Johnson Stanley – författare

Advances in Organic Farming: Agronomic Soil Management Practices focuses on the integrated interactions between soil-plant-microbe-environment elements in a functioning ecosystem. It explains sustainable nutrient management under organic farming and agriculture, with chapters focusing on the role of nutrient management in sustaining global ecosystems, the remediation of polluted soils, conservation practices, degradation of pollutants, biofertilizers and biopesticides, critical biogeochemical cycles, potential responses for current and impending environmental change, and other critical factors. Organic farming is both challenging and exciting, as its practice of "feeding the soil, not the plant� provides opportunity to better understand why some growing methods are preferred over others.

In the simplest terms, organic growing is based on maintaining a living soil with a diverse population of micro and macro soil organisms. Organic matter (OM) is maintained in the soil through the addition of compost, animal manure, green manures and the avoidance of excess mechanization.

The pesticide should cause effect on the target pests and be selective enough to spare the non-target beneficial. The book deals with the pesticide toxicity to predators, parasitoids and microbes which are used for pest management in the agroecosystem. The other beneficials exposed to pesticides are pollinators, earthworms, silkworm and fishes. The book contains information on the modes of pesticide exposure and toxicity to the organisms, sub-lethal effects of insecticides and method of toxicity assessment, risk assessment of pesticidal application in the field. The purpose of the work is to compile and present the different procedures to assess pesticide poising in organisms related to the agroecosystem along with discussions on risk assessment procedures with clear comparison of toxicity of pesticides to target pests and non target beneficial organisms.