During this season of gratitude, we would like to acknowledge the leaders and those who have helped build the organic agriculture movement. Organic agriculture today is built on practices that increase soil health such as composting, crop rotation, and grazing animals on pasture. And pesticide-free organic foods contribute so much to our health. We are grateful to those individuals, cultures, and communities who laid the groundwork for what has become an agricultural revolution. Here are just a few of them:
Indigenous Populations
We thank the Indigenous populations who can be credited for preserving biodiversity through holistic land management. They utilized the concepts of intercropping and polyculture, interplanting corn, squash, and beans. Growing multiple crops together fostered soil health and bolstered biodiversity. This was foundational for some of today’s regenerative agriculture practices such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and intercropping.
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver grew up in a post-Civil War South whose soils had been ravaged by the cotton industry. Monoculture had stripped the land of its nutrients, leaving it susceptible to disease. Carver enrolled at Iowa State Agricultural College to study botany, and soon after graduating, accepted a position as Agriculture Director at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He then developed a system of farming that highlighted crop rotation as a method of restoring nutrients to the soil. By alternating cotton with legumes such as peanuts, he showed that farmers could replenish stores of nitrogen, building healthier soil. We are grateful for his vision and leadership in the organic food movement.
Sir Albert Howard and the Farmers of India
In 1905, Sir Albert Howard, a farmer, botanist, and mycologist, moved from England to India and began a 26 year-long study of Indian farming practices and the connections between healthy soil and healthy communities, livestock, and crops. He published An Agricultural Testament in 1943, a book that praises the idea of soil as a living organism and stresses the importance of building organic matter through composting.
Rudolph Steiner
In the summer of 1924 Rudolf Steiner presented what has been called the first organic agriculture course to a group of over one hundred farmers in Poland. Later that year, he published Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, a guide to organic farming systems.
Lady Eve Balfour
In 1939, English farmer Lady Eve Balfour became interested in alternatives to chemical agriculture and launched the first long-term, side-by-side scientific comparison of organic and chemical-based farming. She later published The Living Soil, based on the initial findings of her experiments. It was widely read and served as an inspiration for Rodale Institute’s own comparison of organic and conventional methods, called the Farming Systems Trial, which began in 1981.
Lord Northbourne
The first use of the term “organic farming” is by Lord Northbourne, based on the concept of “the farm as organism”, detailed in his book, Look to the Land (1940). The book describes a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming. Northbourne wrote of “chemical farming versus organic farming”.
Rachel Carson
In 1962, scientist Rachel Carson published the bestselling Silent Spring, which chronicled the effects of DDT and other pesticides on the environment. The book was instrumental in the US government’s 1972 banning of DDT and served as a springboard for launching the environmental movement.
At Yard2Kitchen Organic Gardens, we are proud to play our role in the organic food mission, and are a member in good standing of NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association). If you are interested in learning more about our services, please Contact Us.
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