And clean water too?

garym — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:04:36 -0400

Equivalent yields, lower food costs and cleaner lakes and rivers too?

"The study found that alternative cropping systems reduced the amount of water lost in tile drainage by 41 percent compared to a conventional corn-soybean rotation. Alternative farming practices also reduced nitrate-nitrogen losses by between 59 and 62 percent in two out of three years.

'Our data suggests that water quantity and quality could be improved by increasing cropping system biodiversity,'

Whether in conventional or organic cropping systems, Strock suggests cropping system biodiversity may be adopted as one of several practices to build a sustainable farm management system that is productive, profitable, and environmentally acceptable."
[ Alternative farming cleans up water ]

albeit not a magic bullet panacea, but certainly the sort of results to make you think.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Going Organic

garym — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:59:46 -0400

Sometimes the biggest thing in the way of change is only the fear of losing what we have, and for the would-be organic farmers, yield-loss has long been a worry. To go organic or not to go -- new research may now settle the question once and for all, because when we stop to look at the results, and not even including other nasty side-effects of convention, we see virtually no danger after all.

South Bruce Peninsular - Going Organic - Comments

And clean water too?

Going Organic