There are many books dealing with organic farming so why another one? Agriculture is a major business in most countries of the world and a total global activity. Agricultural products are traded globally and so they need to be defined in relation to provenance, identity, composition and quality. This has resulted in many rules and regulations which influence what can be sold in what market and the prices of the various commodities. This all makes agriculture very political and means that the science base which informs how crops and farm animals are grown is shaped by issues beyond mere science. The ways in which crops are produced inevitably interact with all these political issues, leading to acrimony between those who produce in different ways.

While the production of any given crop can differ in a range of ways, much recent tension has arisen between those who farm in a way that allows their produce to carry an organic certified label and those who use a range of chemical inputs such as inorganic fertilisers and pesticides. The introduction of genetically modified crops increased the level of disagreement between producers in a debate which at times became an argument between what were being stereotyped as traditional farming and scientific farming. The former was characterised as being a relic of the past while the latter was seen as being more progressively logical and based on clear science. The advent of gene editing and the use of CRISPR/Cas9 and related technologies have reignited this debate.

Discussion around the place of these approaches commonly and rapidly moves to a consideration of the relative crop yields produced per unit area of land. The ability of the approaches to feed an expanding global population is then linked to such yields as if this were the sole criterion for something as economically and socially complex as world food production. In no other part of global endeavour is a simple interpretation of production the basis of how a major enterprise should be effected. Profitability and its social setting, part of social science, are always important issues. Food production involves much of the world’s population and therefore it has many cultural links. Behind all of this lies an inherent suggestion that, unlike modern forms of agriculture, organic production is centred on folk lore and is a continuation of outdated methods. Agriculture is a major global source of greenhouse gases and so viewing different approaches to agriculture is important as part of current discussions about the amelioration of the impact of global climate change.

So is organic production scientific? In the sense that the question is most commonly asked, the answer is an unequivocal ‘yes’. When the debate over food production methods in the UK reignited at the end of World War II, the organic movement was at pains to point out the distinguished scientific qualifications of its pioneers like Sir Albert Howard and Sir Robert McCarrison. These people had worked from a starting point in agricultural or the physical sciences to the conclusion that an ecological approach to food production was likely to be most sustainable. Organic production has thus always had a strong basis in science. However, the science which informs organic production is different from that underpinning current western food production. This difference means that it has benefited to only a small extent from much of the agricultural research done over the past half century. The emphasis of much of that research has been on the use of fertilisers to supply mineral nutrients and on chemicals and genetic modification to provide crop protection. Development of the explicitly organic farming science base has been limited.

Much of the science base is, however, shared by all forms of agriculture. For growth, all crops need to intercept light and absorb nutrients from the soil. Agricultural systems need to provide these basic resources and how effectively that is done inexorably affects yields. Data on how agricultural practice influences these aspects of production are of value to all producers, including those who produce to organic standards. There are, of course, significant differences in how these basic needs are met, which inevitably link back to why organic crops are being produced in a way which is distinct from other approaches to food production. The scientific information which is used in any form of production at any time depends on its underlying production aims and its perceived values. This results in the science important to organic production being selected by reference to a different sociological and economic model to that which informs other types of farming.

There is a distinctive element in the science base of organic production. Does this mean that information from other forms of agriculture cannot be used in evaluating the working of organic systems? No! Basic information is valid in a range of situations although the selection of what is most relevant may differ. In this volume, we detail science that is shared with other forms of production and that which is different and central to organic production.

The chapters in this volume have a number of authors. Farming is complex and few have a total overview of all elements. In respect of organic production, elements of social science are critical to the aims and objectives of producers. History is important to an understanding of how we reached this point and so we review the development of organic farming as a distinctive approach. History and social science determine the parts of the total science base which are pertinent. In editing this volume, our aim has been not only to detail key elements of the science which lies behind crop production but also to give an insight into why this approach to the use of science is important. Why producers elect to produce in accord with organic standards is a key question. Its answer lies as much in the cultural context as in mere economics. In a world of global climate change, global resource use, shifting populations and a digital revolution which systematically aims to reduce the need for human labour, such questions require a broad study of science.

Inevitably, this takes us beyond mere considerations of which approach can produce the largest yield per unit area. It also goes beyond how many could be fed were the approach to be replicated on a global scale. It asks questions about sustainability, preservation of our restricted reserve of soil, use and management of genetic resources and our use of people as both producers and consumers. It asks questions about the cultural context of food production on a global scale. Scientific facts may be absolute but their use and interpretation are culturally driven. The acquisition of new knowledge is a cultural phenomenon and commonly driven by economic forces. Where there is an absence of an industrial link, new research information is restricted. This has been an issue for organic production and so the authors of chapters in this volume, as well as summarising what is known about the various elements which make up organic crop production, have attempted to identify current gaps in understanding and future research needs.

While we have dealt with the production of crops and of forage, we have not discussed organic animal production other than in terms of the return of animal wastes to the soil system. Organic animal husbandry involves issues centred on animal health, care and husbandry which require a treatment as substantial as those covered here for crops and so we have chosen to leave that for others to discuss. Nevertheless, we believe that here we have covered many of the key issues linked to the use of science by organic producers and have identified a distinctive way of looking at the production of food and the science upon which it depends.

Looking ahead requires consideration not just of gaps in our information base but also of how that information needs to be obtained. All of agriculture is dominated by interactions which is why approaches which work well in models or in laboratory or controlled environment settings may either fail to work under field conditions or more commonly may fail to work consistently or reliably across a very diverse globe. Approaches devised to study the impact of inputs may not work for complex situations in which it is necessary to define the nature of such variation and, more importantly, what can be done to manage it. Here, we discuss how research related to organic production might best be carried out in future.

This volume has had a long gestation. During the period over which it was written, the ways in which people both obtain and use information have changed more profoundly than over any comparable period since the invention of printing. The digital revolution and the use of international databases such as Google have changed fundamentally how we work. Initially, we had aimed to produce an encyclopaedia. The increase in new publications (a single conference run by the International Society for Horticultural Science in 2010 gave rise to 89 new papers) made this approach impossible even when being selective. We had then hoped to pull together key themes in the available literature. Finally we concluded that to be of real and lasting value, what was needed in the current climate was a volume which would provide enough information to help its readers interact with the internet and to be able to use Google and similar information systems in a critical way, so enhancing knowledge and understanding.

Asking questions of Google is easy. Asking questions formulated in such a way that real information is produced is much harder. In this book, we have aimed to help readers ask better questions. However, there is also a need to understand what types of answers are likely to be helpful. We give examples of the type of answer which might be helpful in response to such key questions. While the internet is a wonderful source of information, it is important to remember that the digitisation of science only began seriously in the 1980s. For some subjects, such as molecular biology where most information has appeared over the past two decades, this is not a problem. Discussion of organic agriculture and related science is, however, of a much older vintage. Key issues were actively debated in the immediate postwar period, many long‐term trials were established and this was the era when government funding for science was at its maximum. Here, we aim to provide a view of these discussions as a basis for the results of more recent studies. We see this as critical to an understanding of the division in approach to food production which dated from that time. What we have aimed for is thus something which will answer many of the most important questions but which will allow the reader to better interact with both scientific information and today’s issues. This volume is the product of discussions over many years with colleagues with whom we have worked at East Malling Research Station (now EMR), The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research (now JHI) and the Scottish Agricultural College (nowSRUC). We thank them and many other colleagues interested in Organic Farming.