Crop production, problems with organic

Umbrepts. Dark surface horizons medium to low base supply. Soils which contain little organic matter or nitrogen, They are usually dry for more than 6 months/year, In numerous areas, salts accumulate on or near the soil surface. Since the nutrient content, except nitrogen, of aridisols is often high, these soils can be productive with irrigation and nitrogen application. Salt accumulation can be a problem with some crops. 

Currently only natural seed may be used, with any sort of seed dressing being prohibited. Some growers are concerned about the loss of quality and vigour in seed, particularly the potential increase in seed-borne diseases and viruses. This could quickly cause problems over a few generations of production and create further problems with the health of organic crops. 

All crop production, except protected cropping (for example, glasshouse, plastic covered), is vulnerable to the weather. Measures to combat frost and drought are common to most kinds of crop production wind protection (by shelter belts and so on) is practised for only a few crops (e.g. top fruit). In general, apart from choice of location, little can be done about solar radiation, rainfall or temperature. Problems with weeds, pests and diseases are also common to all crops but the remedies available to organic producers are much more limited than for conventional farmers. 

Control laboratories in the canned food industry are usually divorced from the research organization to a lesser degree than is the case in the chemical and allied industries. For this reason, a closer relationship exists between the problems of the control laboratory and the research laboratory. Although from a research standpoint this condition is often considered undesirable, it has considerable merit in the case of the canned food industry, in which production may be seasonal and often of rather short duration. The collection of control data in many instances may also serve for research purposes—for example, in the case of soil analyses, which may be correlated with agricultural research designed to improve crop yields. Because the variables which affect the quality of canned foods must usually be investigated rather extensively, and often over a period of more than one year, the application of statistical methods to data collected for control purposes can conceivably make a substantial contribution to a research program. 

Plant residues can provide substrates for the production of phytotoxic metabolites by soil microorganisms but they can also support the growth of pathogens and other deleterious micro-organisms. This is illustrated by reference to the problems of establishing crops drilled in the presence of straw residues and of decaying weed and grass residues that have been previously killed with herbicides. 

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