How are organic products grown?

In the beginning, agriculture was linked to the natural environment . Not only was the land important, but also lunar cycles, climate changes, rainfall, everything that surrounded humans and gave them the possibility or impossibility of farming.

Over time, agriculture allowed people to settle in a certain place, build their houses and crops there, and gave them the opportunity to build a home . It also served to separate certain tasks within the community, allowing them to dedicate themselves to other activities.

The ability to grow one's own food was one of humanity's great leaps forward . This happened approximately 12,000 years ago, in the Neolithic period. If you want to know more about the history of agriculture, we recommend this article on how agriculture has advanced in society .

What is agriculture?

In addition to being one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind, it is a human activity . In it, techniques and knowledge are combined in order to obtain plant-based food production from the earth . These can be vegetables, fruits, cereals, greens and more.

It is also an economic activity within the primary sector . These have been developed by humans since the beginning of history and are very important since they supply the population with food and raw materials.

As the history of mankind has progressed, agriculture has undergone changes . In this article, we will focus on organic farming. But in order to better understand how this type of production came about, we need to talk about another type of agricultural production.

Conventional agriculture or organic agriculture?

What is conventional agriculture?

To talk about traditional agriculture, we have to mention what was the Green Revolution . In the 1960s in the United States, this revolution broke out, leading to the use of new technologies to achieve greater agricultural production .

Genetically modified seeds began to be used to make them more resistant to different climates, and the concept of monoculture became popular. This means prioritizing the cultivation of a single species for one or more seasons. Herbicides and agrochemicals also began to be used . In addition, the use of water resources was maximized.

Initially, the Green Revolution sought to increase food production for the world, which was achieved, but at the cost of a negative impact on the environment.

Vicent, a fellow farmer from Campos del Abuelo, tells us about his experience with traditional agriculture in his interview about potatoes .

He says that when his grandparents were farming, organic farming was traditional , but that all changed after the Green Revolution. Vincent tried farming using organic farming methods until he was poisoned twice and knew something was wrong . So he decided to go back to the roots and farm like his ancestors did.

As we said, the type of agriculture that exploded with the Green Revolution, focused on productivity, has a huge environmental impact. For this reason, the quality and fertility of the soil decreases. To the detriment of this type of cultivation techniques, there is organic and sustainable agriculture: the ones we farmers from Campos del Abuelo use .

What is organic farming?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines organic farming as a cultivation method that involves managing the ecosystem rather than using agricultural inputs.

It is carried out in an alternative way. The processes follow ecological principles and ancestral knowledge is recovered , while new knowledge is built. This is why, by definition, the ecosystem is managed respecting the processes of nature. In addition, the available resources are used rationally and the ways of working are respectful of nature and people.

To make this type of agriculture work sustainably, nature-friendly techniques are used. We will learn about them from our fellow farmers at Campos del Abuelo.

Organic farming techniques

The farmers of Campos del Abuelo use sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural methods.

Clara and Lola will tell us about some of them from their farm in Xàtiva. There they grow courgettes , beans, carrots and many more vegetables. Let's find out about some of the techniques they use...

Fallow or the rest of the land

It's a beautiful sunny day. Summer arrived a few days ago and the heat has started to be felt. We walk behind Clara through her farm, she is taking us to see some of her crops that are in an advanced stage . She stops right next to a row of yellow flowers and begins to tell us about her farm.

She talks to us about the importance of working the land, taking into account that it is alive. Under the sun of Xàtiva we will have the opportunity to learn about the tasks she carries out on her farm. So we remain attentive, together with Clara, to learn about how organic products are grown.

Clara explains: the earth is a living being. Therefore, it needs to rest and cyclically accommodate crops with different nutritional needs and different interactions with the earth. What we achieve by taking these breaks is not to deplete the soil.

These breaks that Clara mentions have to do with what is called “fallow” , an agricultural technique that consists of not sowing the land for one or more periods . This is how - as she says - the land is allowed to rest.

Crop rotation to take advantage of nutrients

Crop rotation involves alternating the cultivation of different types and families of plants. It involves not always repeating the same crop or a crop from the same family . This helps soil fertility and promotes biodiversity.

Clara tells us about rotation with an example: for example, if we plant chard, a vegetable with little root and great aerial development, we will not repeat another crop with similar characteristics on the same plot.

Lola, Clara's mother, gives us a more extensive example to better understand crop rotation. Lola has been working on the land for more than 40 years. Without a doubt, she knows:

Each person has their own method, but the one I use with crop rotation is like this. For example, I add organic fertilizer and start with a crop that needs a lot of nutrients , such as a tomato or cauliflower.

So, once the tomato has finished its growing cycle, I pull it out and then plant another plant from a different botanical family that has different nutrient needs . Continuing with the example, after tomatoes I can plant a cabbage. Once the cabbage cycle is over, I plant a different family , such as lettuce.

And after the lettuce, it is time to plant vegetables that have few nutrient needs. This is because the three previous plants have already eaten enough, we have provided them with good food with organic water.

I can also plant sweet potatoes as the second to last crop in the rotation. And at the end of the rotation I can plant peanuts. That is a five-crop rotation. Then I start the cycle again , I add organic fertilizer again and I don't start with a tomato, but, for example, I start with melon or watermelon.

When we asked Lola how long this cycle lasts, she replied…

More than a year and a half. Because, for example, a carrot needs four months from the time you plant it until you harvest it. After harvesting it, you have to wait, you have to water it… You have to work the land more or less superficially and then, maybe a month goes by between removing one crop and starting another.

And between the five crops, a year and a half will surely pass. A cauliflower, for example, also has a very long cycle. It depends, there are some that last 90 days, but there are others that last 100, 120, 150. Cauliflowers have different cycles.

Then, for example, I start harvesting tomatoes now; I buy the seedlings at the beginning of March. We have had March, April and May, three months. If I am lucky and the temperature does not rise too much, I can harvest those tomatoes for two months. And then I remove them and while I prepare the soil, another month goes by.

The cycles are quite long. And a sweet potato, for example, I plant it in June and harvest it almost in December.

If you rotate crops, you don't need to incorporate organic fertilizer so often, because what you do is incorporate the fertilizer at the beginning. Afterwards, I always do superficial work on the soil so as not to disturb the microorganisms, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, so that they are more or less in place and can work and do their job.

As Lola tells us from the field, it is essential to rotate crops from one season to the next to achieve good pest and disease control . It also helps improve soil fertility , reduce erosion and increase biodiversity.

To add to the information provided by Lola, in this article about potatoes we spoke with Vicent, an organic farmer for over 40 years. In it there is another excellent example of crop rotation with potatoes, beetles and the Solanaceae family.

Manual land plowing

Clara and Lola also plough the land by hand and enrich it with natural manure. The word “plough” refers to the process that allows the soil to be moved and removed from the surface of the land on which it is to be cultivated.

These clods are then turned over and over again to return the soil to its original state. This encourages the passage of organic nutrients and provides space for the new crop.

Clara tells us about manual ploughing: these methods are used to accompany the natural cycle of crops, to achieve balance . This type of ploughing favours integration into the soil where we are going to cultivate. At the same time, if we keep the soil fertile, spongy and provide it with quality organic matter, we will facilitate this balance.

During our visit to Lola and Clara's farm, we were able to see how Clara does superficial tilling of the land with this adapted bicycle called a "scraping bicycle." It is not as deep as ploughing, but it is an example that we can see directly from the field:

Crop association for mutual benefit

Companion planting involves planting one or more plant species together so that one or more of them benefit . Some of these benefits may include increased nutrient uptake, improved productivity, pest control, disease prevention and even improved flavor.

Lola also talks to us about this technique and tells us how it is used in Latin America.

In South America there is a crop association called “Milpa” . In the Milpa they associate pumpkins with corn and beans. They grow all three crops together. And it is an association that works very well, because they plant the pumpkins, then they plant the corn and then they plant the beans, which are trellised by the corn.

It is a good association, the roots of these three plants also combine very well and produce quite a lot. It is for people who have little land, because they make these associations and it works quite well. Here it was used a lot, that is, they planted corn and then they planted beans. And the beans were trellised by the corn and produced well.

Lola tells us why she no longer makes this type of association and how she solved what seemed like a problem…

But we don't do that anymore, because the wind usually knocks over the corn plants and then all the soil falls. I usually put canes, I make the typical barracada of my town, Alboraya, because in every place there are barracas or a trellis for the plants. Here there is one way of trellising and in the area of ​​Valencia there is another way of trellising. And if you go to Aragon, they do it in different ways. Always adapted to the climate, to the water conditions, shade, light, everything.

What Lola tells us is one of the characteristics of organic agriculture: recovering ancestral knowledge and adapting it . From her village she brought the way of tutoring through canes.

In this video, we see how Eduardo, from Campos del Abuelo, supports a tomato with a cane structure:

Auxiliary fauna to create a balanced ecosystem

In addition to these techniques, Clara highlights the importance of the crop environment. She highlights something key: what we plant around the crop will improve the symbiosis . For this reason, she explains that planting and caring for aromatic plants and a diversity of trees and other complementary crops helps to maintain auxiliary fauna and reduce pests .

This creates a balanced ecosystem that benefits crop growth and protects them in a natural and ecological way.

Something to keep in mind when growing organically and without chemicals is the potential problems of pests and fungi. Having auxiliary fauna, Clara tells us, helps to combat fungi such as, for example, powdery mildew or downy mildew in courgette cultivation.

Biological control with ladybugs and aphids

Biological pest control, on the other hand, controls the presence of aphids. Clara says that to combat aphids, it is essential to have ladybugs in her fields , since they can feed on up to seventy aphids per day. By having a variety of crops and other plants, ladybugs naturally abound on Clara and Lola's farm.

From Clara's hand, we have an excellent example of biological pest control . It is a whole path that begins with honeydew and ants, she tells us:

The honeydew is spread, which is sweet and attracts ants. The ants go to the honeydew, the aphids climb on the ants and carry them along . There is a mutual interest in this. The ants carry the aphids to higher areas, to the tops of trees or plants that they cannot reach by themselves because they are too small, and there they create their colonies, lay eggs and develop.

Then come the ladybugs that lay eggs, the first stage emerges, the chrysalis, and the yellow ladybug is born, the little dots appear and it completes its life cycle. A single ladybug can eat forty or fifty aphids in one day, they do a great job. There are companies that grow them, they make insect farms that they then send to farms for biological control.

Here, since we have a lot of flora that we have introduced to maintain them all year round in a natural way, ladybugs already exist naturally here .

Using natural nutrients for the soil

This technique involves using natural fertilizers, such as compost, green manures, and animal manure, instead of synthetic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers improve soil quality, reduce erosion, and promote the growth of healthier, disease-resistant plants.

Clara, in the cultivation of the cucurbitaceae family ( the family to which zucchini belongs ), uses a mineral called Silica. She tells us about the benefits of using it in her crops:

Silica is a mineral that is absorbed by plants and serves as a support. It is a structural element that reinforces cell walls, helps the plant to stand upright and protects it from temperature fluctuations and other external factors. For example, in zucchini, as in other cucurbits, it plays a very important role at a structural level due to their rapid growth.

So, what products do we consider organic?

Products that we consider organic are those that are grown following the principles of organic farming . That is, we work to grow plants and trees, taking into account the importance of the ecosystem in the process.

Furthermore, the techniques are based on ancestral knowledge , but also on new knowledge . No agrochemicals or post-harvest chemicals are used.

At Campos del Abuelo we are proud to be part of the history of organic farming and to support the farmers who choose it as a way of life and sustenance. Not only are we part of the process of each crop, but we also consume the same fruits and vegetables that we offer.

The guarantee that you are purchasing healthy products is that we can harvest them directly from the tree or plant, arrange them in boxes and send them to your home.

By visiting our online fruit and vegetable store you can customize your box as you wish and receive it in less than 24 hours.

Until next time and thanks for reading!