12 - Maintenance of sustainability of agriculture and soil organic carbon through biodynamic agriculture practices

Abstract

Biodynamic agriculture was developed to tackle the growing problem of soil erosion that was occurring at the time. Biodynamic farming does not allow the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and instead opts to use something very unique preparations. These preparations are made up of totally natural substances, which are usually sourced from the farm itself. In modern day of farming with lots of climatic problem, biodynamic agriculture is found most sustainable practice for long-term sustainability of agriculture. It has no adverse effects on the environment and produces no waste, as everything that would typically be deemed as waste is recycled to other parts of the farm. Biodynamic preparations 500–508 do have beneficial effects on the soil and its quality, and increased microbiological movement and treated composts were typically of a higher average temperature and increased organic matter content. The biodynamic farming systems generally have better soil quality, improved biological soil properties, and lower yields than their conventional counterparts with higher edible quality. But, with the adoption of biodynamic agriculture, we still need to rely on conventional agriculture to meet our global food demand. This is because currently, our alternative options are just not sustainable enough yet and need more time to develop. Overall, biodynamic farming could be a feasible option for the future, but additional measures must be taken to make biodynamic agriculture more sustainable. Thus biodynamic agriculture is significant to attain the sustainability of soil and crop production by a number of ways such as improvement in soil carbon content and carbon sequestration and enhance productivity or yielding potential and nutritional quality of produce.