But other agricultural reformers have understood that there are gray areas—­that chemicals are not all bad or all good and that other sane and holistic standards can be applied to decide what is the best way to go about raising crops.  These people began to discuss new agricultural methods like Integrated Pest Management [IPM] or Low Input Sustainable Agriculture [LISA], systems that allowed a minimal use of chemistry without abandoning the focus on soil organic matter’s vital importance.

My guess is that some years back, Bob Rodale came to see the truth of this, giving him a problem—­he did not want to threaten a major source of political and financial support.  So he split off the “farming” from Organic Gardening and Farming magazine and started two new publications, one called The New Farm where safely away from less educated unsophisticated eyes he could discuss minor alterations in the organic faith without upsetting the readers of Organic Gardening.

Today’s Confusions

I have offered this brief interpretation of the organic gardening and farming movement primarily for the those gardeners who, like me, learned their basics from Rodale Press.  Those who do not now cast this heretical book down in disgust but finish it will come away with a broader, more scientific understanding of the vital role of organic matter, some certainty about how much compost you really need to make and use, and the role that both compost and fertilizers can have in creating and maintaining the level of soil fertility needed to grow a great vegetable garden.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Humus and Soil Productivity

Books about hydroponics sound plausible.  That is, until you actually see the results.  Plants grown in chemical nutrient solutions may be huge but look a little “off.”  Sickly and weak somehow.  Without a living soil, plants can not be totally healthy or grow quite as well as they might.

By focusing on increasing and maximizing soil life instead of adding chemical fertility, organic farmers are able to grow excellent cereals and fodder.  On richer soils they can even do this for generations, perhaps even for millennia without bringing in plant nutrients from elsewhere.  If little or no product is sent away from the farm, this subsistence approach may be a permanent agricultural system.  But even with a healthy ecology few soils are fertile enough by themselves to permit continuous export of their mineral resources by selling crops at market.