Living at Navdanya I am confronted with the woes of chemical farming on a daily basis and feel a need to post points of discussions we have had especially over the last couple of days during the Bhoomi Festival (Earth Festival) here at Navdanya. The Bhoomi Festival, which was a smaller group than what I had anticipated, brought together activists and farmers from the United States, Kenya, Australia, Europe, and of course India. I was especially amazed at seeing the Kenyan farmers working alongside the Indian farmers. Both groups have the same struggles trying to establish sustainable agriculture practices in a world dominated by Western agricultural practices involving machinery and pesticides. However, these small and poor communities cannot afford to keep on paying for the seeds and technology involved with sustaining this new agriculture. Their land is also not suitable for growing crops only tested for a short time and therefore are robbing the soil in both India and Africa of not only nutrients but water as well.
During the Bhoomi Festival I attended a workshop discussing arguments against Genetically Modified Seed Advocates. The basic idea was that GM crops are unnatural and we are not sure how nature will react to them in the long run. Organic farming has been practiced for hundreds of years, with the only qualms being that organic results are not fast enough for our impatient technology upgrades. The three main arguments for GM crops are that they have higher yields, use less chemicals, and are climate friendly. We discussed the facts against these statements with Dr. Vinod Bhatt (Navdanya employee) and Debbie Barker who works for the Center for Food Safety in the US.
A few things that GM Advocates don't tell the farmers they are selling seed to in India and Africa is that these seeds will continue increasing in price and that they have to buy new seeds each year rather than saving seeds like in traditional agriculture. There also has been no increase in yield in the use of the GM seeds, as well. The overuse of pesticides and herbicides are also leading to the creation of "superweeds" and even "superpests" that even the worst of the worst chemicals can't destroy. Some GM Advocates also try to promote GM crops by saying that they are climate friendly because they sequester carbon or are drought resistant. However, the only GM crops currently approved for use are the herbicide resistance and Bt crops, which do not do much to save the environment.
My favorite was hearing Dr. Bhatt's quote from his mother when he asked her why she didn't farm with chemicals. She said, "Using chemicals to make plants grow faster is like making a baby grow very fast. The baby becomes big fast but does not have the brain of an adult". So, just like babies need special care for proper development so do plants. I have also learned that farming does not just mean growing plants, but in fact a huge part of agriculture is growing soil, as well. The amount of labor that goes into just preparing the soil at Navdanya is a huge part of the success of this farm. The different composts and their applications require a lot of time and nutrients from the cattle on the farm.
Another analogy I really appreciated was from Alan Imei from Shumei International. He described the farmer as a conductor of an orchestra. Everyone in the orchestra from the viola to the cello from the seed to the tractor plays a different role that comes together. And in fact the conductor and the orchestra are a small piece of what matters in the big picture. The biggest piece of the puzzle in agriculture is the audience. Once the audience is happy and healthy then the farm is in sync.
There is so much more to say about organic agriculture and the topics I even brought up here. I am definitely enjoying learning about the practices here at the farm, but can't help feel uncertainty in the model because the organic food is sold for a much higher price and therefore isn't pleasing the entire audience of the food system. My goals here at Navdanya will be to observe the organic practices here and suggest ways to make the products more affordable. The work here requires a lot of human labor, which is why it is so expensive. But if the farmers can't even afford their own food that they are growing, then what is the point? I hope to discover alternatives to marketing these products while still maintaining the organic practices that are restoring and maintaining fertile land that can grow a healthy food system.
During the Bhoomi Festival I attended a workshop discussing arguments against Genetically Modified Seed Advocates. The basic idea was that GM crops are unnatural and we are not sure how nature will react to them in the long run. Organic farming has been practiced for hundreds of years, with the only qualms being that organic results are not fast enough for our impatient technology upgrades. The three main arguments for GM crops are that they have higher yields, use less chemicals, and are climate friendly. We discussed the facts against these statements with Dr. Vinod Bhatt (Navdanya employee) and Debbie Barker who works for the Center for Food Safety in the US.
A few things that GM Advocates don't tell the farmers they are selling seed to in India and Africa is that these seeds will continue increasing in price and that they have to buy new seeds each year rather than saving seeds like in traditional agriculture. There also has been no increase in yield in the use of the GM seeds, as well. The overuse of pesticides and herbicides are also leading to the creation of "superweeds" and even "superpests" that even the worst of the worst chemicals can't destroy. Some GM Advocates also try to promote GM crops by saying that they are climate friendly because they sequester carbon or are drought resistant. However, the only GM crops currently approved for use are the herbicide resistance and Bt crops, which do not do much to save the environment.
My favorite was hearing Dr. Bhatt's quote from his mother when he asked her why she didn't farm with chemicals. She said, "Using chemicals to make plants grow faster is like making a baby grow very fast. The baby becomes big fast but does not have the brain of an adult". So, just like babies need special care for proper development so do plants. I have also learned that farming does not just mean growing plants, but in fact a huge part of agriculture is growing soil, as well. The amount of labor that goes into just preparing the soil at Navdanya is a huge part of the success of this farm. The different composts and their applications require a lot of time and nutrients from the cattle on the farm.
Another analogy I really appreciated was from Alan Imei from Shumei International. He described the farmer as a conductor of an orchestra. Everyone in the orchestra from the viola to the cello from the seed to the tractor plays a different role that comes together. And in fact the conductor and the orchestra are a small piece of what matters in the big picture. The biggest piece of the puzzle in agriculture is the audience. Once the audience is happy and healthy then the farm is in sync.
There is so much more to say about organic agriculture and the topics I even brought up here. I am definitely enjoying learning about the practices here at the farm, but can't help feel uncertainty in the model because the organic food is sold for a much higher price and therefore isn't pleasing the entire audience of the food system. My goals here at Navdanya will be to observe the organic practices here and suggest ways to make the products more affordable. The work here requires a lot of human labor, which is why it is so expensive. But if the farmers can't even afford their own food that they are growing, then what is the point? I hope to discover alternatives to marketing these products while still maintaining the organic practices that are restoring and maintaining fertile land that can grow a healthy food system.
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