Improving Organic Animal Farming


Book Description

This collection addresses recent research on challenges facing organic animal farming such as more targeted breeding, improved grazing and feed rations, better methods of health and disease management as well as ways of enhancing animal welfare.




A Practical Guide to the Feeding of Organic Farm Animals: Pigs, Poultry, Cattle, Sheep and Goats


Book Description

Authored by a renowned animal scientist with a peerless reputation in organic livestock nutrition, A Practical Guide to the Feeding of Organic Farm Animals aims to translate the science of feeding organic livestock and distil it into practical guidance for farmers and producers. The latest research is broken down into a practical approach to on-the-farm feeding, providing applied methodology backed up by scientific research. There is also advice on making the transition from conventional to organic farming systems regarding feeding. There are sections covering poultry, pigs, cattle, sheep and goats, reviewing the nutritional requirements of the species, identifying suitable ingredients and feeds, overviewing husbandry techniques and system approaches, providing advice on selecting suitable breeds, and advising on nutrition and its relationship to health with a preventative approach. The final section provides advice on organic nutritional regimes under integrated farming operations making this book an ideal resource for the smallholder farmer as well as traditional and aspiring organic livestock farmers.




The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution


Book Description

Learn how to use natural no-till systems to increase profitability, efficiency, carbon sequestration, and soil health on your small farm. The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution is the comprehensive farmer-developed roadmap showing how no-till lowers barriers to starting a small farm, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency and profitability, and promotes soil health. Farming without tilling has long been a goal of agriculture, yet tilling remains one of the most dominant paradigms; almost everyone does it. But tilling kills beneficial soil life, burns up organic matter, and releases carbon dioxide. If the ground could instead be prepared for planting without tilling, time and energy could be saved, soil organic matter increased, carbon sequestered, and dependence on machinery reduced. This hands-on manual offers: Why roller-crimper no-till methods don't work for most small farms A decision-making framework for the four no-till methods: occultation, solarization, organic mulches grown in place, and applied to beds Ideas for starting a no-till farm or transitioning a working farm A list of tools, supplies, and sources. This is the only manual of its kind, specifically written for natural and small-scale farmers who wish to expand or explore chemical-free, regenerative farming methods.




Improving Animal Welfare


Book Description

Completely revised, updated and with four new chapters on sustainability, new technologies, precision agriculture and the future of animal welfare. This book is edited by an outstanding world expert on animal welfare, it emphasizes throughout the importance of measuring conditions that compromise welfare, such as lameness, heat stress, body condition, and bruises during transport.The book combines scientific information with practical recommendations for use on commercial operations and reviews practical information on livestock handling, euthanasia, slaughter, pain relief, and assessments of abnormal behavior.




Advances in Organic Farming


Book Description

Advances in Organic Farming: Agronomic Soil Management Practices focuses on the integrated interactions between soil-plant-microbe-environment elements in a functioning ecosystem. It explains sustainable nutrient management under organic farming and agriculture, with chapters focusing on the role of nutrient management in sustaining global ecosystems, the remediation of polluted soils, conservation practices, degradation of pollutants, biofertilizers and biopesticides, critical biogeochemical cycles, potential responses for current and impending environmental change, and other critical factors. Organic farming is both challenging and exciting, as its practice of "feeding the soil, not the plant provides opportunity to better understand why some growing methods are preferred over others. In the simplest terms, organic growing is based on maintaining a living soil with a diverse population of micro and macro soil organisms. Organic matter (OM) is maintained in the soil through the addition of compost, animal manure, green manures and the avoidance of excess mechanization. - Presents a comprehensive overview of recent advances and new developments in the field OF research within a relevant theoretical framework - Highlights the scope of the inexpensive and improved management practices - Focuses on the role of nutrient management in sustaining the ecosystems




Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations


Book Description

Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations: Current Knowledge, Future Needs discusses the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement a new method for estimating the amount of ammonia, nitrous oxide, methane, and other pollutants emitted from livestock and poultry farms, and for determining how these emissions are dispersed in the atmosphere. The committee calls for the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish a joint council to coordinate and oversee short - and long-term research to estimate emissions from animal feeding operations accurately and to develop mitigation strategies. Their recommendation was for the joint council to focus its efforts first on those pollutants that pose the greatest risk to the environment and public health.




Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture


Book Description

Annotation. The rapid growth of organic farming has been among the most remarkable changes in global agriculture in recent decades. However, more attention was initially aid to the crop side of organic systems, and animals are a lower priority in formal research and the development of organic farming. But now, that has changed. There is now greater recognition of the need to understand animal health and welfare better. The purpose of this book is to further the understanding of organic animal husbandry and to demonstrate practical solutions and innovative methods, drawing mainly on research and practical experience with organic farming in Europe.




Good Growing


Book Description

Compelling portraits of organic farmers bring to life facts and figures in an extensive overview of the phenomenal growth in recent years of organic production and consumption.




Safety and Practice for Organic Food


Book Description

Safety and Practice for Organic Food covers current food safety issues and trends. It provides detailed information on all organic and pasture practices including produce-only, farm-animal-only or integrated crop-livestock farming, as well as the impact of these practices on food safety and foodborne infections. The book explores food products that organic, integrated and traditional farming systems are contributing to consumers. As the demand for organic food products grows faster than ever, this book discusses current and improved practices for safer products. Moreover, the book explores progressive directions, such as the application of next-generation sequencing and genomics to aid in the understanding of the microbial ecology of the agro-environment and how farmer education can contribute to sustainable and safe food. Safety and Practice for Organic Food is a unique source of organic agricultural practices and food production for researchers, academics and professionals at agriculture-based universities and colleges who are involved in food science, animal sciences including poultry science, food safety, food microbiology, plant science and agricultural extension. This book is also an excellent source of information for regulators and federal government officials (USDA, FDA, EPA) and the food processing industry. - Discusses limitations in pre-harvest and post-harvest level practices with specific information on risk and bio-security of existing organic production systems - Explores policies and guidelines for organic food production and future directions for safer and more sustainable management - Presents microbial and other biological hazards at pre-harvest and post-harvest levels




Organic Farming


Book Description

Consumers are more and more concerned with the health of the food they eat. While great public anxiety about genetically engineered foodstuffs and BSE in cattle has developed in Europe, on the positive side there has been a rapidly rising demand for organic produce. Food retailers, including supermarkets, have responded, and the organic sector has moved from a being marginal production fad to a serious subject of policy concern for politicians and public servants involved in European agricultural policy. In this book, three leading authorities on organic farming have for the first time produced a serious and scientific overview for the lay person of the state of organic farming and policy towards it in Europe. Based on a review of a huge body of scientific research into all aspects of the sector, the authors provide in accessible terms a balanced, up-to-date and policy relevant overview of: · The position of organic farming today - the size of the sector, its markets, where research is conducted, and current policies towards the sector. · Assessment of its possible contributions to the environment, food quality, farmers' incomes, and rural development generally. · Explanation of the key factors that will impinge on the organic farming sector in future and policy towards it as a result of the enlargement of the EU, ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, and Agenda 2000. · Detailed recommendations for future organic farming policy. Most people recognise that European agricultural policy has to change, involving further fundamental reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. This unique book will be of immense value to all those concerned with the issue, as well as of intense interest to those actually involved in the organic farming sector. Educationalists in agricultural universities and institutes will find the book a useful teaching tool.