How to optimise nutrients in organic farming

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How to optimise nutrients in organic farming

In January the UK Organic Research Centre held their annual organic producer's conference. One of the sessions focused on “reducing the productivity gap in organic farming – balancing nutrient supply and demand.” Both current viable options and bigger picture brainstorming happened at this session.

(one of the many images that went viral on planetary boundaries and how they are being transgressed. see here for the 2009 paper that sparked this and many more images)

Each of Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potassium (N P K) were examined in this session, as were other related factors, from disease to weather to broader agronomic practices. Three presentations dealt with this topic in different ways.

Researchers from the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at Newcastle University were amongst the presenters.

Their presentation showed the global yield gap between organic and conventional crops in 316 global studies. Vegetables showed the highest gap – at almost 30%. Next was cereals at about 25%, then oilseed crops at 10%, while organic fruit yields were almost exactly matching conventional fruit yields.

Overall however, there were significantly more cereal studies than fruit studies, and the overall average yield gap, encompassing all crops was just shy of the 25% figure for cereals.

The researchers from the Nafferton pointed out that sometimes its not so much the amount of N but its “distribution throughout the rotation”. In other words, “there is a flush of N following incorporation of (legume) leys, whereas crops toward the end of the cropping sequence can face deficits”. They found, from their own University field trials and farm trials, that three year legume ley meets N supply adequately, and that ruminants are vital to optimise the system of fertility supply.

At the event, questions from the floor included length of livestock housing on organic farms and apt use of slurry; the importance of closing the phosphorus (P) loop in organic systems, to prevent P ending up in landfill; the potential for using green manures such as buckwheat and bagged fertiliser from waste-water treatment plants.

Nutrient losses through soil erosion were also highlighted: this is an emerging crises with flooding in large parts of the UK and Ireland. Satellite pictures of the UK have shown the extent of this problem in recent days. In these pictures, visible darkening of the waters around the UK can clearly be seen from space in the kind of geographical imaging used in weather reports, such has been the scale of soil loss.

Their summary of N, P and K issues for organic farming yields was as follows:

N: improve capture (fixation), distribution and timing of release on farm

P: improve on-farm recycling, crop efficiency of uptake, societal recycling

K: minimise losses on-farm, replace offtake with allowable K sources

Societal uptake needs explaining. The researchers pointed out that with advancements in municipal waste treatment plants, high quality fertilizers can be generated.

This has been a societal issue for decades – human waste is not integrated into planetary nutrient recycling systems in any meaningful way. It thus becomes a problem, when it could be part of the solution.

(Indeed, my own PhD research was as part of a ten person team analysing whether this was viable in general and within organic farming in particular)

A key question still remains: would people accept highly treated human-origin waste for fertilizing any potential food - including organic food? Or would it simply be best to use what are called biosolids in non-food cropping systems?

These uses could include for growing biofuels, forestry, golf courses, or integrated into building materials as a storage mechanism, for example inside cavity blocks in houses.

Certainly, something will eventually have to be done about how poorly we as a species circulate our nutrients.

In the meantime, there is plenty organic farmers can do to optimise their use of the trinity - N P and K – and close that yield gap with conventional farming.

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