Fliessbach, A. and Mäder, P. (2005) Biological soil quality as a
factor of efficient resource utilization in organic farming
systems. In: Leifert, C. (Ed.) Organic Farming, Food Quality and
Health. Limited to [Depositor and staff only] In 1978 the DOK
long-term field experiment was installed at Therwil close to
Basel comparing the farming systems „bio-Dynamic“, „bio-Organic“
and „(K)conventional“. In the first years of the trial, crop
yield and feasibility of organic farming were investigated.
Soils were analysed with respect to long-term effects on
fertility and were evaluated in the view of farming effects on
the environment. Today the interrelation of diversity and
efficiency and the quality of organic products is the research
focus. Long-term trials like the DOK-trial offer unique
opportunities for this kind of research. The DOK-trial compares
the three systems mentioned above on the basis of the same
intensity of organic fertilization (i.e. the same number of
animals per area), the same crop rotation and