Fertility Farming

Book excerpt: Fertility Farming explores an approach that makes minimal use of plowing, eschews chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and emphasizes soil fertility via crop rotation, composting, cover cropping and manure application.Turner holds that the foundation of the effectiveness of nature¿s husbandry is a fertile soil ¿ and the measure of a fertile soil is its content of organic matter, ultimately, its humus. Upon a basis of humus, nature builds a complete structure of healthy life ¿ without need for disease control. In fact, as disease is the outcome of unbalancing of the natural order ¿ it serves as a warning that something is wrong. Not just theory, this book was written to serve as a practical guide for farmer