Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening
UCSC Farm & Garden ApprenticeshipUniversity of California, Santa CruzTeachingOrganic Farming& GardeningRESOURCES for INSTRUCTORSEdited by Martha Brown, Jan Perez,and Albie Miles3 R D ED I T I O NRevised & Expanded
The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems is a research, education, and publicservice program located at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Center’s missionis to advance sustainable food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sound,economically viable, socially responsible, nonexploitative, and that serve as a foundation forfuture generations.For ordering information contact:CASFS1156 High St.UC Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California 95064831.459-3240, N 978-0-9828781-0-1 2015 Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food SystemsUniversity of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, Californiacasfs.ucsc.eduFirst edition published 2003, second edition published 2005Cover photo credits (clockwise from top): Abigail Huetter; Damian Parr; CASFS collection;Brandon BlackburnTitle page photo credits: Abigail Huetter (top); Damian ParrUnit 2.1, Soil Physical Properties: Diagrams and figures are from Minerals in Soil Environments, by Dixon et al., andare used by permission of the Soil Science Society of America. A Flow Diagram for Teaching Soil Texture by FeelAnalysis, by Thein, J., is from The Journal of Agronomic Education, Vol. 8, 1979, p. 54. All other illustrations andtables are compiled from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Unit 2.2, Soil Chemistry and Fertility:The carbon and nitrogen illustrations are adapted from Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E-2646,Michigan Field Crop Ecology. The phosphorus illustration is used courtesy of Minnesota Extension publicationThe Nature of Phosphorus in Soils, Copyright 2002. www.extension.umn.edu. The potassium illustration is used bypermission of IMC Global.No endorsement of names, illustrated products, or suppliers is intended, nor is criticism implied of similar products orsuppliers that are not mentioned or illustrated.
Table of ContentsForewordvAbout CASFS and the Farm & Garden ibutors and ReviewersixHow To Use This ResourcexiiPart 1 Organic Farming and Gardening Skills and PracticesUnit 1.1 Managing Soil Health1–3Unit 1.2 Garden and Field Tillage and Cultivation1–31Unit 1.3 Propagating Crops from Seed,and Greenhouse Management1–95Unit 1.4 Transplanting and Direct Seeding1–165Unit 1.5 Irrigation—Principles and Practices1–203Unit 1.6 Selecting and Using Cover Crops1–263Unit 1.7 Making and Using Compost1–295Unit 1.8 Managing Arthropod Pests1–341Unit 1.9 Managing Plant Pathogens1–371Unit 1.10 Managing Weeds1–393Unit 1.11 Reading and Interpreting Soil Test Reports1–429Part 2 Applied Soil ScienceUnit 2.1 Soils and Soil Physical Properties2–3Unit 2.2 Soil Chemistry and Fertility2–49Unit 2.3 Soil Biology and Ecology2–83Part 3 Social and Environmental Issues in AgricultureUnit 3.1 The Development of U.S. Agriculture3–3Unit 3.2 Social Issues in Modern Agriculture3–31Unit 3.3 Environmental Issues in Modern Agriculture3–53Unit 3.4 Sustainable Agriculture and SustainableFood Systems3–73Table of Contents iiiTeaching Organic Farming and Gardening
iv Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening
ForewordYou have before you a document that is as uniqueand revolutionary as it is useful. It is unique,because it draws upon nearly five decades ofactual teaching practice in organic methods of growing plants. Over 1,500 apprentices at the Center forAgroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS,the Center) at the University of California, Santa Cruzhave learned the methods described in this manualand applied them in settings as diverse as commercialorganic farms, urban and school gardens, college anduniversity farms, and overseas food projects. I canthink of no other organic growing pedagogy that hasbeen so thoroughly time- and field-tested.This manual is revolutionary, because of how dominant the chemical- and resource-intensive paradigmfor growing plants has become. As the world population grows and our climate changes, agricultural andfood systems are ever more stressed and will be so foryears to come. Diversified farming systems employingthe techniques described in this manual absolutely canfeed the world, as many studies continue to prove. Ifthe future of food and agriculture is at all sustainableand just, it is far more likely to employ the methods inthis manual than so-called conventional agriculturaltechniques.But perhaps most important for you, our readers, thismanual is useful because it works. The practices described here can be employed in a variety of climates,soils, and educational settings. The information on soilscience provides a solid grounding for the practicesdescribed, and the units on social and environmentalissues offer a broader context for those interested insustainable agriculture.Moreover, teaching organic farming and gardening hasevolved dramatically over the last several decades. Incontrast to the very early efforts at organic farmingand gardening, a substantial body of agroecologicalresearch informs today’s organic practices. Similarly,dramatic expansion in commercial applications ofthese techniques also confirms that they work, while simultaneously being modified for improvements. Today,those interested in teaching and learning about organicfarming and gardening have a wealth of resources fromwhich to draw, including this curriculum.In the spirit of the University of California’s dedicationto public service, this manual is downloadable free ofcharge. Its many contributors are all grateful for theopportunity to share their experience, passion, anddedication as widely as possible.Whether you are a long-time farmer educator, newfarmer instructor, seasoned grower working a largefarm, or a novice urban gardener, I thank you for yourinterest and trust. I fervently hope that this manual willhelp you teach others, learn on your own, and beautifyyour patch of the world.– Daniel PressOlga T. Griswold Professor ofEnvironmental StudiesExecutive Director, Center for Agroecology& Sustainable Food SystemsUniversity of California, Santa CruzForeword vTeaching Organic Farming and Gardening
The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable FoodSystems, and the Farm & Garden ApprenticeshipThe Center for Agroecology and SustainableFood Systems (CASFS, the Center) is a research,education, and public service unit of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California,Santa Cruz, dedicated to increasing ecological sustainability and social justice in the food and agriculturesystem. Center research and education efforts seek toincrease understanding of the social, economic, political, and ethical foundations of agricultural sustainability; to establish the ecological and agronomic basis forsustainable production systems; and to demonstrateand facilitate the use of information critical to theadoption of sustainable food and agriculture systems.The Center’s work covers a spectrum that includesacademic education and practical training, theoreticaland applied research, and public service for audiencesranging from international grower groups to localschool children. The Center’s 3-acre Alan ChadwickGarden and the 33-acre UCSC Farm are unique organicdemonstration, education, and research sites on theUCSC campus.The Farm & Garden Apprenticeship is a six-monthtraining program held annually at the Center’s farmand garden sites. Initiated by Alan Chadwick in 1967,this full-time course now brings participants of all agesfrom around the world to learn the basic skills of organic gardening and farming, while also studying thecomplex social and environmental issues surroundingsustainable agriculture and food systems. The programcombines classroom instruction, small group demonstrations, and readings with hands-on learning in thefields, gardens, greenhouses, and orchards. The maininstructors in the Apprenticeship course are the FarmManager, the two Garden Managers, and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Manager whowork daily alongside the apprentices, present classes,and lead training sessions. UCSC faculty, researchers,and members of the agricultural community add awide range of expertise to the course.To date nearly 1,500 apprentices have completed theApprenticeship training program. Graduates have established their own commercial farms and market gardens, run community gardens for inner city and prisonpopulations, and developed school garden programs.Many graduates take part in international develop-vi About CASFS/ApprenticeshipTeaching Organic Farming and Gardening“There are very few programs that provide anacademic component to the very real worldof organic agriculture. This [Apprenticeship]program ranks among the very best in thenation thanks to the skill of the instructors,the diversity of the students, and the certifiedorganic gardens and fields themselves.”—Bob Scowcroft, Founding DirectorOrganic Farming Research Foundationment and food security projects. Others have raisedthe standards of the organic food industry throughwork with certification programs and retailers. Oneof the most important outcomes of the Apprenticeshipis the ripple effect our graduates have working locally,nationally, and internationally to practice, promote,and teach sustainable, organic farming and gardening.Our on-campus farm and garden are open to the publicyear-round. Thousands of visitors come annually tosee the hundreds of varieties of annual vegetable andflower crops, fruit trees, and perennial plantings, andto learn about sustainable growing methods, researchprojects, and education programs. Also based at theUCSC Farm, the non-profit group Life Lab hosts preK–12 science, nutrition, and environmental educationprograms, and the “Food, What?!” youth empowerment program. In conjunction with our supportgroup, the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, theCenter offers a year-long series of organic gardeningclasses, workshops, and seasonal celebrations for thecommunity.For more information on the Center and its activities,contact us at:CASFS1156 High StreetUniversity of CaliforniaSanta Cruz, CA 95064831.459-3240casfs@ucsc.eduand visit our website, casfs.ucsc.eduFor questions about the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture program, see the Center’s website,casfs.ucsc.edu and www.growafarmer.org, or contactus at 831.459-3240, casfs@ucsc.edu.
PrefaceTeaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors was first produced in2003 in response to the many requests fromthose interested in the curriculum offered each year bythe Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture (see pagevi) through the Center for Agroecology & SustainableFood Systems (CASFS, the Center) at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz. A second edition with updatedinformation and resources followed in 2005.Since its publication and online posting, the trainingmanual has seen widespread use in classrooms andfarm fields from California to Vermont, as well asinternationally. College and university educators, apprenticeship teachers, Master Gardener trainers, andother instructors have used the lectures, hands-on exercises, and supporting material to teach basic organicfarming and gardening skills, along with the conceptsof soil science and social issues as they relate to sustainable agriculture. Tens of thousands have purchasedprint copies or viewed and downloaded the curriculumfor free from the CASFS website, the University ofCalifornia’s eScholarship Repository, and other onlinepostings such as the USDA’s Start2Farm website. Manyhave thanked us for making this material available,noting the comprehensive approach it offers.Much has changed in the past decade. There’s a growing recognition of the need to bring more people intofarming as the farmer population ages and the poolof farms and food producers shrinks. There are moreresources, training materials, and support for thoseinterested in farming as a career, thanks in large partto projects funded by the USDA’s Beginning Farmerand Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), andorganizations such as the National Young FarmersCoalition, FarmLink, and the Greenhorns Project.Myriad new opportunities to learn about agricultureboth in and out of the classroom have emerged since2003. More and more colleges and universities areadding hands-on farmer training to their offerings.The Sustainable Agriculture Education Association(SAEA) was founded to help promote innovativeeducational approaches to teaching sustainable agriculture. Apprenticeships, internships, farm incubators,and related efforts such as Collaborative Regional Alliances for Farmer Training (CRAFT) are springing upon farms across the country to serve those exploringa career in agriculture.Farming’s landscape, language, and demographicshave changed as well. With “urban farming” now partof the vernacular, agriculture has spread beyond itsrural roots: now New York City has its own farmertraining project, San Francisco’s municipal code encourages urban “micro farms,” and Chicago has avibrant commercial urban agriculture program. Withconcerns over climate change on the rise, the term“resilient” has joined “sustainable,” “organic,” and“diversified” in discussions of the type of agriculturewe need to encourage. And many who are interestedin agriculture and building healthy communities comefrom non-farming backgrounds with no hands-onexperience.The new edition of Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors, was developed withthis growing audience and evolving agricultural framework in mind. Through lectures, demonstrations,and exercises that can be tailored for use in the field,the garden, or the classroom, it offers comprehensivelessons from the “core” curriculum taught annuallythrough the CASFS Apprenticeship, with an emphasison developing basic organic farming and gardeningskills for small- and medium-scale organic mixedvegetable operations. It also recognizes agriculture’ssocial component and the increased interest in equityand justice in the food system, with new material onthe social impacts of the current agricultural systemand information on food justice activities.Other new features include narrative supplements thatexpand on the updated lecture outlines, along withnew appendices, illustrations, and resource listings.As with earlier editions, all of the written material isavailable free online, enhanced by Powerpoint andvideo to accompany many of the units (available atcasfs.ucsc.edu/about/publications). We plan to continue updating and revising the curriculum and lookforward to your feedback in helping us improve thisresource.Preface viiTeaching Organic Farming and Gardening
AcknowledgmentsTeaching Organic Farming & Gardening:Resources for Instructors represents nearlyfifty years of experience teaching organic farming and gardening skills, soil sciences, and social issuesin agriculture at the Apprenticeship in EcologicalHorticulture at UC Santa Cruz. The 2003 and 2005editions of the training manual provided the opportunity to share this experience with a broader audience.In developing this updated and expanded edition,editors Martha Brown and Jan Perez had the chancebuild on the vision and efforts of original editor andauthor Albie Miles, and to enhance the lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on exercises based on feedbackand insights from many instructors, apprentices, andstudents.At the heart of this effort have been the dedicatedteachers, researchers, farmers, and Apprenticeshipgraduates who wrote, revised, and reviewed the various units (see Contributors & Reviewers, next page).These already busy people were asked to add evenmore work to their overflowing schedules, and we aregrateful to them for the many hours they committedin bringing this project to fruition.Thanks go also to many other contributors: JaneBolling of Jane Bolling Design created the cover andupdated the layout. Science illustrators Jose MiguelMayo and Catherine Genetti Reinhard created theoriginal line art for Parts 1 and 2. Photographersviii AcknowledgmentsTeaching Organic Farming and GardeningAbigail Huetter and Brandon Blackburn took manyof the photos for the accompanying online Powerpointpresentations. Jessica Beckett Parr, Hillary Terashima,and Jim Clark created the online videos. Daniel Wuupdated many of the resources.We thank Daniel Press, Executive Director of theCenter for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems,for his support throughout this project. And a veryspecial thank you to Amy Bolton for the many hoursof skillful work and insights required to lay out andproof more than 700 pages of materials.The Center’s grant writer Ann Lindsey brought in thefunding for the training manual revision effort andhelped shape and guide it along the way. This projectwould not have been possible without the generousfunders who provided their support for the revisedand expanded training manuals: Gaia Fund, theUSDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher DevelopmentProgram, Western Sustainable Agriculture Researchand Education (WSARE), the Joseph and Vera LongFoundation, and the Eucalyptus Foundation. Fundingfor the project’s initial development came from theTrue North Foundation, the Arkay Foundation, theFoundation for Sustainability and Innovation, theOrganic Farming Research Foundation, Richard andRhoda Goldman Fund, The Mary A. Crocker Trust,The Foxwhelp Group of the Tides Foundation, TheKellogg Foundation through the California Food andFiber Futures Project, and John Kinder.
Contributors and ReviewersCONTRIBUTORSChristof Bernau (Propagating Crops from Seed,and Greenhouse Management; Irrigation—Principles and Practices)Christof Bernau, the Center’s Farm Garden Manager,oversees the demonstration and production garden,managing the greenhouse facilities and nursery production, and helps steward the social justice componentsof the Apprenticeship curriculum as well as teachinga range of horticulture classes classes for apprentices,UCSC students, and the general public.Martha Brown (Editor)Martha Brown, the Center’s Principal Editor, writes,edits, and designs the Center’s publications, alongwith managing the Center websites and other outreachefforts.Sky De Muro-Miller (Garden and Field Tillageand Cultivation; Transplanting and Direct Seeding;Making and Using Compost)Sky De Muro-Miller is a Garden Instructor at theUCSC Farm & Garden, where she helps manage theChadwick Garden with Orin Martin. She also organizes and teaches workshops for the public and forbeginning farmers on the Central Coast.Jill Harrison (Social Issues in Modern Agriculture)Jill Harrison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado,Boulder, where she focuses on environmental sociologyand the sociology of agriculture and food. She receivedher PhD from UCSC’s Department of EnvironmentalStudies.Eric Holt-Giménez (Sustainable Agriculture andSustainable Food Systems)Eric Holt-Giménez, PhD, is Executive Director of FoodFirst, a non-profit “people’s think tank” dedicated toending the injustices that cause hunger and helpingcommunities to take back control of their food systemsthrough research, education and action. He has spent25 years working with farmers in Central America andMexico, writing on social movements and social justicein the food system, and teaching development studies.Jim Leap (Garden and Field Tillage andCultivation; Irrigation—Principles and Practices;Selecting and Using Cover Crops; Managing Weeds;Reading and Interpreting Soil Test Reports)Jim Leap, past Farm Manager for the Center, oversaw production, operations, and field research onthe UCSC Farm from 1990 through 2010. Jim is aninstructor for the Center’s Apprenticeship Programand for regional growers, with a particular focus onirrigation, small farm viability, tillage systems, andweed management.Ann Lindse
ISBN 978-0-9828781-0-1 2015 Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California casfs.ucsc.edu
INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC GARDENING WHAT IS ORGANIC GARDENING Organic gardening is a process that promotes and enhances biodiversity, natural biological cycles and soil biological actives that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony. Organic gardening basic tenets are feeding the soil though decaying organic matter and utilizing
August 2012 Contents: Introduction 3 Findings: Organic Farming Systems Benefit the Environment, Human Health, and National Prosperity 13 Organic Farming Improves Soil and Water Quality 13 Organic Farming Enhances Biodiversity and Pollinator Health 18 Organic Farming Sequesters More Carbon, Slowing Climate Change 22 Organic Farming Reduces Toxic Chemical Exposure 25
I INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Need for the Paper 2 1.2 Review of Literature 3 1.3 Objectives of the Paper 7 1.4 Methodology 7 1.5 Organization of the Paper 8 II RELEVANCE OF ORGANIC FARMING 9 2.1 The International Scene 9 2.1.1 Growth of Organic Farming 12 2.1.2 The Developed World 13 2.1.3 The Developing World 24 2.2 Need for Organic Farming in India 26
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