PinoyEcoFarmer

Manage Insects on Your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies. Ecological pest management employs tactics that have existed in natural ecosystems for thousands of years. Since the beginning of agriculture — indeed, long before then — plants co-evolved with pests and with the natural enemies of those pests. As plants developed inherent protective mechanisms against pests, they were helped by numerous partners in the ecosystem, for example:

Beneficial insects that attack crop insects and mites by chewing them up or sucking out their juices; Beneficial parasites, which commandeer pests for habitat or food; Disease-causing organisms, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and nematodes that fatally sicken insects or keep them from feeding or reproducing. These organisms also attack weeds; Insects such as ground beetles that eat weed seeds Beneficial fungi and bacteria that inhabit root surfaces, blocking attack by disease organisms.

A crimson clover cover crop prevents erosion, improves soil, fixes nitrogen and attracts beneficial insects. By integrating these natural strategies into your farming systems, you can manage pests in a way that is healthier for the environment and eliminates many of the problems associated with agrichemical use. Knowing the life cycles of pests and understanding their natural enemies allows you to better manipulate the system to enhance, rather than detract from, the built-in defenses available in nature.

Another National Academy of Science report (1996), Ecologically Based Pest Management (EBPM), stated that EBPM “should be based on a broad knowledge of the agro-ecosystem and will seek to manage rather than eliminate pests” in ways that are “profitable, safe, and durable.” In addition to reducing pest damage, shifting your farming system to ecological pest management will bring multiple benefits to your operation. For example, moving from monoculture to longer rotations improves water-and nutrient-use efficiency. Cover crops planted to attract beneficial insects also suppress weeds, improve the soil, provide moisture-conserving mulch, fix or store nitrogen for subsequent crops and contribute to overall nutrient management goals.

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms : A Planning Manual. Crop rotation is a critical feature of all organic cropping systems because it provides the principal mechanism for building healthy soils, a major way to control pests, and a variety of other benefits. Crop rotation means changing the type of crop grown on a particular piece of land from year to year. As used in this manual, the term includes both cyclical rotations, in which the same sequence of crops is repeated indefinitely on a field, and noncyclical rotations, in which the sequence of crops varies irregularly to meet the evolving business and management goals of the farmer. Each field has its own rotation, and, consequently, each farmer manages a set of rotations.

Good crop rotation requires long-term strategic planning. However, planning does not necessarily involve identifying which crop will be grown on a field years in advance. Indeed, such specificity may prove futile as plans become disrupted by weather, changes in the market, labor supply, and other factors. Lack of planning, however, can lead to serious problems—for example, the buildup of a soilborne disease of a critical crop, or imbalances in soil nutrients. Such problems can result in an inability to meet the demands of a carefully cultivated market or in additional labor and expense. Problems caused by faulty rotation often take several years to develop and can catch even experienced growers by surprise. In fact, rotation problems usually do not develop until well after the transition to organic cropping. Since the crops grown by organic farmers are often different and more diverse than those grown in the preceding conventional system, the organic transition itself often rotates away from the previous crops and their associated problems. Most farmers are greatly tempted to plant excessive acreage of the most profitable crop or to overuse certain fields for one type of crop. Such practices can lead to costly problems that take many years to correct. The purpose of this book is to help growers and farm advisors understand the management of crop rotations; avoid crop rotation problems; and use crop rotation to build better soil, control pests, and develop profitable farms that support satisfied families.

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses. Regardless of whether you are a beginning entrepreneur who has recently inherited a business, an experienced farmer who is considering on-farm processing, or a retiring business owner who is looking to pass on the farm, business planning is important. It is an ongoing process that begins with the identification of values and ends with a strategic plan to address critical management functions.

Like many rural entrepreneurs, you may have a strong sense of the values that drew you to the land or inspired you to begin a business. You may also have a clear set of personal and business goals that you would like to pursue “when the time is right.” But, if you’re like most farmers and rural business owners, you run into problems when trying to incorporate values and goals into day-to-day business decisions. How can you build a balanced and sustainable business—one that reflects your values and is successful—in the long run?

Unlike most other business planning tools, Building a Sustainable Business: A Planning Guide for Farmers and Rural Business Owners takes a whole-farm approach. You will consider traditional business planning and marketing principles as well as your personal, economic, environmental and community values—those less tangible things that are a part of your thoughts every day, but which often don’t become a planned part of your business. You will be asked to integrate values with business management practices throughout this Guide.

Building Soils for Better Crops: Sustainable Soil Management. This book is meant to give the reader a holistic appreciation of the importance of soil health and to suggest ecologically sound practices that help to develop and maintain healthy soils.

Building Soils for Better Crops has evolved over time. The first edition focused exclusively on the management of soil organic matter. If you follow practices that build and maintain good levels of soil organic matter, you will find it easier to grow healthy and high-yielding crops. Plants can withstand droughty conditions better and won’t be as bothered by insects and diseases. By maintaining adequate levels of organic matter in soil, you have less reason to use as much commercial fertilizer, lime, and pesticides as many farmers now purchase. Soil organic matter is that important.

Organic matter management was also the heart of the second edition, the authors decided to write a more comprehensive guide that includes other essential aspects of building healthy soils, such as managing soil physical properties and nutrients, as well as a chapter on evaluating soil health. In addition, the farmer case studies were updated and added a new one. The case studies describe a number of key practices that enhance the health of the farmers’ soils.

“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises”. Leo.F. Buscaglia

I was very excited and honored by the opportunity to share my knowledge on vermiculture and vermicomposting to students, teachers, parents and staff at the Bayanan Elementary School Main (BESM) in Muntinlupa City this past Saturday (January 28, 2012). The basic training was a compressed 3-hour event meant to introduce vermicomposting and set up an actual vermiculture and vermicomposting bed.

What I taught and showed them were the actual lessons that I learned in my own vermicomposting experience. The concepts were lectured in Filipino  and supplemented with research from other publications for better understanding. Among the topics covered in my presentation were definition of vermicomposting terms, considerations for the vermibed, and the advantages of vermicomposting.

Flory Tabio, the Executive Director of the Philippine Transmarine Carriers -Carlos Salinas Jr. (PTC-CSJ) Foundation – engaged in programs related to education and people empowerment; marine environmental awareness and protection; livelihood promotion; and literacy, art, music and sports development – facilitated the realization of the training as a great complement to the Foundation’s “Growing Good to Great Kids” or 3G Program that is being implemented in BESM.  The 3G Program aims to improve basic education primarily by feeding nutritious meals to severely malnourished pupils. Organic wastes from the feeding program (such as vegetable peelings and desiccated coconut) which were previously just thrown away, can now be processed by the worms as organic fertilizer (vermicast) and used in the school garden. The worms and vermicast can be eventually shared with the wider community.

It was good to know from the participants themselves that it did conform to what they expected at the onset of the training. The brief lectures and actual hands-on exercise was very helpful in making them understand what vermicomposting is all about. For some who are already into vermicomposting, it was a revalidation and improvement of their own practices. A concrete output of the training was the setup of a vermicompost bed in the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) or waste segregation area of the school.

As an eco-farming advocate, I will always gladly help spread these environmentally sound practices and make people better understand the advantages of farming the sustainable way.

Basic Vermicomposting Training. (click on title or image to download presentation)

Other Useful References:

Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture

Guide to Vermiculture and Vermicomposting

One of the natural blessings in our farm is the abundance of these flowering begonias. These plants cling to the rocks beside the walkway to the river. Their pink flowers provide a magnificent contrast to the greenery.

Begonia is a genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae and is a perennial. The only other members of the family Begoniaceae are Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands, and the genus Symbegonia which more recently was included in Begonia. "Begonia" is the common name as well as the generic name for all members of the genus. The genus name, coined by Charles Plumier, a French patron of botany, honors Michel Bégon, a former governor of the French colony of Haiti. It was adopted by Linnaeus. As a member of the order Curcurbitales, begonias are relatively closely related to such food crops as pumpkins / squash, gourds, cucumbers, and melons.

Jasmine is one of my favorite plants at home. The scent of their white flowers are very soothing and relaxing to the senses.

I have difficulty propagating them though. I have tried several cuttings before but was only disappointed when almost all just withered away after some time.

Persistence may pay off this time so I got several cuttings again from our creeping vine at home for another attempt. I chose the semi-matured branches and cut them leaving three about nodes each cutting. I soaked them overnight in a mixture of vermicast and Mykovam before transferring them in pots the next day. I covered the cuttings with ice candy wrappers for moisture retention.  I hope that I did it right this time.

JASMINUM GRANDIFLORUM Linn. Local names: Jasmin (Tag., Sp.); jasmine (Engl.).

Jasmin is cultivated in Manila and in other large towns of the Philippines for its very fragrant flowers. It is nowhere spontaneous. It is a native of India and is widely cultivated.

This ornamental plant is smooth, woody vine, reaching a length of 8 meters, often with pendulous branches. The leaves are odd-pinnate, and 6 to 9 centimeters long, with 7 to 9 leaflets. The lower leaflets are shortly stalked, while the upper one stalkless and often somewhat fused; both are ovate, 1 to 2 centimeters long, and pointed at the tip. The flowers are white with faint, pinkish streaks or purplish tinge outside, delightfully fragrant, and borne in lax, terminal inflorescences. The calyx-teeth, which are very slender, tube nearly 2 centimeters long; the spreading lobes are 1.5 centimeters long.

Wehmer records that the flowers contain a volatile oil, jasminol, and indol. Dymock, Warden, and Hooper state for which they propose the name jasminine. Nadkarni mentions in addition the presence of salycylic acid and an astringent principle in the leaves. Sanyal and Ghose maintain that the leaves contain a resinous substance. Burkill records that the essence contains among other substances, benzyl-acetate, linalol, indol, a ketone called jasmone.

The Filipinos use the water in which the flowers were macerated the night before as an eyewash, and a cataplasm of the flowers as a poultice to prevent a flow of milk.

Dymock, Warden, and Hooper state that the Hindu physicians prescribe the leaves as a remedy for skin diseases, ulcers of the mouth, otorrhea, etc. they quote Chakradatta, who mentions the use of fresh juice of the leaves as an application to soften corns, and the use of an oil prepared with it to be chewed by those who suffer from ulceration of the mucous membrane of the mouth. Mahomeran writers consider the plant to have deobstruent, anthelmintic, diuretic, and emmenagogue properties. Mir Muhammad Husain mentions the use of the flowers applied in the form of the plaster to the lions and pubes as an aphrodisiac.

According to Burkill, the oil is regarded as a tonic in China; he quotes Gerini, who says that in Siam an infusion of the flowers is used as a cosmetic after bathing.(http://bpi.da.gov.ph/medicinalplant_j.php)

Above: Juliene holding the packet of Sinta F1 papaya seeds for sowing

Above: mother and daughter tandem filling the seedling tray with the soil mixture

Above: all smiles while putting the seeds

We directly sowed the seeds in the trays. This could be wrong because it is recommended that the seeds be soaked first in water for 2-3 days before sowing. We hope that we can germinate. The East-West Sinta papaya costs P750 per packet containing 100 seeds at Filipinas Agri in Cubao, Quezon City.

Sowing date is January 07, 2012.