Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Thirty Years After the Original, a New Study of Organic Agriculture
http://www.good.is/post/over-thirty-years-proving-the-benefits-of-modern-organic-agriculture-technology/
September 19, 2011

Thirty years ago, the Rodale Institute set out to prove that organic farming 
methods work just as well as the conventional ones common at big farms across 
the country. The institute began the Farming Systems Trial, a data-driven 
project to compare the yields of organic and conventional wheat, soy, and 
corn crops. Its latest analysis shows that not only do organic yields match 
conventional crop loads, but organic methods do a better job of maintaining 
the health of a farm’s soil.

Last weekend, the institute celebrated the 30th anniversary of the experiment 
by honoring organic pioneers likes Richard Harwood, who helped design the 
original Farming Systems Trial, and Maurice Small, who works to build urban 
gardens in cities like Cleveland and Detroit. GOOD caught up with Rodale 
executive director Mark Smallwood to talk about the future of the Farming 
Systems Trial and why its innovation still produces insights decades after it 
first began.

GOOD: Where did the original idea for the Farming Systems Trial come from?

MARK SMALLWOOD: In 1981, on a visit to Washington, D.C., to talk about 
organic agriculture, [Robert Rodale] said, "What is it going to take for me 
to have you understand what’s going on?: They said, "There’s no data. There’s 
no science. He came back to the farm and said, Now I know what I’m going to 
do."

We’ve found now, with 30 yeas of gathering this information, that the yields 
do not differ year-to-year very much. Usually there’s an insignificant 
difference in yield. Except when there's drought—that’s when organic 
outperforms conventional crops, including GMO crops that are portraying 
themselves as drought-resistant.

GOOD: So even though we’re working on high-tech solutions to solve these 
problems, we already have the technology we need.

SMALLWOOD: It’s old technology. Growing organically was around long before 
biotechnology. Growing biologically is how nature intended it to be. Now, we 
do have methodologies and cultural practices that are better. We also have 
products and machinery that are far improved. So it is modern organic 
agriculture that we're touting.

GOOD: What are the new innovations that you’re working on?

SMALLWOOD: What we are going to do this year is close the door on the old 
Farming Systems Trial and open the door on the new Farming Systems Trial. We 
are in the design phase right now, but it is going to change. What’s 
motivating us is the consumers—they want information about food. That going 
to be one of the focuses. We're going to switch over and grow a lot more 
food. It’s not going to be corn, wheat, and soy.

We're also going to start a new initiative called right-sized garden [...] 
What’s the right size for you? How much ground do you have?  You might say, 
"I only have a tenth of an acre." Well, can you have backyard chickens? We’re 
going to have those demonstrations [that show] "here’s what you can do with 
one-half of an acre, one acre, three acres, five acres." We’re going to be 
able to show them how do that. You’d be able to come here take workshops, see 
our demonstration gardens, replicate it, and grow what you want to grow.

GOOD: Why is it important to keep this sort of innovative project going over 
the long term?

SMALLWOOD: Thirty years ago, when we were trying to transition big farms, 
this was a great tool, and it still is. Now we want to take it to a different 
level. It will always have credibility, and it will always have respect and 
longevity. That’s the key. If we want to feed the world for the next 1,500 
years, it will have to be organically. The Farming Systems Trial is where we 
create the hypothesis and then prove it.

Photo via (cc) Flickr user LivingOS