Organic Agriculture

By gozuna

  • Biodynamic farming forms

    Rudolf Steiner’s fundamental principles of biodynamic farming and gardening take form. Biodynamic farming is the branch of biology dealing with energy or the activity of living organisms.

  • New method of farming emerges

    Without soil cultivation such as plowing or tilling, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weeding, pruning, machinery or compost, Masanobu Fukuoka was able to produce high-quality fruit, vegetables and grains with yields equal to or greater than those of any neighboring farm.

  • USDA's "Soils and Men" is published

    The USDA Yearbook of Agriculture is entitled Soils and Men, an excellent manual on organic farming that is still used by organic farmers today.

  • The Haughley Experiment

    Lady Eve Balfour cinducts her Haughley Experiment where she compares organic farming and chemical farming on two adjoining farms.

  • Lord Northbourne's "Look to the Land" is published

    Lord Northbourne publishes "Look to the Land", which describes farms as organisms, advocates an ecologically balanced approach to farming, and uses the word “organic” to describe a sustainable agricultural system.

  • Jerome Rodale begins publishing Organic Farming and Gardening magazine.

  • The beginning of the organic farming movement

    Sir Albert Howard publishes what will later become a classic text on soil fertility, "An Agricultural Testament". Because of this, he soon becomes the founder of the organic farming movement.

  • Doctors & consumers blame agricultural chemicals for causing the development of cancer and mental disorders.

  • The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

    The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), is formed and is the oldest and largest state organic organization in the country.

  • The first organic certification program emergies

    Rodale Press’s Organic Farming and Gardening Magazine initiates an organic certification program in California. This program ultimately inspires the formation of the California Certified Organic Farmers.
    Soon after, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont establishes organic certification standards.

  • Earth Day

    Founded by Senator Gaylor Nelson, millions of Americans take part in creating and maintaining a healthy, sustainable environment. This showed a new appreciation for the earth and its land.

  • California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)

    California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is formed by six organic farmers

  • Oregon Tilth certification agency is founded.

  • Star Route Farms is created

    Warren Weber founds Star Route Farms in Bolinas, California, now the oldest continuously certified organic grower in California.

  • Swanton Berry Farm becomes the first certified organic strawberry farm in California

  • USDA establishes the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program

  • Rider's organic apples

    Watsonville apple farmer Jim Rider converts all of his orchards to organic production in the wake of the public outcry over the contamination of apples with the carcinogenic pesticide Alar.

  • The Federal Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) is passed

    This act sets out to establish national standards governing the marketing of organically produced products, assure consumers that organically produced products meet a consistent standard, and facilitate interstate commerce in both fresh and processed organic foods.

  • California Organic Foods Act (COFA)

    The California Organic Foods Act (COFA) is established. COFA establishes standards for organic food production and sales in California, and later becomes one of the models for the National Organic Program’s federal organic standards.

  • The United States of America adopts the National Organic Program (NOP), providing a development framework for organic agriculture

  • CCOF surpasses a half million certified organic acres