Organic Vegetable Production
Public awareness and interest in how food is produced is an increasing concern for today's society. Growing organically is an ever increasing market that has evolved to address society's concerns on food production. Organic production has continued on an increasing trend since the mid 1990's. Organic food sales now represent approximately two percent of U.S. food sales (Hunsburger et. al., 2010) with the future outlook looking very positive.
Organic production requires a different approach to traditional farming production methods. It requires more physical input towards production in addition to critical thinking when approaching pest management and soil fertility.
Because organic vegetable production is so complicated we at the University of Maryland Extension developed this Organic Vegetable Production Manual, to help those growers who are new to organic vegetable production practices or for those growers who have been growing organic vegetables for only a few years. And while the manual is not meant for experienced growers there are some chapters that even the most experienced grower may find interesting and helpful. The Introduction/Authors section explains how the manual is set-up and who reviewed the chapters. In addition all the author information is presented in this section. Each chapter is listed separately and can be downloaded by the grower for their use, but not for any commercial use unless permission is granted by the Editors.