Organic Matter Now Green, Brown, Dark, Dead, Black – Then, Good Earth!

Above, the dead leaves that spread well to cover the field amidst the growing crop is Good Friday, which precedes a resurrection on Easter Sunday – on this field, the resurrected soil will produce a crop that is Heaven on Earth, just as Jesus the Christ resurrected and brought us Heaven on High!
(trash farming image[1] from Quora.com)

Above the above, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar and Aida Page share a Facebook post with this legend: “Make soil richer with leaves;” the image supplied that accompanies the article I myself have written (03 October 2019, “Appreciating Organic Farming[2],” Agriculture.com.ph).

The lower image is perfect, soil covered 100% – if you are going after mulching, as the dried leaves protect the soil from drying up and slowly enrich it with the nutrients from their deteriorating bodies.

But surface mulching, as you can imagine, is a tedious way of practicing organic farming. I know of an excellent way that I have been plugging/blogging about since 10 years ago.

On page 49 of my 124-page book titled ICRISAT Innovations Shape The Future Of Drylands[3] published 2011, with Mr Dar still Director General of ICRISAT, I wrote:

By rotary tiller, the organic matter (OM) is first shredded in 1 or 2 passes of the tiller, and then on the 3rd pass incorporated shallowly – an inch or so – into the top soil. No deep plowing of any kind. Slowly, the OM is transformed into humus, the richest single source of soil nutrients you can find on Earth…

When you rotavate the field with weeds still growing along with the crop refuse still standing, you make the soil richer with leaves plus stems plus branches plus flowers that are shredded and create a soil-vegetation surface mulch with bits & pieces already mixed up and on their way to deterioration. The easiest & most natural mulch and the richest in the world already in place!

To be sure, we can call that field mulch farming.

On Facebook is shared: “IFDC's Strategy: To Feed The Soil Is To Feed The World” I agree with that. At the same time, you will feed the world with the richest food if you do my field mulch farming. The best way to improve soil health is to supply it with the best organic matter.

Cane-Co[4] says:

Mulching improves the soil’s capacity for moisture retention and prevents up to 70% of water loss from surface evaporation. During the dry season mulched soils are more drought-resistant. During the rainy season, the extra layer of substrate slows down water flow across the fields, which increases absorption and keeps the fields from eroding, especially when battered by heavy tropical downpours.

What I now refer to as field mulch farming is essentially trash farming as described and explained more than 70 years ago by gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner in his 2 books, The Plowman’s Folly (published 1945) and Soil Development (1952).

Field vegetation is organic matter that is always there, ready to apply, no need to buy!@517

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[1]https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-method-of-soil-conservation-in-arid-and-semiarid-regions

[2]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/10/03/appreciating-organic-farming/

[3]http://oar.icrisat.org/1933/1/ICRISAT_innovations_shape_the_future_of_drylands.pdf

[4]https://caneco.gd/trash-farming-simple-but-effective/