Organic farming is an agricultural system which 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. It is defined by the use of 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. 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/independence, health, food security, and food safety.
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. A lesser known counterpart is certification for organic textiles that includes certification of textile products made from organically grown fibres.
Sir Albert Howard was an English botanist, and the first westerner to document and publish the Vedic Indian techniques of sustainable agriculture, now better known as organic farming. After spending considerable time learning from Indian peasants and the pests present in their soil, he called these two his professors. He was a principal figure in the early organic movement. He is considered by many in the English-speaking world to have been, along with Rudolf Steiner and Eve Balfour, one of the key advocates of ancient Indian techniques of organic agriculture.
Farmer suicides in India refers to the national catastrophe of farmers committing suicide since the 1970s, often by drinking pesticides, due to their inability to repay loans mostly taken from private landlords and banks.
The history of Agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley Civilization. India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018, agriculture employed more than 50% of the Indian work force and contributed 17–18% to country's GDP.
Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is a public funded agricultural university located at Hisar in the Indian state of Haryana. It is the biggest agricultural university in Asia. The university has 8645 acres of land. It is named after India's seventh Prime Minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The three broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is headed by Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar. Abhishek Singh Chauhan, Krishna Raj and Parsottambhai Rupala are the Ministers of State. Sharad Pawar, serving from 22 May 2004 to 26 May 2014, has held the office of Minister of Agriculture for the longest continuous period till date.
Bhupesh Baghel is an Indian politician serving as the third and current Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. He was president of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress. He has been member of legislative assembly five times from Patan. He had been cabinet minister in undivided Madhya Pradesh in Digvijaya Singh government in late nineties. He was first Minister for Revenue, Public Health Engineering and Relief Work of Chhattisgarh.
Sharad Anantrao Joshi was an Indian politician who founded the Swatantra Bharat Paksh party and Shetkari Sanghatana, He was also a Member of the Parliament of India representing Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament during the period 5 July 2004 till 4 July 2010. On 9 January 2010 he was the sole MP in Rajya Sabha to vote against the bill providing 33% reservation for women in Indian parliament and assemblies.
Navdanya is an Indian-based non-governmental organisation which promotes biodiversity conservation, biodiversity, organic farming, the rights of farmers, and the process of seed saving. One of Navdanya's founders, and outspoken members, is Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist, physicist, and author. Navdanya began in 1984 as a program of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory research initiative founded by the environmentalist Vandana Shiva, to provide direction and support to environmental activism. "Navdanya" means "nine crops" that represent India's collective source of food security.
Agriculture in Kenya dominates Kenya's economy. 15–17 percent of Kenya's total land area has sufficient fertility and rainfall to be farmed, and 7–8 percent can be classified as first-class land. In 2006, almost 75 percent of working Kenyans made their living by farming, compared with 80 percent in 1980. About one-half of Kenya's total agricultural output is non-marketed subsistence production.
Animal-free agriculture, or veganic farming, consists of farming methods that do not use animals or animal products. Animal-free growers do not keep domesticated animals and do not use animal products such as farmed animal manures or animal parts to fertilize their crops. Emphasis is placed on using green manures instead.
Suminter India Organics is a privately held supplier of certified organic products from India to Europe and the United States. Founded in 2003, Suminter's mission is to give small-scale Indian farmers access to a global $52bn marketplace for certified organic products. In 2016, Suminter was working with over 20,000 farmers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan, covering 110,000 acres (450 km2) of land under organic cultivation. The company focuses on two product lines: non-perishable organic food and organic cotton.
Natural farming is an ecological farming approach established by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008), a Japanese farmer and philosopher, introduced in his 1975 book The One-Straw Revolution. Fukuoka described his way of farming as 自然農法 in Japanese. It is also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or "do-nothing farming". The title refers not to lack of effort, but to the avoidance of manufactured inputs and equipment. Natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, agroforestry, ecoagriculture and permaculture, but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture.
G. Nammalvar was an Indian green crusader, agricultural scientist, environmental activist and organic farming expert best known for his work on spreading ecological farming and organic farming. He led the protest against the methane gas project started by Great Eastern Energy Corporation proposed in the Cauvery delta region of Tamilnadu. Nammalvar was the author of several Tamil and English books on natural farming, natural pesticides & natural fertilizers and was featured in magazines & television programs.
DestaGlobal started as an Indian startup technology company working in agriculture sector. The name ‘Desta’ is derived from an Amharic term which means happiness. The organisation was founded in 2010 by Ron Boehm, Marlys Boehm and Nishant Banore.
Akshayakalpa is the first Certified Organic Milk Brand in India. Headquartered in Tiptur, Karnataka, the company manufactures, markets, and sells Organic Milk and Milk products. In September 2020,the organisation was rated as among top organic dairy in India which is providing 100% pure cow’s milk.
Akash Chaurasia is a multiple award-winning farmer from Sagar District in Madhya Pradesh, India. He is known for innovative farming techniques like organic agriculture and multi-layer agriculture.
Deepika Kundaji is an Indian farmer whose methods gained national attention and an award from the Government of India. The Nari Shakti Puraskar award was made by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. The award is India's highest civilian award for women.
The Millet Network of India supports millet farmers. It was created by one hundred women who realised the qualities of the traditional crop. The group have helped village farmers to grow millet with low water usage and organic fertiliser while highlighting the injustice of government subsidies which encourage competitor crops like rice. It has received both the Nari Shakti Puraskar and the Equator Award.
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