The soil properties investigated are shown in Table 2. The
surface layer of the organically-farmed soil was darker (lOYR
4/2 or dark greyish brown) than the surface layer of the conventionally-
farmed soil (IOYR 5/2 or greyish brown, and lOYR 5/3
or brown), indicating significantly higher organic matter levels
in the organically-farmed soil. An earlier study with the two
farms showed that the organically-farmed soil had significantly
higher levels of organic carbon. These results support the conclusion
that organic farmers can, and generally do, achieve
higher organic matter levels in their soils than do conventional
farmers