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Support Organic Farming – Organic Lunches Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm. Organic farming excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified organisms.agriculturecrop rotationgreen manurecompostbiological pest controlpests farmfertilizers pesticidesplant growth regulators hormonesantibioticsfood additivesgenetically modified organisms

Organic Lunches Compost Bins Change Products Rain Bins

To grow more crops, particularly corn, farmers usually have to use more fertilizer. Fertilizer runoff is the primary contributor to dead zone formation, the source of three quarters of the nitrogen and more than half of the phosphorous in the water. In a recent study, researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Wisconsin found that the U.S. government's goal to produce 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, with a maximum of 15 billion from corn, would most likely increase the nitrogen flow to the Gulf by 10 to 20 percent.

Compost can help prevent nutrient pollution in at least two ways, by preventing run-off and by retaining nutrients. Interestingly, both are made possible by the same attribute in compost: its ability to provide attachment sites for nutrients. Nutrient Loss: The chemistry involved is covered in greater detail in the section that explains how compost Boosts Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). Because compost helps bind nutrients chemically, it prevents them from leaching into groundwater. And because it keeps them in the topsoil where roots can reach them, it ensures that greater proportions of fertilizer applied actually get used by plants. While obviously good for the plants, this also reduces the amount of nutrients that will pollute air or water. Runoff: Compost berms slow and filter rainwater as it rushes downhill, straining out soil and nutrients so that these do not pollute waterways and so that they are not lost to the land.Boosts Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)