Biological Farming: Why farm Biologically? + What is Biological farming?
Welcome to our first post in our series of Biological Farming 101, in which we will be looking at lots of areas of our farming practices and how we tackle tasks around the farm. Such as pruning, pest control, science of remineralizing our soils, and many more. We will be posting a new entry every month (near the end), so be sure to keep coming back!
In this first post we are going to cover why we have chosen to farm biological, what it means to us, and what it means to you, our customers. If you have any questions at the end, please leave us a comment, we would love to answer your questions!
Why We Farm
Biological
In 2003 we decided to go certified organic. After three
years of transition, in 2006, we became Certified Organic. But that wasn’t
enough for us. We wanted to do more, to do better, for our customers, and for
our soils. Today, we are Biological Farmers using certified organic inputs.
Just because a farm is certified organic, that doesn’t mean the farmer is
embracing the soil biology or minerals. What certified organic does is
guarantee that your food will be free of GMO’s and pesticides. We wanted more,
we wanted Nutrient Density.
What is Biological
Farming?
Biological farming is like going back to old school, to a
time before NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) fertilizers were common place
instead are used more judicially. Biological farming looks at the whole picture
in a holistic way. Examining exactly what is in the soil; considering all 79
minerals, and the delicate balance of them in the soil food web. An end result
that can be directly seen by the farmer and consumer is the final products
improved Nutrient Density.
What we found when we first started farming biologically was
that our soils were deficient of all 79 minerals including soil carbon, which
is the food and shelter for microbes. It’s necessary to have minerals to feed
microbes, the microbes in turn solubilize the minerals. Making them available
to the plant. It is these 79 minerals in a balanced for in the plant that make
Nutrient Dense food.
A Note About Nutrient
Density
I’m sure we’ve all seen things in the super market with the
labeling of “Nutrient Dense” but what does that actually mean? In Biological
Farming it means more minerals per ounce of food and that requires active
biology in the soil. Those “Nutrient Dense” labels you see in the supermarkets
are often labeled that way because of the absence of problematic ingredients-
fat, sugar, and sodium- not for the inclusion of of beneficial nutrients they
might contain. This is because there is no regulated way for food labeling of
Nutrient Density, even though there are regulated ways for testing for it.
The difference between
Biological Farming and Certified Organic Farming?
The simplest way to think about the differences in the two
farming practices is that Certified Organic Farming doesn’t use salt based
fertilizers, or pesticides. Biological farming is taking it to the next level
in looking at the whole picture and how to improve, and restore the soil
biology and mineralization.
Benefits of Biological
Farming the farmer sees
Biological farming is not the short term solution most
farmers are use to. These farmers are use to going out applying a fertilizer or
pesticide and seeing results in a few days, this can make them impatient with
how Biological farmers handle the same problems. Biological farmers see long
term solutions to their problems, which is also tied into their holistic
approach. Another benefit we’ve already touched on is Nutrient Density, having
a higher nutrient density can be seen through BRIX- sugar content and soluble solids-
which also means higher yields. Most crops are sold based on a measurement of
weight, and the heavier crop, the more yield the farmer sees. In biological
farming quality drives yield where as in conventional farming (or even
certified organic farming) yield drives dilution of nutrition.
What this means for
consumers?
The biggest way that consumers are going to see a benefit is
the nutrient density of biologically grown foods. We hope that this also
results in, instead of taking vitamins and supplements everyday, you get to eat
a delicious bowl of berries, or other produce that your body can get all the
minerals and vitamins from, to keep you healthy in a natural way; in other
words, food will replace supplements.
Labels: 2016, around the farm, biological farming, certified organic, march, news from around the farm, nutrient dense, nutrition, vitamins
posted by Jennifer at
9:00 AM
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