Organic Farming Movement

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d with vegetable and animal wastes, and that maintaining soil fertility was the fundamental basis for its health. He felt that crops grown on land treated in this way resisted the pests that were rife in the region, and that this resistance was passed onto the livestock when they were fed on such crops. He felt that adapting a species through breeding to local conditions was a preferred method to using chemicals to force a western strain to grow. Howard essentially reinvented the compost pile and propagated methods to best use the natural resources of India. In his landmark 1940 book, "An Agriculture Testament," he argued that relying on artificial fertilizers was unwise, as it could not maintain and perpetuate farmland indefinitely. Though he had many adherents, some of his research was flawed and he was at the time widely ignored by the mainstream. An extraordinary scientist, Howard's many advances for the cause of organic agriculture caused him to be considered the founder of the modern organic movement.
While Henry Wallace is remembered more as the vice-president under Franklin D. Roosevelt during WW II, and Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948, he possessed a deep passion for land and ecology. Serving as Secretary of Agriculture from 1933 to 1940, the Soil Conservation Service was established under him in 1935, with the primary aim, "to conserve fertility, prevent soil erosion and promote good land use” according to Wallace. Though few shared his views at the time, Wallace favored natural resource planning on a national scale, with decisions based on conservation and long-term social values rather than on market prices. Fortunately, many of Wallace's conservation concerns were integrated into federal government policy for lasting value to the soil.
As Head of Soils for the University of Missouri, William Albrecht (1888-1974) was a leading promoter of the idea that improving the soil by fertilization and increasing ...