Farming across the years: temporal and spatial dimensions of learning organic farming

Summary

In organic farming, it is generally accepted that a long-term perspective spanning across the
years is necessary for the sustainability of organic field management. This paper analyzes the
crossing over of annual boundaries during an organic inspection in an attempt to show how
the long-term perspective is learnt in the practical organic vegetable farming. Within the
speech turns that refer across the years, two main topics emerged. The first is the nutrient
management, which was connected with plant growth and environmental regulations. The
second is the sequence of crop rotation, appearing both as a list, detached from the fields, and
as a temporal process of the fields. A weed problem, caused by couch grass, was repeatedly
referred to by the farmer. It was not addressed at all from the several years’ perspective. The
results suggest that the nutrient issue within the administrative rules heavily impacts on
organic farming. This leaves other important issues concerning production, such as the longterm
weed management, with little emphasis. Reasons for this are discussed in the context of
the sustainability of environment and production. Crossing over temporal boundaries is linked
with many other boundaries.