Organic farming enhances soil fertility and biodiversity

Summary

The DOK-long term trial - unique in his conception - compares the consequences of bio-dynamic, bio-organic and conventional farming systems in a randomised plot trial. The field trial was started in 1978. In the beginning the main goals were agronomic: yield and product quality. In the last decade, therefor research has focused on processes in the soil and the long-term effects of organic farming practice on the environment.The database of agronomic results of more than twenty years has stimulatad the discussion about farming systems and has contributed significantly to the general acceptance of organic farming.