Results of this study pointed to three principles that growers could use as they planned for conversion from conventional to lower-input or organic systems. Initial crops should also be able to compete against the weeds present in the field. This practice disrupts the life cycles of various weeds and reduces competition in alternating crops. The current article examines the role that organic matter plays in how the different farming systems function. In fact, total soil organic matter as measured over the course of the experiment was not particularly useful in monitoring soil quality or predicting the effects of various management practices.
Crop sequences for three farming systems studied in the Rodale experiment.
Crop sequences for three farming systems studied in the Rodale experiment. Increases in the animal-based system, for example, averaged only a few tenths of a percent between 1981 and 1991. But this bulk measurement does not adequately represent the important changes and dynamics involved in other soil organic matter characteristics. Table 2 Changes in total soil carbon and nitrogen between 1981 and 1990. Biologically active soil organic matter was most closely associated with measurements of soil nitrogen supply and soil biological activity.