I've been interested in bringing together any science that has been done on organic cropping systems. This would hopefully result in an understanding of overall biogeochemical cycling impacts of cropping systems by classification (i.e. agroforestry, biodynamic farming, organic monoculture) in different environments.
I am interested in working on organic farming and agroforestry area.
I may be most interested in this work specially for rainfed/drylands systems- if it enhances the understanding ( not misunderstanding)about organic system. It needs objectives and activities then will be easier to support. However, a word of caution I would like to add in such work as one of such study , rather created a negative image of organic agriculture only because of sufficient data was not available about organic produce AND making conclusion in such situations may not be Justified. Please see following links about previous study
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/organic.html
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1355685
http://organicfarms.wsu.edu/blog/devil-in-the-details/
HI all. Thanks for the replies. Fulvio you are correct in that there are many, many different ways it could go. I am most interested in the nutrient cycling aspect of key plant nutrients, namely nitrogen, phosphorus, etc. But for the review I think the point would be to move towards a clearer understanding of the net environmental benefits/costs of organic farming vs. conventional farming. There are tons and tons of papers out there on the subject, on both sides of the argument, and sifting through that mess to try and come at the truly substantiated claims with quantifiable parameters I think is important. I think some of the foci would come out during the review...i.e. aspects of organic farming and environmental costs/benefits that have received a lot of attention in the literature.
I had thought of a few frameworks for the paper, and am not 100% sold on any one yet. I have broad interests in this, and would be open to discussion with potential collaborators. One of my leading thoughts is to do an individual review for several of the topics. So one review on carbon impacts, one review on gas exchange, one review on nutrient management, etc. with the thought that over time these reviews could be brought together in meaningful way. That way it would be biting off more reasonable chunks to get started.
And Arun, I am very familiar with the Stanford Organics study....that is just a crappy piece of science no matter how you look at it. The study was poorly designed and poorly carried out, and that is not the type of science that I do. I actually blame the reviewers and publishers as much as the researchers (who were mostly all undergraduates by the way, led by a graduate student) because they should have caught how horrible the methodology was. So please don't worry about that.
There are some old studies that quantified some compartments of biogeochemical cycle in cocoa (Theobroma cacao). This culture is interesting because the more traditional cultivation method is under shade trees, so many studies were done on cycling. However, I haven't seen the evaluation for certified organic orchards. The main thing I think that need to be evaluated in biogeochemical evaluations on organic systems is quantify the nutrients amounts that is removed from the system by harvest. The quantities could be extrapolated for a profitable yield, and at the end an evaluation could be done on the quantities of organic fertilizers that should be added to put back the nutrient removed from harvest in a profitable organic farm. Also need to assume the other losses like leaching. A list of the organic nutrient sources could be done, and the respective costs. This could be good to help the organic systems to be economically sustainable, and the right way would be also profitable.
Thanks James. I was hoping for a larger response on this topic. Still an interest, but one I'm putting on the back burner for a while.
Dear Noa,
It would be a pleasure to contribute regarding the effects of ruminants integration on organic cropping systems.
Regards,
Alfredo.
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