Organic Farmin'

On Friday, I was able to take a trip into the field to see one of Svaraj's projects - an experimental organic farm about an hour outside of Bangalore.

The goal of this project is to create a model that other farmers can follow. The farm is able to uses minimal amounts of water, engages in "mixed cropping" to help the soil maintain its nutrients (as opposed to the popular cash-cropping where a farmer specializes in one crop with a high economic value) and, of course, does not use any pesticides or chemicals, which made it slightly ironic that I was covered with DEET for the trip (because I've stopped taking my malaria meds).

Thus far, it seems like the farm will have a pretty high yield, and the experiment looks like it will be successful. Furthermore, farmers in the area have been very supportive of the experiment and cooperative in sharing their yield info as a control group.








Our crew













This pit was dug to catch rain water
















Some natural fertilizer












Mixed croppin'














Cherry tomatoes