Been following his work on YouTube a lot. He hob-nobs with celebrities so it is tempting to dismiss him as a pop-Guru but his wisdom is authentic. Here, he offers a look at the reality of farming - what matters. From AsiaNET News:
Sadhguru Exclusive: 'Organic farming is urban nonsense'
"There is no such thing as organic farming. They are just making up these words. This is all urban nonsense," said spiritual leader Sadhguru in an exclusive conversation with Asianet News. The Isha Foundation founder recently completed his 100-day Save Soil journey at Cauvery Basin that saw him travel to 27 nations in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East and connect with 3.9 billion people, including scientists, policymakers, heads of governments, elected representatives and celebrities.
Interacting with Asianet News Chief Reporter Anoop Balachandran, Sadhguru said that the urban population knows nothing about farming. Sadhguru said: "This is all being propagated by the urban population who know nothing about farming. You don't tell the farmer how he should do farming. Today, organic farming means no fertiliser and no pesticide. If you do that today, food production in the world will come down to 25 per cent -- that is death."
"If the organic content in the soil increases, the usage of fertilisers will start sliding down by itself. That is the way it has to happen. If you say you don't like fertilisers, stop it. You and I are alive because of fertilisers. Because otherwise, we would have famines. Urban people should stop giving prescriptions for farming. Let the farmer decide how to farm because there is a lot of difference between this plot of land to that plot of land. People may not understand. But if you want the soil to be alive, give the farmer incentives to raise it above three per cent you will get this much incentive. Farmers will take it, " he added.
The 3% he is talking about is the organic content of the soil - decayed plant matter, compost, microbiome, etc... The average is under 1% hence the dependency on fertilizers. There is a farm on the island that started about nine years ago - it used to be a sandy horse pasture and now has some of the richest black soil that I have seen. Their strategy? They turn over their plants back to the soil after harvest. Chop and Drop. Once a plant has completed its growing and has been harvested, it is cut down and left to lie on the surface of the soil. No tilling. No plowing. No cultivation.
Poor productivity for the first couple of years but after then? Amazing soil.
We are looking at doing the same in North Carolina.
A perfect example of how not to do this can be found with Sri Lanka - their government outlawed fertilizer imports and declared that all farms are now using Organic growing methods. They now have to import their food.
Here, here and here for starters.
When Jen and I were starting our apple orchard, we looked into Organic certification. Too invasive and too much paperwork. Plus, they disallowed some pesticides that were 100% safe and they allowed rotenone because it was "plant based" Rotenone is a very broad-spectrum poison that kills the beneficials as well as the pests. It also kills birds and fish if not handled correctly.
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