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• Raising poultry: the organic way

  13 January, 2022 12:44 pm Comments Off on Raising poultry: the organic way

  Chicken meat is the most popular animal protein eaten on our planet. But despite its popularity, we can ask ourselves is eating chicken healthy?

  With a high demand for cheap meat, industrial farms and fast growing breeds have been created.

  These farms have one main goal: to produce chicken as fast as possible and make a high profit margin.

  To become profitable, they have crowded a large number of birds in a single space with no natural lighting, no access to outdoors, and no environment for them to express their natural behaviours.

  They provide concentrate feed, growth enhancers and antibiotics that make them grow faster and prevent losses due to disease.

  Without fresh air, the farm is highly polluted with ammonia from the chicken droppings, damaging their eyes and respiratory system. This suppresses chickens’ immune systems in turn increasing the risk of disease and makes the use of antibiotics necessary.

  How does this concern us? Well – we are what we eat, and what the chicken eats too. When antibiotics and growth enhancers regularly enter into our bodies, our health is compromised, impacting our own overall immune function.

  So what is the solution? Allowing chicken to be chicken! Able to act naturally, like flapping their wings, scratching, stretching, freely walking, jumping, running, and any form of exercise are so important to healthy chicken.

  Chicken need space, so there should be no more than 7 birds in 1 square meter. They also need open, outdoor space, with sunlight and soil. To keep clean they like to take a sand bath!

  A stress free environment should allow them to sleep throughout the night in darkness. Hens are birds, and they need to be elevated above ground. It is part of their social system, with birds ranking higher, sleeping higher up! They do not like to sleep on the ground.

  They also do not like to lay eggs on the ground. You can provide boxes or secure areas to encourage your hens to lay eggs.

  Ensure an constant access to food, such as natural grains and pulse, and fresh food like gras, beetroot, lucerne, and vegetable waste. Food needs to be provided in a clean way, such that droppings cannot fall in, using a hanging bucket.

  A small amount of their food such as seeds, grains or lucern should be distributed on the ground. It’s important to encourage them to scratch together because they are social animals.

  Put straw in a separated and closed area, irrigate it daily and after 2 weeks let the hens in. There will be many insects and the hens will feed on them. Eating insects is one of the best source proteins for a chicken.

   

  Insects are birds’ favorite food – containing all the nutrients they need, resulting in high quality eggs and meat.

  While trying to produce the greatest amount of meat in the shortest amount of time, industrial chicken farmers have placed our health at risk. When we save money buying cheaper meat, we will end up paying a price for this.

  We can greatly reduce our health risks by eating chicken from farmers that are well kept, fed and treated. Think about what you eat, and how often, do your own research and make the right decision as a consumer or as a farmer.

  Let’s invest in our health, and move towards an organic poultry farming system, where growers care for their chickens, and their clients!

• Good irrigation is good observation

  11:43 am Comments Off on Good irrigation is good observation

  Managing water is the key for productive and profitable farms. When farmers flood irrigate – the excess water leaches nutrients into drainage canals, and (while?) saturates our soil with water. When soil is over-irrigated – plant roots suffocate. This is visible above ground – because their leaves get yellow and white. They cannot photosynthesize, so they get weak and give bad harvests.

  To avoid this, farmers have been making raised beds – which helps plant roots grow stronger, because they are higher than the water irrigation levels.

  Because they are higher, there is less risk of plants roots rotting, if too much water saturates the soil.

  Depending on the crop, farmers can use of sprinklers – which are able to cover large areas with minimal amounts of water.

  Drip irrigation is the ultimate irrigation technique for optimizing water use – as the water drip exactly over the roots of each plant – so that nothing is wasted.

  This way plants reach their full potential – give you good harvests while making you save huge amount of water.

  Irrigation methods are just one part of the story – water management is also about soil management.

  Farmers in new lands know this very well- even with modern drip irrigation – without organic matter water will just disappear without benefit the plant.

  These jars show how this works – water runs fast through sand, slower with an amount or organic matter – and much much slower as it expands through pure compost.

  A good soil is able to hold the water because it is rich in organic matter. This makes a good soil structure, that allow roots to breathe and avoid water logging. This matters because soil that holds water- reduces your water needs.

  As crops pull most of their water needs from their roots, you should be aware of the root zone of your plant.

  Deep rooting plants like trees need higher irrigation amounts with longer irrigation intervals.

  The shallow root crops like grasses and vegetables work better when watered with small amounts of water, over shorter intervals of time.

  You can determine this by observing plant leaves – rocket leaves for example are very thin – and this means they have more evapotranspiration. They need water often, in small amounts.

  You will know your plants are thirsty when leaves close up, or sadly hang, especially at noon time.

  Plants with thick waxy leaves are the opposite – they evaporate less water, like citrus trees or hibiscus can be irrigated with longer intervals.

  So now, when you think of irrigation, remember to first observe: observe your soil, the plant roots and leaves to best inform you on their water needs.

  Improving our irrigation goes hand in hands with our soil building, for optimization of our precious water resource.

• Overcoming salinity in our soil

  9:38 am Comments Off on Overcoming salinity in our soil

  In the past decades, a combination of unsustainable and bad farming practices have led to increased salinity in Egyptian soils.

  The situation started to worsen since the Nile flood stopped and instead regular mechanical irrigation takes place.

  Through regular irrigation the whole year through, evaporation increased and pulled salts from deeper soil sediments up to the root zone of the plants. This in turn pulls water from the plants roots and weakens them.

  Salinity in clay soil is also an urgent matter, because salt causes clay particles to clump. This results in big pieces of cement-like soil that cracks easily. When irrigated, salty clay soil become compact, has bad aeration and negatively affects root health.

  There is a known method to many farmers to rid salt from soil. Unfortunately it is highly wasteful as it requires flushing soil with large amounts of water while adding lime (Gyps zera3y), sulfur or calcium. While it can lead to results, it is not a solution. It rids you of your fertile soil and there is just not enough water for everyone to do this! We must find solutions in our own hands. Some shortcuts to take until we rebuild our soil health.

  The first one and most obvious is to reduce the amount of water used in irrigation. This is easily achieved by making raised beds.

  Raised beds distribute water in your field, and reduce your needs by one third! This also saves you time and diesel money for pumping!

  More incredible, is that by making raised beds, you protect your plant roots from the accumulation of salt. Because raised beds are at least 20 centimeters high, the salts end up in the furrows, and not near your plant roots.

  If salinity is already an issue, you may have to limit yourself to what you can grow at the start. It is encouraged to start soil building, and plant crops that are salt tolerant.

  Salt tolerant crops like barseem are great because they also contribute to increasing your soil health. Barseem are good cover crops, and this way evaporation is reduced, and you find less salts at the surface. On bare grounds, or loosely distributed crops salt can be seen on the surface.

  In very bad situations you may have to plant other crops all together, and take a longer term approach. Some crops are very tolerant to salts, like quinoa. Some vegetables like red beets, broccoli and white and red cabbage. Regarding fruit trees, you can plant certain types like date palms, guava, figs and olives.

  Researchers have also produced LactoBacillus, a bacteria that makes salt insoluble, so it will be unavailable to plant roots. It is produced in a laboratory and added to irrigation water. Soil salinization if not dealt with well, and fast, can take us decades to overcome. Let us not wait until the situation reaches irreversibility, and find ourselves incapacited to take action, leaving farmland abandoned. This is not the kind of Eish wa malh we long for, This is the type of malh against our life, Eish we should avoid.

  Soil salinity is a challenge that more and more famers are dealing with. The situation started to worsen since the Nile flood stopped and instead was replaced with regular mechanical irrigation. Year-round irrigation pulls salts from deeper soil sediments up to the root zone of the plants. When salt is in close proximity to plant roots – it literally pulls water from them, which weakens or kills them.

  It is a sad reality when farmer loose their harvest because of salinity. It is an urgent problem that requires a change in practices.

  The first and most obvious is to reduce the amount of water used in irrigation, which could be easily achieved by making raised beds.

  The raised beds are wide, and therefore reduce your water needs by one third! This saves you time and diesel money for pumping!

  By making raised beds, you protect your plant roots from the accumulation of salt. Because raised beds are at least 20 centimeters high, the salts end up in the furrows, and not near your plant roots. Salinity can be dealt with by growing salt tolerant crops such as barseem. Barseem covers you soil and therefore reduces evaporation. This helps reduces salts appearing at the surface.

  On bare grounds, or loosely distributed crops, salt can be seen on the surface more easily.

  When soil is extremely salty – it will limit what you can grow to salt tolerant crops such as beets, broccoli and white and red cabbage.

  For fruit trees, you can plant certain types like date palms, guava, figs or olives.

  Researchers have produced Lactobacillus, a bacteria that makes salt insoluble, so it will be unavailable to plant roots. It is produced in a laboratory and added to irrigation water and sprayed on the plants close to the roots.

  Now that we understand the problem the solutions are in arms reach and accessible to us.

  If soil salinization if not dealt with well, and fast, can take us decades to overcome. Let move fast in the application of new practices that transform salty soil into flourishing farmlands.

   

• Biological control of fungus

  9:22 am Comments Off on Biological control of fungus

  Fungi are the main cause for plant diseases. You may have noticed fungi growing on food you may have forgotten – everything is ruined.

  While most fungi like to feed on decomposing matter – there are other types that will colonize living material- like your plants.

  Fungi can be very small and hard to see. They can infect different areas of your plant, like the roots, leaves, or fruits and vegetables.

  If you miss the opportunity to treat it, due to its fast reproduction cycles it may be too late.

  Fungal pathogens can spread quickly moving with the wind, through the water, and are carried with shoes or animals.

  The best way to deal with plant diseases is to avoid plant diseases in the first place. Adopting good practices can reduce the risk of plant diseases. Elements such as crop rotation, irrigation optimization, proper selection of seed and organic fertilizers all contribute to the prevalence of plant diseases.

  Weak plants will always be the most vulnerable. Starting from the seed, only plant the full sized seeds. Smaller seed sizes will result in weaker crops.

  Fungi proliferate faster with water, therefore decreasing humidity around the plants is crucial.

  Humidity increases with high plant density, weeds, over-irrigation, or badly managed irrigation, and mis-aeration in the greenhouse.

  Only use high quality organic fertilizers. The increased use of chemical fertilizers, manure and poorly managed compost make your plants more susceptible to diseases

  A small test you can do to check the quality of your fertilizer is a sprouting test.

   

  Take a sample of your fertilizer and put it in a planting pot or a small area in the garden. Plant some seeds in high density, irrigate. After 1 week, look for fungi in your germinated seeds, to tell the quality of the compost.

  Always and regularly check your crops, and if you identify a plant disease you will need to act fast.

  While conventional farmers use pesticides, pathogens become resistant to them over time, creating stronger infections. Organic farmers don’t wait until their plants get diseases, but their strategy is to work preventively against all diseases and pests.

  Their preventive measures include:

  – Proper weed management, and regulating irrigation to reduce humidity

  – Spraying compost tea at least once a month to increase beneficial microorganisms

  – Crop rotations of with plants such as legumes, cereals and vegetables to reduce disease in soil

  In case of infestation, organic farmers can use bio-pesticides that are not harmful to the environment and are safe to use, and safe to eat. This can include sulfur, sodium bi-carbonate and copper.

  Adopting good practices and when needed using safe biopesticides are the ways of an organic farmer, that doesn’t isolate the problem but instead seeks holistic solutions for healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy people.

   

   

   

• Biodiversity for farm productivity

  9:01 am Comments Off on Biodiversity for farm productivity

  Take a walk through an organic farm, observe and enjoy…..all the different types of plants, flowers, insects, birds and animals.

  They are not there because they have a market value – but because, without them there would be no profits, there would be no food.

  Most farmers know about the honeybee. Without them, pollination would not be possible for important vegetables, fruits, herbs and seeds.

  Imagine life without cucumber, garlic, peppers, or coriander? That is a life without pollinators, and it will impact crop yield and quality.

  The way we farm affects biodiversity, and in turn affects our farm productivity and affects our farming enterprise. For example, the widespread use of pesticides has killed many good insects like honey bees or other pollinators. Pesticides kill all insects irrespective of their role in the ecosystem, which is why they are so inefficient.

  Our work as organic farmers is to be part of a larger whole that includes insects, animals, plants, trees, soil, water and air – so that they function sustainably. The more biodiversity there is, the more functional, stable and resilient the food production systems will be.

  Farms that don’t pay attention to biodiversity, will be more susceptible to insect attacks, pathogens and disease. In monocultures, a pest can multiply faster and when biodiversity is reduced, there are high chances they are devoid of their natural predators.

  Small diverse agricultural plots tend to confuse pests, but most importantly they house a more diverse number of species and therefore they balance each other out.

  Soil that contains diverse and dense life of microorganisms, allows for plants to access nutrients, and therefore is the key for healthy plants.

  The more diverse the species and their functions in our farm lands, the more productive and stable these systems become.

  We can support biodiversity, by adopting organic farming practices, providing diverse habitats that attract different species.

  In an open area you can put a 4m stake for birds of prey to rest on. They are the predators for rodents that can eat your crops.

  You can build an insect hotel – from branches, sticks, or reeds, even left over bricks to create the environment that will attract beneficial insects to settle in.

  Even a dead tree’s trunk can attract important predators, such earwigs and beetles.

  Planting diverse kinds of trees will attract birds to live and nest or feed on their fruit.

  Even the presence of large shrubs on your land border are great living spaces for insects and small animals like hedgehogs and lizards and weasels.

  Flowers are great to attract pollinators! Beautiful flowering plants will also be buzzing with insect life. They also look beautiful, and it is important for us too to feel happy when outside on our farm.

  Herbs we enjoy in our favorite dishes have essential oils that repel insects. Having them helps increase the diversity of plants in our land.

  Recognizing and appreciating this beauty is part of our journey as organic farmers

  who promote biodiversity. Making us proud in becoming stewards of nature.

  Through our farming we become part of nature and gain efficiency where others have neglected. To harvest our crops but also, all of nature’s potential.

   

   

• Methods of Biological Control

  8:45 am Comments Off on Methods of Biological Control

• Converting to organic farming

  8:31 am Comments Off on Converting to organic farming

  Everyday we buy food – without knowing where it comes from, who grew it and how it was grown. With just a bit of knowledge on the overuse of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, many people fear what they are eating is very unhealthy.

   

  Because of this, people are willing to pay a higher price for a food label they trust. Health-and environmentally conscious people buy food with the label “organic”. (RICH PEOPLE!!)

  Organic labels means that farmers are farming means؟؟؟ working with nature and actively promoting biodiversity. They apply natural practices and reduce their dependence on expensive chemical inputs that are unhealthy, and pollute our environment.

  First, they must build living soil – that is alive with millions of microorganisms. We can do and support this, by for example making compost and compost tea.

  We must work with the seasons, to ensure crop rotations that regenerate the soil – by integrating legumes – that are able to catch nitrogen from the air.

  We must develop diversity on our farms, by growing a variety of crops, while also planting hedges, flowers and trees that house diverse animals and insects that provide a balance of pests and pathogens.

  We can boost our farm by releasing insect predators – that will resolve pest infestations, and natural sprays that protect our plants without poisoning us, or the environment.

  We raise animals in an ethical and natural way, developing their healthy and vital immune system.

  While making this shift is a challenge for conventional farmers, you can seek technical support. To convert to organic, you will learn to apply new practices and also benefit from the growing global market for organic labelled foods.

   

  You can easily get in touch with us, the Egyptian Biodynamic Association to start your conversion towards organic certification. New lands can become organic immediately, whereas if you convert old lands require؟؟ we will guide on the practices to apply over 3 years.

   

  Converting to organic is a noble work, and you will join our network of organic farmers across Egypt that believe in food that is fully safe to eat, that؟؟ preserves our food heritage and honours our soils.

• Get Nitrogen Fertilizer From Nature, For Free!

  21 November, 2021 2:17 pm Comments Off on Get Nitrogen Fertilizer From Nature, For Free!

  Egyptians love to start their day with delicious, energy-packed fools and ta’meya. Both are made from fava beans. Fava beans and many of the legumes that we enjoy eating are rich in protein.

  Legumes are easy to recognize as their seeds split in two. Some trees and plants like Lucerne are also legumes and are known for their high protein content for animal feed. 

  Legumes are truly amazing plants. They are healthy for humans and animals, while building soil fertility. Their magic happens where you least expect it – in their roots. Legumes are unique because they partner with nitrogen-fixing soil-living bacteria that allow them to grow such high levels of protein. 

  When legume seeds germinate, Rhizobium bacteria are activated in the soil. These move towards the sprouting roots and penetrate them. As a result, the legume roots form pale pink nodules in which these bacteria live. The bacteria benefit from this by getting carbon and other nutrients from the plant, and in return provide nitrogen from the air, building soil fertility and the plant protein content.

  Because you can not be sure if this bacteria lives in your soil, it is best to inoculate your legume seeds. You can buy inoculants with Rhizobium bacteria at your local agro shop. Each legume has a specific inoculate.

  Coat your seeds on the day of sowing. You need a sticky liquid, such as molasses, or a syrup of sugar with water. Don’t use tap water as the chlorine in it can kill the bacteria.

  About 4 to 8 weeks later, when your legume plants are flowering, the nodules start to be visible. Having nodules is not a guarantee that the bacteria is fixing nitrogen. You must check the color inside the nodules.

  Uproot some plants, and gently wash the soil from the roots and break the nodules to check if they are pink or red inside. This is a good sign that you are getting free nitrogen thanks to the active bacteria.

  Good nodulation has long lasting results. Legumes release nitrogen slowly in the soil through their roots and through crop residues left in the field. 

  The bacteria can survive in the soil for 3 to 5 years, enhancing your future harvest. This is why farmers include legumes in their crop rotations, as they reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.

  Growing legumes benefits your soil and your next crop while giving you a nutritious meal full of protein.giving you nutritious meal full of protien.

  Next time you enjoy your foul and ta’meya, know that this delicious meal is thanks to a symbiosis between soil dwelling bacteria and a legume plant.

• Protect your Harvests With Predators

  1:43 pm Comments Off on Protect your Harvests With Predators

  All farmers work with the risk of pest infestations. If they do not pay attention, pests will destroy harvests and leave farmers’ pockets empty. To cut their losses, most farmers buy pesticides, but these also come at a cost to our health and pollutes our land.

  Instead of pesticides, there is a way to protect crops naturally by introducing the predator insect of your pest. Predators are insects used in biological control, that do not harm your crops, but instead eat the pests in your field, eliminating infestations with their appetite! 

  You may have already noticed the lady beetle – she is a fierce predator that feasts on one of farmers common pest problems – aphids. She hunts aphids at all stages of her life cycle.

   

  Even more ferocious is the lacewing- because she eats almost all pests, and keeps eating, even when full. Lacewings can cover a larger radius searching for their food, eating up to 300 aphids per day when still a larva. As an adult, she only feeds on flower nectar, and lays up to 900 more eggs. Other warriors of biological control include Trichogramma, a micro-wasp that lays its eggs into the egg of the pests, so that the pests are eaten alive, and can’t hatch.

  Predators are nature’s solution to healthy plants. And today, we can replicate nature genius in a man-made setting, to easily increase predators needed in our farm. Predators allow us as farmers to work with natural solutions instead of spraying chemical pesticides. 

  You can do this, by purchasing pest predators from a laboratory. 

  In a biological control laboratory, small teams in simple places multiply predators in large numbers. They start by raising pests as feed for predator, and work to collect predator eggs.  

  Adult predators are farmed in boxes that re-create the environment which they like to grow and lay thousands of eggs. Because most insects lay their eggs under a leaf, a simple piece of dark fabric offers them a similar environment.

  Once the eggs are ready for collection, they are transferred to cards using sticky glue. The cards make it easy to release the predators by hanging them as eggs ready to hatch and invade your plants and trees. Eggs and larvae can also be transported to the field in wood shavings that are sprinkled on top of your plant leaves.

  When facing a bad pest infestation, you will decrease time between predators’ release. This guarantees they catch pests in all stages of their life cycle.

  Biological control using predators does involve some planning, such as regular trips to the laboratory and releasing them immediately after.

   Notes

  • You will need to move the predators from the lab with great care, in an insulated container, keeping them cool so they do not hatch during transportation and start feeding on each other.
  • You will distribute them evenly, on different parts of your field. As they hatch, the larvae start to hunt, eliminating pests in a radius of 12 meters, for about a week. Then they cocoon and become adults.
  • Well fed, the female predators reproduce and start a new generation of locally raised predators. Your field becomes their new colony.

   

  • Sounds like a good return on investment, regenerative and safe for us and safe for nature. 

• Compost Tea Making And Usage.

  12:35 pm Comments Off on Compost Tea Making And Usage.

  Healthy plants require healthy soil. And a healthy soil is living soil. Yes, soil that is alive with life. Soil can only be considered truly alive when it contains microorganisms. As farmers, we work to feed our plants with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and other minerals. 

  In fact, all of these non-living elements already exist in our farm: from manure, crop residues, and rock elements. While they are there, plants cannot benefit from them, unless they are broken down into a form they can readily absorb. For example, no good farmer would fertilize his field with fresh manure. When manure is fresh, it will burn young plants, stop germination and can cause diseases to spread!

  To benefit from manure, it is best to apply it after composting. 

   

  What is compost?

  Composting is a process that turns wastes into wonders, through the help of micro-organisms. 

  When organic farms make compost, they add two thirds of organic matter to the fresh manure, they regularly turn and water their piles. This extra effort makes sure that only beneficial, aerobic microorganisms can live in the compost pile. Aerobic microorganisms are what we need as farmers to make soil healthy. 

  Bad microorganisms are anaerobic, and their source can be badly managed manure piles. If manure piles are mismanaged and not well aerated, they become heavy and breed the types of fungi, bacteria and nematodes that weaken your crops. 

  Organic farmers can successfully deal with pests and diseases by increasing the number of beneficial microorganisms in their farm. They do this, with the help of compost. 

  While compost adds beneficial microorganisms to your soil, it isn’t enough to fully protect your plants throughout the growing season. You can turn compost into a full plant booster, by turning it into compost tea. Organic farms will make compost tea on a regular basis.

  Get to know the compost tea making process: 

  

  

  1- A big container, or even an old water tank can be used.

  2- The aeration system typically consists of a pump, and pipes that distribute the air in the container. 

  3- collect your compost and bring it to your compost tea production site. 

  4- Use a mesh bag and add compost at a ratio of 1 to 10. 10 kg of compost is enough for a 100-litre container.

  5- Once the compost is added, you will make a mixture of different foods that the microorganisms need to multiply. An unprocessed sugar is added, like molasses, creating the conditions for rapid 

  6- multiplication of beneficial bacteria. You also add other foods like fish oils that help the rapid growth of beneficial fungi.

  7- Once all your key ingredients are added, you will leave the mix vividly aerating – so that it is fully oxygenated, from 12 to 24 hours. During this time, the microorganisms that were in the compost, find these new food sources and start to multiply.

  8- Once the micro life inside the tea has reached its peak you can use the tea. If you wait too long all the foods like molasses and fish oils will be consumed, and the number of microorganisms will start to decrease, and discount your efforts. 

  9- Collect the tea so that it can be added to your irrigation water, and slowly make its way to your soil, supporting the area around your plant roots. 60 to 70 liters of compost tea will be enough to irrigate 1 feddan.

  Notes: 

  • The best way is to dilute the tea and use it inside a sprayer – when spraying compost tea the microorganisms stick to the leaves.
  • We do this because there are naturally occurring sugars on the leaves that can give life to many bacteria and fungi that weaken your plants.
  • Instead of living it up to luck, you can spray so that the beneficial microorganisms, not the bad ones, make your plants – their new home.
  • Spray every 10 days therefore generating a continual presence of good microorganisms.
  • Spray more often if your plants are weak. Or if your soil lacks nutrients, as the microorganisms will make them available for a good crop. 
  • Making compost and turning part of it into tea are the founding steps of a transition towards organic farming that harnesses locally available natural resources. 
  • Next time, over a cup of tea, discuss the benefits of compost tea with your fellow farmers!