Organic Agricultural Practices Alternatives to Conventional Agricultural Systems

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. Organic practices are quickly redefining how agriculture is done around the world, as we come to realize how detrimental conventional agriculture isto local and global environments and economies. This book serves as an overview of some of the important topics in organic agriculture. The volume is broken into several sections which explore the effects of organic practices on crop productivity, the use of biofertilizers, plant cultivars, and compare the environmental impact with conventional agriculture. Also covered are the following topics: • Organic agriculture as a strategy to combat many of the negative effects of conventional agriculture, such as pollution and loss of soil fertility • How practices, such as the use of biofertilizers, can enhance plant growth over the use of chemical fertilizers • Vermicompost and the high potential to benefit land in agricultural use • Organic practices’ associations with increased soil fertility, increased biodiversity, and greenhouse gas sequestration • The negative effects of organic agriculture practices, such as an increase in nitrogen pollution or pests This easily accessible reference volume offers a comprehensive guide to this rapidly expanding field. Edited by an experienced writer with experience in both food systems and agricultural sociology, Organic Agricultural Practices: Alternatives to Conventional Agricultural Systems is an authoritative and easy-to-use reference, ideal for both researchers in the field and students who wish to gain an overview to this important field of study.

Part I: Organic Agricultural Results Compared with Conventional Agriculture Evaluating the Sustainability of a Small-Scale Low-Input Organic Vegetable Supply System in the United Kingdom; Mads V. Markussen, Michal Kulak, Laurence G. Smith, Thomas Nemecek, and Hanne Østergård Soil Organisms in Organic and Conventional Cropping Systems; Wagner Bettiol, Raquel Ghini, José Abrahão Haddad Galvão, Marcos Antônio Vieira Ligo, and Jeferson Luiz de Carvalho Mineiro Localizing the Nitrogen Imprint of the Paris Food Supply: The Potential of Organic Farming and Changes in Human Diet; G. Billen, J. Garnier, V. Thieu, M. Silvestre, S. Barles, and P. Chatzimpiros Comparative Growth Analysis of Callistephus Chinensis L. Using Vermicompost and Chemical Fertilizer; Dulal Chandra Das Comparison of the Farming System and Carbon Sequestration between Conventional and Organic Rice Production in West Java, Indonesia; Masakazu Komatsuzaki and M. Faiz Syuaib Part II: Biofertilizers Residual Influence of Organic Materials, Crop Residues, and Biofertilizers on Performance of Succeeding Mung Bean in an Organic Rice-Based Cropping System; Mohammadreza Davari, Shri Niwas Sharma, and Mohammad Mirzakhani Evaluation of Biofertilizers in Irrigated Rice: Effects on Grain Yield at Different Fertilizer Rate; Niño Paul Meynard Banayo, Pompe C. Sta. Cruz, Edna A. Aguilar, Rodrigo B. Badayos, and Stephan M. Haefele Effects of Fertilizer and Plant Density on Yield and Quality of Anise (Pimpinella Anisum L.); Mahdi Faravani, Behjat Salari, Mostafa Heidari, Mohammad Taghi Kashki, and Barat Ali Gholami Microbial Diversity of Vermicompost Bacteria that Exhibit Useful Agricultural Traits and Waste Management Potential; Jayakumar Pathma and Natarajan Sakthivel Part III: Plant Cultivars in Organic Agriculture Characteristics Important for Organic Breeding of Vegetable Crops; Jasmina Zdravkovic, Nenad Pavlovic, Zdenka Girek, Milan Zdravkovic, and Dejan Cvikic Collaborative Plant Breeding for Organic Agricultural Systems in Developed Countries; Julie C. Dawson, Pierre Rivière, Jean-François Berthellot, Florent Mercier, Patrick de Kochko, Nathalie Galic, Sophie Pin, Estelle Serpolay, Mathieu Thomas, Simon Giuliano, and Isabelle Goldringer Phenotypic Changes in Different Spinach Varieties Grown and Selected under Organic Conditions; Estelle Serpolay, Nicolas Schermann, Julie Dawson, Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren, Isabelle Goldringer, and Véronique Chable Part IV: Environmental Effects of Organic Agriculture Soil Enzyme Activities, Microbial Communities, and Carbon and Nitrogen Availability in Organic Agroecosystems Across an Intensively-Managed Agricultural Landscape; Timothy M. Bowles, Veronica Acosta-Martínez, Francisco Calderón, and Louise E. Jackson Nitrate Leaching from Intensive Organic Farms to Groundwater; O. Dahan, A. Babad, N. Lazarovitch, E. E. Russak, and D. Kurtzman Improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture; Bertrand Hirel, Thierry Tétu, Peter J. Lea, and Frédéric Dubois

Kimberly Etingoff's background includes city and regional planning, farming, food systems programming, sociology, and urban geography. She studied at the University of Rochester, New York, and Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, and has done extensive field work with food systems and agricultural sociology. She has been writing and editing academic and educational books on topics such as nutrition, farming, and aspects of sociology for more than ten years.