Beneficial and effective microorganisms in a sustainable agriculture and environment

Academy of Sciences issued the highly significant report, Alternative Agriculture, which defined alternative agriculture as a system of food and fiber production that applies management skills and information to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and maintain production levels through such practices as crop rotations. proper integration of crops and livestock, nitrogen fixing legumes, integrated pest management, conservation tillage, and recycling of on-farm wastes as soil conditioners and biofertiliz-ers. The report encouraged the collective adoption of these practices by U.S. farmers as the best alternative to the continued and intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides which have often impaired the quality of our soil, water, and food. Again, in 1993 the National Academy of Sciences left no doubt as to these earlier concerns when the National Research Council released the report, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, which concluded that people in this age group could be at considerable health risk from consumption of foods containing pesticide residues. Both of these reports have raised considerable speculation about the future of our chemical-based agricultural production system. A growing consensus of consumers, environmentalists, legislators, and many farmers is that our current farming practices will have to change considerably to achieve a significant reduction in pesticide usage in U.S. agriculture. The ultimate goal of sustainable agriculture according to the National Research Council, and other sources as well, is to develop farming systems that are productive, profitable, energy-conserving, environmentally-sound, conserving of natural resources, and that ensure food safety and quality. Consequently, the leading question that U.S. farmers are asking is, "How can I make these changes, reduce my chemical inputs, and achieve an acceptable level of economic and environmental sustainability?" A successful transition from chemical-based farming systems to a more sustainable agriculture will depend largely on what farmers do to improve and maintain the quality of their agricultural soils. Indeed, soil quality is the key to a sustainable agriculture. Not surprisingly, the alternative agricultural practices advocated by the National Research Council are mainly those that can improve and maintain soil quality. Experience has shown that the transition from conventional agriculture to nature farming or organic farming can involve certain risks, such as initially lower yields and increased pest problems. Once through the transition period, which might take several years, most farmers find their new farming systems to be stable, productive, manageable and profitable without pesticides. Japan has conducted pioneering work in advancing the …