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Green Manure Movement Takes Root

The parable of the mustard seed has taken on new meaning in Idaho, where farmers are using the fast-spreading little plant to restore nutrients to the soil and revitalize their fields.

The tiny oriental mustard seeds are helping farmers to improve the quality of their soil and ward off pests naturally, thereby reducing the need for fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Known as “green manure,” the process works like this:

Mustard-seed plants (or other cover crops) are sown into soil that has suffered from erosion or become nutrient-poor. In a few weeks, the fast-growing crops are cut and the remaining plant material leaches natural chemicals into the soil. These chemicals ward off pests and also keep weeds at bay. Farmers have previously used the method successfully in Washington state, and now it is being tried in southern Idaho.

If it works on a broad scale, farmers will have a new tool at their disposal that will not only help to improve their crops, it will do so in a far less destructive manner than the harsh chemicals often used on today’s farms.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org