ORGANIC FARMING

Organic farming-

• is a method of crop and livestock production that involves choosing not to use
pesticides, fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics and growth hormones

• A Holistic system designed to optimize the productivity and fitness of diverse

communities within the agroecosystem, including soil organisms, plants and livestock

The general principles of organic production, include the fo llowing:

1. protect the environment,

minimize soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, optimize biological productivity

2. maintain long-term soil fertility by optimizing conditions for biological activity within
the soil

3. recycle materials and resources to the greatest extent possible within the enterprise

4. prepare organic products, emphasizing careful processing, and

handling methods in order to maintain the organic integrity and vital qualities of the products
at all stages of production

5. rely on renewable resources in locally organized agricultural systems

• In 1921 the founder and pioneer of the organic movement Albert Howard and his wife
Gabrielle Howard, accomplished botanists, founded an Institute of Plant Industry to improve
traditional farming methods in India

Methods

 Crop rotation
 Green manures and compost
 Biological pest control
 Nitrogen fixing organisms
 Natural insect predators

• The science of agroecology has revealed the benefits of polyculture (multiple crops in
the same space), which is often employed in organic farming

• Planting a variety of vegetable crops supports a wider range of beneficial insects, soil
microorganisms, and other factors that add up to overall farm health

• Biological process, driven by microorganisms such as mycorrhiza and earthworms

allows the natural production of nutrients in the soil throughout the growing season

• Organic farmers use a number of traditional farm tools to minimize their reliance on
fossil fuels

• In India, in 2016, Sikkim achieved its goal of converting to 100% organic farming

• Kerala, Mizoram, Goa, Rajasthan and Meghalaya, have also declared their intentions
to shift to fully organic cultivation

• Andhra Pradesh is promoting organic farming, especially Zero Budget Natural

Farming (ZBNF) which is a form of regenerative agriculture

• As of 2018, India has the largest number of organic farmers in the world and
constitutes to more than 30% of the organic farmers globally

• India has 835,000 certified organic producers

Advantages of Organic Farming:

•Farmers can reduce their cost of production as they do not need to buy expensive chemicals
and fertilizers.

•Healthier farmworkers as no pesticide is used.

•Organic farms save energy and protect the environment in the long term.

•Organic farming can slow down global warming.

•There are fewer residues in food.

•Biodiversity: More animals and plants can live in the same place in a natural way. Organic
farming creates new living areas for wasps, bugs, beetles and flies by giving them water and
food.

•Alleviates Pollution of groundwater.

•Soil gets conditioned from natural fertilizers in order to grow crops.

•Soil conservation is done due to crop rotation.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-main-principles-and-effects-of-organic-
farming_fig1_338066368
Techniques of organic farming
Types of Organic farming
Benefits of organic farming
Key Highlights

• The central government had launched two dedicated programs in 2015 to provide a boost to
natural, organic and chemical- free farming.

The schemes include:

1. Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD)

2. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

• The two programmes were launched to assist farmers to adopt organic farming and
improve remunerations due to premium prices.

• The Agri-export Policy 2018 also aims to help India emerge as a major player in
global organic markets.

• India’s major organic exports include flax seeds, sesame, soybean, tea, medicinal
plants, rice and pulses. These exports were instrumental in driving an increase of nearly 50
percent in organic exports in 2018-19, touching Rs 5151 crore.

• The centre is further trying to strengthen the organic e-commerce platform

www.jaivikkheti.in to directly link farmers with retail as well as bulk buyers. Infusion of
digital technology in a much bigger way. This has been one of the major takeaways during
the pandemic period.

Certification of Organic Products

The two central programmes PKVY and MOVCD promote certification under Participatory
Guarantee System (PGS) and National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) respectively
targeting domestic and export markets, as certification is an important element of organic
produce to instill customer confidence.

The Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulations, 2017 are also based on the PGS
and NPOP standards. The consumer should look out for the logos of FSSAI, Jaivik Bharat /
PGS Organic India on produce to establish its organic authenticity. PGS Green certification is
given to chemical- free produce under transition to ‘organic’ which takes 3 years.
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting-

• Vermicomposting is a type of composting in which certain species of earthworms are

used to enhance the process of organic waste conversion and produce a better end-product

• It is a mesophilic process utilizing microorganisms and earthworms

• Vermicompost is the product of the decomposition process using various species of

earthworms

• To create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials etc.

• This process is called vermicomposting, while the rearing of worms for this purpose is
called vermiculture Vermicomposting

• Vermicomposting, or worm composting, turns kitchen scraps and other green waste
into a rich, dark soil that smells like earth

• Made of almost pure worm castings, it’s a sort of super compost

• Not only is it rich in nutrients but it’s also loaded with the microorganisms that create
and maintain healthy soil

Image source: © 2020 - Center for American Progress

• It provides a way to treat organic wastes more quickly

• The earthworm species most often used are red wigglers (Eisenia fetida), though
European nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) and red earthworm (Lumbricus rubellus) could
also be used

• Red wigglers are recommended by most vermicomposting experts, as they have some
of the best appetites and breed very quickly
Earthworm species-

Image source: redwormcomposting.com

• Containing water-soluble nutrients, vermicompost is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer

and soil conditioner in a form that is relatively easy for plants to absorb

• Worm castings are sometimes used as an organic fertilizer

• Because the earthworms grind and uniformly mix minerals in simple forms, plants
need only minimal effort to obtain them
How to ve rmicompost at home?

• In addition to readily available kitchen scraps, worms, a container, and bedding are
required

• One pound of worms, approximately 1,000 worms, to one pound of garbage (worms
need to be added gradually)

• Since worms are quite sensitive to both light and noise, a dark corner works best

• They thrive at temperatures between about 13°-25°C

• Bedding should be about 75 percent water

• Bedding can be made out of strips of newspaper or shredded grocery bags, cardboard,
or egg cartons, composted manure, old leaves, coconut coir, or a mixture of any of these
substances

Vermiculture unit of kitchen waste recycling @ PES University

Vermicomposting in Large Scale
Benefits for plant growth

•Enhances germination, plant growth, and crop yield

•Improves root growth and structure

•Enriches soil with micro-organisms (adding plant hormones such as

auxins and gibberellic acid)

Benefits for environment

•Biowastes conversion reduces waste flow to landfills

•Elimination of biowastes from the waste stream reduces contamination of other recyclables
collected in a single bin

•Production reduces greenhouse gas emissions such as methane and nitric

oxide

Uses

• Soil conditioner

• Vermicompost can be mixed directly into the soil, or mixed with water to make a
liquid fertilizer known as worm tea
 BIOFUELS
• Biofuels are a renewable energy source, made from organic matter or wastes, that can
play a valuable role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions

• Biofuels are one of the largest sources of renewable energy in use today

• In the transport sector, they are blended with existing fuels such as gasoline and diesel

Image source: solarsurge.in

• Biofuels can be produced from plants (i.e. energy crops), or from agricultural,
commercial, domestic, and/or industrial wastes (if the waste has a biological origin)

• The two most common types of biofuels in use today are bioethanol and biodiesel,
both of which represent the first generation of biofuel technology

• First- generation or conventional biofuels are made from food crops grown on fertile
land

• Second-generation biofuels are fuels manufactured from various types of biomass.

Biomass means any source of organic carbon that is renewed rapidly as part of the carbon
cycle. Biomass is derived from plant materials, but can also include animal materials.

• Third generation biofuels use algae as a source

• Fourth generation class of biofuels include electrofuels and photobiological- solar

fuels
Image source: © 2019 letstalkscience

The following fuels can be produced using first, second, third or fourth-generation biofuel
production procedures:

• Biogas

• Syngas

• BioEthanol

• Biodiesel

• Green diesel

• Bioethers
Bioethanol:

• Most ethanol is made from plant starches and sugars, but scientists are continuing to
develop technologies that would allow for the use of cellulose and hemicellulose

• The common method for converting biomass into ethanol is called fermentation when
microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and yeast) metabolize plant sugars and produce ethanol
Biodiesel:

• Biodiesel is a liquid fuel produced from renewable sources, such as new and used
vegetable oils and animal fats and is a cleaner-burning replacement for petroleum-based
diesel fuel

• Biodiesel is nontoxic and biodegradable and is produced by combining alco hol with
vegetable oil, animal fat, or recycled cooking grease

Advantages of biofuels

1. Efficient fuel

2. Non-dependency on fossil fuels

3. Durability of vehicles’ engine

4. Easy to source

5. Renewable

6. Reduces greenhouse gases

7. Lower levels of pollution Disadvantages of biofuels

1. High Cost of Production

2. Use of Fertilizers for the huge amount of crops used to produce biofuels

3. Water use

4. Land use

5. Dependent of weather
• India’s biofuel production accounts for only 1% of the global production

• It is worth noticing that India is the second largest producer of sugarcane in the world
but accounts for only about 1% of global ethanol production

• In India, jatropha seeds

were used to produce biodiesel, but
the production has not been
consistent

• Farmers were encouraged to

plant jatropha, but the yield was far
below what was expected

• This led to the raw material

cost becoming fairly expensive,
making biodiesel even more expensive than petroleum based diesel
• Bioenergy consists of biomass (biological mass) used in the production of energy

• Phototrophs use light to survive and propagate ( plants)

CO2 + H2O >--solar energy and ..>>CH2O + O2, or carbohydrate and oxygen

• Chemotrophs (like us) eat phototrophs (vegetables and salads)

• While biomass combustion releases CO2 into the atmosphere, new plants require CO2
to grow, balancing the process.
 IoT

https://www.sciencedirect.com

• Microalgae biorefinery is a platform for the conversion of microalgal biomass into a

variety of value-added products, such as biofuels, bio-based chemicals, biomaterials, and
bioactive substances.

• Commercialization and industrialization of microalgae biorefinery heavily rely on the

capability and efficiency of large-scale cultivation of microalgae.
• Thus, there is an urgent need for novel technologies that can be used to monitor,
automatically control, and precisely predict microalgae production.

• IoT helps real- time monitoring of microalgae biorefinery process parameters.

• IoT assists in sufficient data collection to make smart prediction and decision.

• IoT promotes automation in microalgae biorefinery.

• IoT guides microalgal biorefinery towards low-cost and high efficiency.

 BIOREMEDIATION

• The use of either naturally occurring or deliberately introduced microorganisms to

consume and break down environmental pollutants, in order to clean a polluted site

• Employs the microorganisms, to degrade the pollutants and convert them into less
toxic or non-toxic form

• The suitable organisms can be bacteria, fungi, or plants, which have the physiological
abilities to degrade, detoxify, or render the contaminants harmless.

• Biological method of remediation is an extremely attractive, important, and

productive alternative for cleaning, debugging, managing, and rehabilitating and
consequently ameliorating contaminated environments via judicious utilization of
microbial activities

• Bioremediation technologies can be classified into two general categories: ex

situ and in situ

• The ex situ techniques require the physical removal of the contaminated material and
its transportation to another area for further treatment by bioreactors, land farming, or
composting, whereas in situ technologies involve treatment of contaminated material
in place
Bioaugmentation Addition of bacterial cultures to a contaminated medium; frequently
used in bioreactors and ex situ systems

Biostimulation Stimulation of indigenous microbial populations in soils or

groundwater by adding nutrients to the existing bacteria; which can
be performed either in situ or ex situ

Bioreactors Biodegradation in a container or reactor; may be used to treat several

liquid wastes or slurries but relatively high capital and operational
cost
Bioventing Method of treating contaminated soils by drawing oxygen through the soil to
stimulate microbial growth and activity

Composting Aerobic, thermophilic treatment process; can be performed by using static piles,
aerated piles, or continuously fed reactors; extended treatment time

Land farming Solid-phase treatment system for contaminated soils; may be performed in
situ or in a constructed soil treatment cell; cost-efficient
• Most bioremediation systems operate under aerobic conditions; however, anaerobic
conditions are also applicable, thus enabling the degradation of recalcitrant molecules
by using specific microorganisms

• Mainly microorganisms, microbial or plants or its enzymes are used to detoxify

contaminants in the soil and other environments

• Bioremediation, as a technique, can offer several advantages over other more

conventional treatment methods

• Firstly, bioremediation, as a natural process for the treatment of wastes, is usually

acceptable

• Suitable microbial populations can degrade a wide range of contaminants, rendering a

hazardous compound to a harmless one

• Eventually, the residues of the treatment may include simpler compounds, such as
carbon dioxide or water, but also cell biomass

• The potential threats to human health and to the environment are minimal

• Crime scene clean- up

• Bioremediation, like any other technology, has certain disadvantages

• In particular, it is limited only to those compounds that are biodegradable

• The effectiveness of bioremediation is highly susceptible to the microbial growth and

other environmental parameters of the site

• Bioremediation often requires more time than other treatment options

Examples of biore mediation:

• Exxon Valdez spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989

• Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, 2010

Exxon Valdez spill

Prof. Chakrabarty genetically engineered a ne w species of Pseudomonas bacte ria

("the oil-eating bacteria") in 1971 while working for the Research &
Development Center at General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York.
Phytore mediation

Phytoremediation is a bioremediation process that uses various types of plants to remove,

transfer, stabilize, and/or destroy contaminants in the soil and groundwater. There are several
different types of phytoremediation mechanisms.