Organic farming is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organizations today. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin and rotenone are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur and Ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety.
Community-supported agriculture or cropsharing is a system that connects the producer and consumers within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution that allows the producer and consumer to share the risks of farming. The model is a subcategory of civic agriculture that has an overarching goal of strengthening a sense of community through local markets.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru with several regional centers and research stations . It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. The Union Minister of Agriculture serves as its president. It is the largest network of agricultural research and education institutes in the world.
Endosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide that is being phased out globally. The two isomers, endo and exo, are known popularly as I and II. Endosulfan sulfate is a product of oxidation containing one extra O atom attached to the S atom. Endosulfan became a highly controversial agrichemical due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor. Because of its threats to human health and the environment, a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan was negotiated under the Stockholm Convention in April 2011. The ban has taken effect in mid-2012, with certain uses exempted for five additional years. More than 80 countries, including the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, several West African nations, the United States, Brazil, and Canada had already banned it or announced phase-outs by the time the Stockholm Convention ban was agreed upon. It is still used extensively in India, China despite laws banning it, and few other countries. It is produced by Makhteshim Agan and several manufacturers in India and China. Although, the Supreme Court had, by an order dated 13.05.2011, put a ban on the production and sale of endosulfan in India till further orders.
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist or agronomist, is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, the Philippines, and the United States. Other names used to designate the profession include agricultural scientist, agricultural manager, agricultural planner, or agriculture researcher.
The Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) is one of the biggest research institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an autonomous organization working under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of Government of India. CAZRI has the distinction of being one of the first institutes in the world exclusively devoted to arid zone research and development. The institute made a humble beginning in 1952 when Government of India initiated Desert Afforestation Research Station at Jodhpur to carry out research on sand dune stabilization and for establishment of shelter belt plantations to arrest wind erosion. It was reorganized as Desert Afforestation and Soil Conservation Station in 1957 and finally in its present form Central Arid Zone Research Institute in 1959 on recommendation of the UNESCO expert, Prof. C.S. Christian of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia. In 1966, the institute was brought under the administrative control of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.
Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth is an agricultural university located at Akola, in Maharashtra, India, in the Vidarbha region. The University is entrusted with the responsibility of agricultural education, research and extension education along with breeder and foundation seed programmes.
Protected Harvest is an American non-profit organization headquartered in Soquel, California that certifies sustainably grown crops. The goal of the organization is to provide a standard measurement of what constitutes a sustainable product and use it to assure retailers and consumers that they are pucharsing sustainably grown items. Protected Harvest was founded in 2001 as an independent non-profit organization and merged into SureHarvest in 2008. According to EcoLabeling.org, a non-profit monitoring certification programs, "Protected Harvest is an eco-label with the stated mission of helping farmers meet environmental standards that yield high quality products and preserve healthy land for future generations." Pest-management in particular is among the specialties of Protected Harvest, according to Consumer Reports.
Coromandel International Limited is an Indian corporation founded in the early 1960s by IMC and Chevron Companies of USA and EID Parry, headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Originally named Coromandel Fertilisers, the company is in the business of fertilizers, pesticides and specialty nutrients. The company is also in rural retail business in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra through its Mana Gromor Centres. Coromandel International is part of Murugappa Group and a subsidiary of EID Parry, which holds 62.82% of the equity in the company. The company has sixteen manufacturing units located in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Its product line includes Gromor, Godavari, Paramfos, Parry Gold and Parry Super.
G. V. Chalam, also known as Guduru Venkata Chalam (1909–1967), was an Indian activist and agricultural scientist who received the Padma Shri in 1967.
Rajeev Kumar Varshney is an agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varsheny is currently the Research Program Director- Genetic Gains that includes several units viz. Genomics & Trait Discovery, Forward Breeding, Pre-Breeding, Cell, Molecular Biology & Genetic Engineering, Seed Systems, Biotechnology- ESA, Sequencing and Informatics Services Unit, and Genebank ; and Director, Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agricultural research institute. He holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including Murdoch University, The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.
Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) is an autonomous society of the Department of Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh. SERP is implementing Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP), a statewide community driven rural poverty reduction project to enable the poor to improve their livelihoods and quality of life through their own organizations. It aims to cover all the rural poor households in the state with a special focus on the poorest of the poor households. SERP also played an active part in the relief efforts taken up by the Andhra Pradesh Government during the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
Enabavi is a small village, 80 km north of Hyderabad in Hanamkonda district of India, with around 45 houses.
Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (RVSKVV) is an agricultural state university situated in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was set up in 2008 by bifurcating the horticulture department and the veterinary science & animal husbandry department out of Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV).
Gutta Muniratnam was an Indian social worker, a member of the National Planning Commission of India and the founder of Rashtriya Seva Samithi (RASS), a non governmental organization engaged in the social welfare activities in over 2500 socio-economically backward villages in the Rayalaseema region, spread across the present day states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Mangina Venkateswara Rao was an Indian agricultural scientist, plant breeder, geneticist and the chairman of the Agri Biotech Foundation. He was a former Vice Chancellor of the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University and a former Deputy Director of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Rao, a recipient of the Norman Borlaug Award, was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, by the Government of India, in 1999.
S M Sehgal Foundation is an Indian NGO focused on rural development with its head office in Gurugram, Haryana. It was founded as an Indian public, charitable trust in 1999 by plant geneticist Suri Sehgal and his wife Mrs. Edda Sehgal, who together had accumulated wealth through the 1998 sale of their hybrid seed businesses, Proagro Group. The foundation implements rural development projects in semi-arid areas of districts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra in water resources management, agricultural productivity, and rural governance. Projects are supported by multiple sources, including individual donors, corporate sponsors, government grants, academic partnerships, and foundation funding. The organization's rural research unit conducts impact assessments and original research on development themes. Other units conduct crop research and adapt rural technologies to meet local needs.
Kodeboyina Sivannarayana Varaprasad is an Indian agricultural scientist, Nematologist and the Director of Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. He was former Head of NBPGR, Regional Station at Hyderabad for about a period of 26 years. and was associated in the development of 11 genetic stocks in tomato, linseed, jatropha, cowpea, chilli and sorghum. Dr.K.S.Varaprasad is recipient of Late Sri P.P. Singhal Memorial Award, 2015.
Kaderbad Ravindranath is an Indian agricultural research scientist and cotton breeder. In 2015, he received the Life Time Achievement Award for his contributions to the cotton research.
