Integrated Farm Management
agriculture research. The aggregate
outcome of applying those practices in concert cannot be predicted
from simply combining the anticipated outcome of each practice
because they interact with one another. In some instances, the combination of practices has complementary or synergistic relationships
(Integrated Fish Farming, Aquaponics or Bio-flock technology); in other
instances, combining two practices
might have unintended negative
consequences. A systems approach
to agriculture is generally guided by
an understanding of agro-ecology,
as a scientific basis, and agroecosystem
interactions.
Agroecology applies ecological concepts
and principles to the design and
management of agricultural systems to improve sustainability. The
approach aims to maintain “a productive agriculture that sustains
yields and optimizes the use of local
resources while minimizing the negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of technologies.
Organic cropping systems:
Organic farming has evolved over
many years since it started in Eu-
Crop Integration
rope in the early part of the 20 th
century. Several schools of philosophy and practice are used to some
extent today, as articulated in an
extensive practitioner-written literature over the past 100 years. The
principles, in most are consistent
with scientific theory for ecosystem
functioning. Several guidelines for
biodynamic systems are outside of
present scientific theory. However,
the majority of organic farms today
are guided by either local or international certification requirements
assembled through broad farmer
and industry collaboration to regulate the rapidly growing marketplace for organic products. Some
practices have been reasonably well
researched, while studies on others
are sparse. Products of some specialty approaches, such as biodynamic, have local or highly targeted
niche markets.
Alternative Livestock Production
Systems:
Over the past 50 years, the most
striking changes in the South African livestock sector reflect the increasing use of production systems
in which animals are kept in full
Integrated Farming
confinement and are fed fewer traditional forage crops and higher
proportions of corn, soybean, and
food processing by-products. Nevertheless, the last 30 years have also
witnessed growing interest in a
number of alternative livestock production systems. The alternative
systems include efforts to expand
the integration of crop and livestock enterprises, intensive grazing
management systems on dairy
farms, and low-confinement integrated swine production practices.
All three alternative systems take
advantage of opportunities for
greater on-farm cycling of nutrients, seek to mimic natural patterns
of animal behaviour, and respond
to dissatisfaction by farmers and
consumers with aspects of confinement livestock production systems.
Integrated Swine-Livestock Systems
Evidence is increasing that integration of livestock into diverse cropping systems can produce important benefits. In particular, the
ability to feed crops to livestock
enables producers to capture and
potentially recycle nutrients back to
Organic Cropping