(In the crops I work most in, organic farmers spray a lot more than conventional farmers on balance. As surprising as that might be to people outside of agriculture.)
> Can you... give a paragraph or two on what normal is and what organic farmers are doing differently to cause the difference?
>> I'm confused too - I thought 'organic' meant no pesticides were used.
I may be wrong, but given the context I think he means to say that organic farmers will regularly spray more frequently (things like neem or DE) which are to protect against pests or compost teas on heavy feeder crops. I never did conventional agriculture, but regularly observed it (vegetable/vineyards) from afar during my apprenticeship in Europe and I think this varies depending on crop (eg something like 50% of all pesticides used in the US is used on cotton for example).
And to add further context depending on the type of organic agriculture (as it encompasses 3 branches in my opinion) you will also want to inoculate your soil bacteria/microorganisms for soil vitality and to fine-tune the microbiology as well as perform homeopathic remedies t follow your growing season.
Source: I'm a Biodyanmic Master Gardener/Farm Manager with a background in Biology.
PS: Nice to see more people involved in tech and Ag, terravion; I'm also merging the two, do you mind if we can chat about your operations tech position?
I just finished my project in Maui and I'm back home in California with only a side project to keep me busy this season and I want to get my head back in; I made some recent headway with the organic/biodynamic community in Sonoma county when I was up there last month that I think may prove useful to your operation.
Can you... give a paragraph or two on what normal is and what organic farmers are doing differently to cause the difference?
One of them is seeds themselves. Modern GMOs, more than being about being resistant to specific herbicides, are about built in pest control. It's part of the sales pitch to farmers: Buy this new seed, and you'll spend less in pesticides. With a traditional seed, a farmer gets to either lose a lot of yield, or use pesticides. Organic farming doesn't ban all pesticides: Some are considered natural, and are used a whole lot to protect the crop.
The problem is that organic pesticides are not necessarily less toxic for humans, or less likely to harm the environment. In fact, some organic pesticides are very toxic, even though they are 'natural'. It get worse when we take into account that they have to be used in large quantities. Practical toxicity is affected by how much we use, and then ho much actually 'leaks out' of the farm.
We also have the lower yields: A more 'natural' seed tends to yield less in practice, so to get the same number of bushels, you need to plant more plants, and protect more plants. Welcome less forests, and more pesticides!
So the picture of toxicity and environmental impact of organic vs GMO+synthetic pesticides is pretty complicated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification
It's a classic Appeal to nature tactic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature
Organic is a label, that while better than conventional is not to be blindly accepted as a panacea--that is why the community part of CSA should not be forgotten.
Which pesticides were being used on your farm? And did the farm lose organic certification.
But even more - what has pesticide use got to do with top-soil loss? I'm not quite clear.