Organic Agriculture and the Humble Soil: Paradigms and Issues.

Organic agriculture has historically been soil-centric in that it has used soil organic matter and nutrient use efficiency as proxies for system well being.  These metrics carried forward the design principles of natural philosophy that valued conservation of the system as a whole.  The resulting social standards that guided practices have evolved into formalized organic practice standards that require soil conservation environmental protection.  Controlled studies generally show that use of organic practices results in higher soil organic matter levels than found in conventional counterparts.   However, not all organic systems perform equally well with regard to organic matter retention, soil conservation, nutrient and water use efficiency, disease suppression, etc.   Agroecologists and resource conservationists are working hard to develop soil-based metrics and interpretive frameworks needed to optimize management to achieve multifunctional agriculture.  Promising examples and pressing issues will be presented.