mortiz085

The gently rolling topography which typifies a large portion of the volcanic landscape in Claveria makes it ideal for intensive large-scale vegetable production. The widely grown vegetables include cabbage, beans, tomato, sweet pepper and eggplant. The breathtaking volcanic landscape of Claveria, Misamis Oriental But the strongly weathered soils which range from Oxisols in the lower slopes (about 400 to 600 m above sea level or asl) to Ultisols in the upper slopes (about 600 to 900m asl) are a major constraint to vegetable production in the area. Oxisols (also called Ferralsols) and Ultisols (also called Alisols and Acrisols) are clayey, reddish, acidic and nutrient-poor soils although they generally have good physical properties like good structure and moderate to high porosity. As in other volcanic landscapes, the oldest and most infertile soils (Oxisols) are formed on the older and stable lower slopes. Dr. Apol & Nelds Gonzaga, Ruby Gabaca, Dr. Steve Harper & myself in fro...

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) in the USA, assembled in 1980 a high-powered Task Force composed of 24 scientists (chaired by S.R. Aldrich) with expertise in agricultural economics, agronomy, animal science, dairy science, entomology, food science, horticulture, soil science, veterinary medicine and others to look into the similarities and differences between organic and conventional farming. The Task Force report, which remains very relevant to the current debate surrounding organic and conventional agriculture, was officially published as CAST Report No. 84 "Organic and Conventional Farming Compared" in October 1980. Some of the interesting highlights of the report are: 1. Conventional and organic farming have much in common. They differ principally in the use of modern chemical technology. Conventional farmers use commercial inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, animal feed additives) to increase productivity while organic farmers prefer to use natura...