seems from the data that I’ve gathered, that regenerative agriculture is, in fact, on the rise. Demand is rising, and many are working on ways to globalize those methods.

Source Source Source Source

[bharatvarsh22]

The Importance of Soil Health in Organic Farming: Tips for Soil Management

In the world of organic farming, soil health is of utmost importance. Organic farmers understand that healthy soil is the foundation for a successful and sustainable farm. Soil that is rich in nutrients, microorganisms, and organic matter creates an ideal environment for plants to thrive and resist diseases and pests. However, maintaining soil health in organic farming requires careful and strategic soil management practices.

In this article, we will delve into the importance of soil health in organic farming and provide valuable tips for effective soil management. Whether you are an experienced organic farmer or just starting out, these tips will help you optimize your soil for optimal plant growth and yield. From incorporating organic amendments and compost to practicing crop rotation and cover cropping, we will cover a range of techniques to enhance soil fertility and structure.

Join us as we explore the key role soil health plays in organic farming and learn practical strategies for maintaining and improving the health of your soil. Together, we can nurture the earth and cultivate bountiful harvests in harmony with nature.

Continue Reading: https://bharatvarshnaturefarms.com/soil-health-in-organic-farming/

[brandandbranch]

Hydroponic Agriculture Vertical Farming System Solutions - BG-Bio520

BG-Bio520 offers advanced solutions for hydroponic agriculture and vertical farming systems, promoting sustainable growth and maximizing yield. Enhance plant health with our innovative liquid fertilizers, designed for efficient, soil-free cultivation.

[maplegardenfarm]

Chemical Free Farming Tips

Chemical-free farming, also known as organic farming, focuses on cultivating crops and raising livestock without the use of synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Here are some tips for chemical-free farming:

Crop rotation: Implement a crop rotation system where different crops are grown in a sequence over multiple seasons. This helps prevent the buildup of pests and diseases specific to certain crops, reducing the need for chemical interventions.

Composting: Create and utilize compost from organic waste, such as vegetable scraps, plant trimmings, and manure. Compost enriches the soil with nutrients, improves soil structure, and enhances its ability to retain moisture, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.

Natural fertilizers: Use natural fertilizers like compost, manure, and organic amendments (e.g., bone meal, blood meal) to provide essential nutrients to the soil and promote healthy plant growth.

#RenewableEnergyNB#RenewableEnergyNBCanada #humbleOrganicFarmhttps://t.co/j07I3jqoNX

— Maple Garden Farm (@MapleGardenFarm) May 19, 2023

Mulching: Apply organic mulch, such as straw, leaves, or grass clippings, around the base of plants. Mulching helps suppress weeds, retain soil moisture, and improve soil quality, reducing the need for herbicides and frequent watering.

Biological pest control: Encourage natural predators and beneficial insects that control pests. Planting diverse crops and creating habitats for beneficial insects like ladybugs, lacewings, and predatory wasps can help keep pest populations in check.

Integrated pest management (IPM): Implement IPM strategies, which involve monitoring pest populations, using physical barriers, employing trap crops, and employing cultural practices to minimize pest damage. Only resort to approved organic pesticides or insecticidal soaps when absolutely necessary.

Water management: Optimize irrigation practices by using techniques such as drip irrigation or soaker hoses, which deliver water directly to plant roots. This minimizes water waste and reduces the likelihood of fungal diseases caused by excessive moisture.

Weed control: Utilize manual methods like hand-weeding, hoeing, or mulching to control weeds instead of chemical herbicides. Regularly remove weeds before they mature and spread their seeds.

Disease-resistant varieties: Select and grow plant varieties that are naturally resistant to common diseases and pests in your area. Disease-resistant plants are less likely to require chemical treatments.

Soil conservation: Practice soil conservation techniques, including maintaining adequate ground cover, preventing erosion, and avoiding over-tilling. Healthy soil with good structure and organic matter content is less susceptible to pests and diseases.

Remember that transitioning to chemical-free farming may take time and experimentation. Local organic farming associations, agricultural extension services, and experienced organic farmers can provide valuable guidance and resources specific to your region.

Joint blog Post by Chrystale Henry and Zilu Zhang at Maple Garden Farm – a off the grid humble Organic Farm (permaculture ) located on a 10 acre farm producing varieties of vegetables and other farm produce. Joint us on twitter, Facebook and follow our LinkedIn company page to learn more and get great tips on farming strategy and permaculture and alternative energy design ideas.

[reasonsforhope]

"The transformation of ancestral lands into intensive monoculture plantations has led to the destruction of Guatemala’s native forests and traditional practices, as well as loss of livelihoods and damage to local health and the environment.

A network of more than 40 Indigenous and local communities and farmer associations are developing agroecology schools across the country to promote the recovery of ancestral practices, educate communities on agroecology and teach them how to build their own local economies.

Based on the traditional “campesino a campesino” (from farmer to farmer) method, the organization says it has improved the livelihoods of 33,000 families who use only organic farming techniques and collectively protect 74,000 hectares (182,858 acres) of forest across Guatemala.

Every Friday at 7:30 a.m., María Isabel Aguilar sells her organic produce in an artisanal market in Totonicapán, a city located in the western highlands of Guatemala. Presented on a handwoven multicolor blanket, her broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and fruits are neatly organized into handmade baskets.

Aguilar is in a cohort of campesinos, or small-scale farmers, who took part in farmer-led agroecology schools in her community. As a way out of the cycle of hunger and poverty, she learned ecological principles of sowing, soil conservation, seed storage, propagation and other agroecological practices that have provided her with greater autonomy, self-sufficiency and improved health.

“We learned how to develop insecticides to fend off pests,” she said. The process, she explained, involves a purely organic cocktail of garlic, chile, horsetail and other weeds and leaves, depending on what type of insecticide is needed. “You want to put this all together and let it settle for several days before applying it, and then the pests won’t come.”

“We also learned how to prepare fertilizer that helps improve the health of our plants,” she added. “Using leaves from trees or medicinal plants we have in our gardens, we apply this to our crops and trees so they give us good fruit.”

The expansion of large-scale agriculture has transformed Guatemala’s ancestral lands into intensive monoculture plantations, leading to the destruction of forests and traditional practices. The use of harmful chemical fertilizers, including glyphosate, which is prohibited in many countries, has destroyed some livelihoods and resulted in serious health and environmental damage.

To combat these trends, organizations across the country have been building a practice called campesino a campesino (from farmer to farmer) to revive the ancient traditions of peasant families in Guatemala. Through the implementation of agroecology schools in communities, they have helped Indigenous and local communities tackle modern-day rural development issues by exchanging wisdom, experiences and resources with other farmers participating in the program.

Keeping ancestral traditions alive

The agroecology schools are organized by a network of more than 40 Indigenous and local communities and farmer associations operating under the Utz Che’ Community Forestry Association. Since 2006, they have spread across several departments, including Totonicapán, Quiché, Quetzaltenango, Sololá and Huehuetenango, representing about 200,000 people — 90% of them Indigenous.

“An important part of this process is the economic autonomy and productive capacity installed in the communities,” said Ilse De León Gramajo, project coordinator at Utz Che’. “How we generate this capacity and knowledge is through the schools and the exchange of experiences that are facilitated by the network.”

Utz Che’, which means “good tree” in the K’iche’ Mayan language, identifies communities in need of support and sends a representative to set up the schools. Around 30-35 people participate in each school, including women and men of all ages. The aim is to facilitate co-learning rather than invite an “expert” to lead the classes.

The purpose of these schools is to help farmers identify problems and opportunities, propose possible solutions and receive technical support that can later be shared with other farmers.

The participants decide what they want to learn. Together, they exchange knowledge and experiment with different solutions to thorny problems. If no one in the class knows how to deal with a certain issue, Utz Che’ will invite someone from another community to come in and teach...

Part of what Utz Che’ does is document ancestral practices to disseminate among schools. Over time, the group has compiled a list of basics that it considers to be fundamental to all the farming communities, most of which respond to the needs and requests that have surfaced in the schools.

Agroecology schools transform lives

Claudia Irene Calderón, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an expert in agroecology and sustainable food systems in Guatemala. She said she believes the co-creation of knowledge is “key to balance the decision-making power that corporations have, which focus on profit maximization and not on climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

“The recovery and, I would add, revalorization of ancestral practices is essential to diversify fields and diets and to enhance planetary health,” she said. “Recognizing the value of ancestral practices that are rooted in communality and that foster solidarity and mutual aid is instrumental to strengthen the social fabric of Indigenous and small-scale farmers in Guatemala.”

Through the implementation of agroecology schools across the country, Utz Che’ says it has improved the livelihoods of 33,000 families. In total, these farmers also report that they collectively protect 74,000 hectares (182,858 acres) of forest across Guatemala by fighting fires, monitoring illegal logging and practicing reforestation.

In 2022, Utz Che’ surveyed 32 women who had taken part in the agroecology school. All the women had become fully responsible for the production, distribution and commercialization of their products, which was taught to them in agroecology schools. Today, they sell their produce at the artisanal market in Totonicapán.

The findings, which highlight the many ways the schools helped them improve their knowledge, also demonstrate the power and potential of these schools to increase opportunities and strengthen the independence of women producers across the country...

The schools are centered around the idea that people are responsible for protecting their natural resources and, through the revitalization of ancestral practices, can help safeguard the environment and strengthen livelihoods."

-via Mongabay News, July 7, 2023

[probablyasocialecologist]

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization coined CSA in 2009 to describe practices aimed at increasing farm resilience and reducing the carbon footprint of a global food system responsible for up to 37 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, however, observers say that CSA has been usurped by the Gates-led corporate alliance, with programs like Water Efficient Maize for Africa serving as green-painted Trojan horses for industry. “CSA is an agribusiness-led vision of surveillance [and] data-driven farmerless farming, [which explains why] its biggest promoters include Bayer, McDonnell, and Walmart,” said Mariam Mayet of the African Centre for Biodiversity. “From a climate perspective, it entrenches the global inequalities of a corporate food regime. There’s no system shift at all.” Octavaio Sánchez, the grizzled director of Honduras’s National Association for the Promotion of Organic Agriculture, contends that policies that promote true resilience must focus on regenerating soils through the use of organic fertilizers, crop rotation, and the preservation of native seeds able to adapt to changing conditions. These are the cornerstones of a global agro-ecology movement that has emerged from the seed and food sovereignty coalitions of the past three decades. The peasant-led agro-ecology movement—with La Via Campesina and AFSA in front—rejects the familiar refrain from agribusiness promoters that it is condemning farmers to permanent poverty and stagnation. The movement’s position is supported by both a growing literature of case studies and the development of scientific agro-ecological practices. When Gates Foundation officers were preparing to launch AGRA in 2006, researchers at the University of Essex published a study showing that agro-ecological practices increased yields by an average of nearly 80 percent across 12.6 million farms in 57 poor countries. The authors concluded that “all crops showed water use efficiency gains,” which led to “improvements in food productivity.” The UN’s High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition recommended in 2019 that governments support agro-ecological projects and redirect “subsidies and incentives that at present benefit unsustainable practices,” a judgment based on similar studies undertaken around the world.

[thoughtlessarse]

Gardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as “organic”, experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates. Earthworms may appear humble, but Charles Darwin thought their work in improving soil structure and fertility was so important he devoted his final book to them and said: “It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures.” However, some gardeners who want a tidy lawn remove worm casts, which can be viewed as unsightly, particularly if the casts – made of the worms’ excrement – are squashed and spread over the surface. Dozens of products available to gardeners and greenkeepers say they combat these casts, reducing the time-consuming task of their manual removal. However, most contain saponins, which have been found to be highly toxic to earthworms. Some of these are marketed as “organic soil conditioner” with no mention of the deadly effect they have on worms. Others promise to “irritate and deter” worms, pushing them to deeper soil – not mentioning the active ingredient that could kill them. Despite their potential toxicity to garden creatures, soil conditioners do not go through the same rigorous risk assessments as pesticides, experts say, and are lightly regulated.

continue reading

Soil conditions that kill the very thing that actually conditions the soil and without which we would have very poor soil. Those worm-casts are the true soil conditioner. Get rid of your waste-of-space lawn.