natural resource

Individual Field Trip Report-Production Green Foundation

To begin with, my Nature resource and Conservation course field trip was held on 28th of October in Production Green Foundation located at Fanling. The purpose of this field trip was to learn about organic farming and experience the organic farming by ourselves. The observation and experience I achieved from this trip are as follows.

Heading to the Production Green Foundation about two weeks ago is my first time to visit. There is no any skyscrapers surrounded by the farmland and not many vehicles would enter to this area which provided a fresh and nature environment for farmers and crops.

First, there was a guide who have being an organic farmer for several years in Production Green led us to a farmland and introduced what is organic farming and the aim of it. Organic farming is a green agricultural operation method which means farmers would not use any chemical fertilizers and pesticides during farming.
In the tour, the guide introduced us different organic farming methods that they are mainly using. They are intercropping and crop rotation. Intercropping is a systematic process of growing two or more types of crops in a farmland simultaneously and at the same time build soil fertility as there was enough time for the recovery of the nutrients absorbed from the land. It is also an ecological method for pest control, by planting some of the crops may dislike by pest which can reduce the number of pest and greatly contributes to a high quality intercrop products.
Moreover, crop rotation is the most common method that organic farmers would use. They would change the crop type that they plant in the same farmland over a period of time, this could prevent a certain type of crop become the food supply for pests and also maintain a good soil structure in order to keep the best soil nutrient for the land.
On the way to the next spot, we went to a small land that built six different water-conserving planters. The guide told us they planted several common types of vegetables in the planters. These are all for the experiment to sort out the methods for conservation of water in plantation in the city.
After that, the guide showed us the compost they normally used. Manure was the main fertilizer being used in farming. Also, animal manure is the best fertilizer, when they added into the soil and this can help to retain moisture and balances the extremes in soil pH level. It also help maintain a good soil structure to keep nutrients from leaching away as well as avoiding serious and unnecessary soil erosion that causes poor crop production. Furthermore, the decomposition may take place to produce great heat. If the temperature is over 60°C, this can sterilize and kill the bacteria in the compost in order to help the crop grow healthily. However, there was some student ask whether human manure can be organic compost. The answer is NO. Since, there may have pathogens inside the human manure. If we use them as the organic compost, they would pollute the crops, thus harm people’s health. Besides visiting the farmlands, the most attractive activities in this field trip was we have an opportunity to become an organic farmer. For organic farming, there are six procedures: pull out the weed, fertilizing, tilling the soil, harrow the soil smooth for seedbed, seeding and the last step is watering. During the workshop, we have been taught by the guide there are three different ways for sowing. They are row cropping, bunch planting and broadcasting. The simplest one is broadcast seeding, normally used in small seeds and by hands. However seeds sown in this method may distributed unevenly which may result in overcrowding, thus it is better to mix the seeds with some dry soil to ensure they are equally distributed. In addition, in order to create a natural irritation, farmers would always put their thumb to cover half of the mouth of water tube and prevent excess water enter the crops.

All in all, I have gain a lot of knowledge about organic farming and had a great opportunity to experience. Nowadays, the awareness of organic stuffs are continually increasing, I hope more and more citizens can give support to the organic framers and government should provide promotion to educate the next generation in order to create an organic world.

Reference
“What is Organic Farming?”Produce Green Foundation. n.p. n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. < http://www.producegreen.org.hk/eng/agronomy_e.htm>