Photo credit: akaitori

A new study published in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems has found that farms under organic soil management systems can produce yields equivalent to conventional management systems and those organic methods that incorporate residues into the soil improve the soil nutrients and reduce weeds. Researchers examined the use of crop residues in a corn-cabbage rotation system. They measured factors including yields, nutrient uptake, weed biomass and soil nutrients for both organic soil management practices and conventional soil management practices. They found that under organic management, weed biomass was lower by 22 – 47%, total soil nitrogen was higher by 7 – 4%, and yields did not significantly differ between the two management types.