Wrapping Up COP27

SHARM AL-SHEIKH – COP27 ends with an agreement for a “Loss and Damage” fund without any implementation plans or consensus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, this means very little progress for solid recommendations for climate action and achieving net-zero emissions urged by the UNFCCC to avoid the catastrophic tipping points of a +1.5C warmer planet.

Sponsored by companies such as Coke, with a presidency held by a military government that severely represses its citizens (in a holiday resort far away from the realities of the Egyptian people) we were never going to expect much from the outcome of COP27 to shift the international community away from its business-as-usual pattern.

However there were some good works made by many.

Despite these circumstances, Regeneration International sent a small and dedicated delegation to COP27, where it joined forces with friends and partners such as AFSA, IPES-Food, IFOAM Organics International, SEKEM, ONAMIAP and the “4 per 1000” Initiative to advocate evidence and concrete examples of how agroecology, regenerative agriculture and indigenous agrobiodiversity (preserving traditional seeds) can reverse global warming and nourish communities. The management of soils, their organic matter, and their capacity to build back ecological stability, including sequestering carbon, must be in every negotiation and commitment since it is the hope we have for a livable planet.

Our team also had the chance to interview some light bearing figures in our movement; you can watch them by clicking on the links below.

Interview with Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM Organics International at COP27

Meet our dear friend Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM – Organics International, promoting agroecology and regenerative organic food systems as a way to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Interview with AFSA’s Bridget Mugambe at COP27

RI’s Africa Coordinator Precious Phiri and Bridget Mugambe of AFSA (Alliance of Food Sovereignty in Africa) and gain insight into Africa’s most prominent civil society and their actions to regenerate the climate emergency through agroecology. 

Interview with Uganda Parliament Member Kayaa Christine Nakimwero at COP27

Watch our interview with Kayaa Christine Nakimwero, a member of Parliament in Uganda who is campaigning for seed sovereignty to ensure climate resiliency and food security in Africa.

RI was also an official partner of the Future Economy Forum organized by SEKEM. Together with many other partners and friends, we formed the regenerative movement’s most significant gathering since RI’s congregation in 2015 at COP21 in Paris. A series of dialogues and events offered a space for the regeneration movement to merge our strengths, strategies, and ideas and move forward together for regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration.

 For the first time in COP history, Agriculture and food systems were highlighted as a top priority. With the UNFCCC’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture implementing plans for climate action through agriculture and the COP hosting more than 200 side events on food and agriculture, the momentum for food and farming is there to stay. Yet, much of the COP misused the term regenerative, and very few side events promoted anything but regenerative and agroecological practices. GMOs, lab meat, and no-till glyphosate-drenched practices were on the menu of most side events, with the Food Systems Pavilion opening with pro-GMO/industry rhetoric from various members of AGRA and other green revolution advocates. 

 RI participated in several side events, including the “4 per 1000” High-Level Segment promoting tangible and shovel-ready regenerative practices such as holistic planned grazing and regenerative agroforestry via our Billion Agave Project. Our presence was all the most important and has allowed us to unite with our partners in preparation for COP28 to aggregate the true policymakers, scientists, advocates, and practitioners of change to form an ironclad alliance with our partners. 

 

Being in South Sinai, our COP delegation took the opportunity to visit the Habiba Community, located only a few hour’s drive from the COP negotiations. Deeply integrated into the Bedouin cultural landscape, this organic farm is empowering women and training hundreds of small hold farmers across 75 farms to adapt and mitigate climate change using regenerative practices. 

 

Despite the many circus like confusion that went together with hosting a COP in a place for the World’s rich, we are glad we were there, together with our allies. There is still a lot of ground to be covered, we need more and more civil society representatives in the negotiation rooms. We need to get in touch with country-based negotiators so that we can also influence the outcomes of these negotiations. As earlier stated, we look forward to the next COP, this time with much bigger numbers from our movement. It is needed. 

The Distorted Lies About Sri Lanka’s Organic Pathway

Recently there have been a series of articles stating that Sri Lanka’s economic chaos was caused by the government forcing the country to go organic.

These articles’ familiar false narratives, untruths, and language style show that they were written by spin doctors from a PR company employed by pesticide/big agriculture cartels. They were cut and pasted by poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The narrative was that the government forced farmers to become organic by banning chemical fertilizers.  This caused crop failures and food shortages which caused the riots, causing economic chaos.

This is a distortion of the truth by falsely connecting the dots. The economic chaos was not caused by the country going organic, as it hadn’t gone organic. The government was only planning to do so in the future.

Sri Lanka’s Economic Troubles

Sri Lanka was in severe economic trouble due to the build-up of financial debt caused by a combination of factors that began with the crippling financial drain, infrastructure damage, and social disruption of the decades-long civil war.  The crisis was exacerbated in April 2019 due to church suicide bombings destroying the international based tourism industry, which was a significant provider of foreign currency for the country.  The value of its currency fell and made it more expensive for industry and the government to import essential goods such as fuel.

On top of this, tax cuts in 2019 reduced government revenue and deepened that country’s national debt. The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic decimated the tourism industry. All these factors caused a significant increase in inflation, contributing to shortages of food and essential goods and increasing food insecurity in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was in severe economic and social trouble by the beginning of 2021.

The Import and Export Control Department banned the importation of chemical fertilizers on April 27, 2021, because they contributed over $400 million to the trade deficit. This was the start of a range of measures that would be proposed to create an economic recovery.

The following month on May 10, 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave a directive to form the Presidential Task Force for creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions for Climate Change. This Task Force had the aim to turn Sri Lanka into a world leader in “the benefits that could be derived nationally and internationally by the launch of a programme for improving biodiversity in Sri Lanka and eco-friendly houses by utilization of organic and natural fertilizer and the potential for sustainable development by minimizing climate changes and through a green economy.”

Organic Agriculture was not the Cause of Sri Lanka’s Economic Chaos.

The ban on chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals was not to turn Sri Lanka into an organic country; it was to reduce Sri Lanka’s crippling national debt. A presidential task force was formed to develop a green, climate change-resilient economy of which organic agriculture was one aspect.

Sir Lanka never implemented a national organic transition program, so the campaign to blame the collapse of its economy on organic agriculture is pure misinformation based on a series of lies fed by a PR company to poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The economic chaos, not the decline in rice yields, was the cause of the riots. The traditional withholding of rice stocks and the artificial increases of prices that the rice miller oligarchies do every year after the primary harvest season created artificial shortages that contributed to the riots. Other contributing factors were the result of fuel and essential items shortages and excessive inflation, making everything more expensive and unaffordable.

Transitioning to Organic

The sudden reduction of fertilizer caused a decline in rice production. However, this was not because the country went organic. It takes three years to transition a farm to organic and decades to transition a country or region, as in the cases of the successful transitions of Bhutan and Sikkim. Just stopping chemical fertilizers does not make a farm organic.

The national and international organic sectors advised the Sri Lankan Government against doing this because it would lead to a sudden drop in yields. We develop plans to manage the transition to organic and advise against the sudden cessation of fertilizers and agrochemicals for this reason. A plan was never developed for Sri Lanka, although a few proposals were started to begin the process that would require decades to implement.

Organic agriculture is not a system of neglect. Stopping chemical fertilizers and toxic agrochemicals do not make a farm organic. Organic agriculture has a variety of management systems to increase soil fertility and effectively manage weeds, pests, and diseases. These take years to develop, requiring three years to get organic certification.

Higher Yields with Organic Agriculture

Transitioning to organic does not have to decrease yields. Best practice organic systems are getting equal to higher yields than industrial and agricultural systems, especially in developing countries like Sri Lanka.

Noémi Nemes from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analyzed over 50 economic studies. She stated that the data: ‘… demonstrates that, in most cases, organic systems are more profitable than non-organic systems. Higher market prices and premiums, lower production costs, or a combination of the two generally result in higher relative profits from organic agriculture in developed countries. The same conclusion can be drawn from studies in developing countries, but there, higher yields combined with high premiums are the underlying causes of their relatively greater profitability.

The critical issue here is that organic agriculture provides a higher income and higher yields in developing countries. Significant increases in yields can be achieved by teaching farmers to add science-based regenerative and organic practices to their traditional methods by adopting:

  • Better soil nutrition through recycling soil organic matter (SOM) and correct mineral balance
  • Improved pest and disease management
  • Water use efficiency – by increasing soil organic matter
  • Better weed management methods
  • Eco-function intensification: increasing the diversity of systems

A report by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that reviewed 114 projects covering 2 million hectares and 1.9 million farmers found that organic agriculture increases yields in Africa. ‘…the average crop yield was … 116 percent increase for all African projects and 128 percent increase for the projects in East Africa.’

Increases in Rice Production

Rice is the most important staple food crop in Sri Lanka. There is ample evidence that rice production and profitability can increase with regenerative and organic agriculture based on the science of agroecology.

A research project conducted in the Philippines by MASIPAG found that the yields of organic rice were similar to industrial systems. Very significantly, the research project compared the income between similar-sized industrial and organic farms and found that the average income for organic farms was 23,599 Pesos compared to 15,643 Pesos for industrial farms.

While the rice yields are similar, the most significant information that came from this study was when the average family living expenses were deducted from the net income. It showed that at the end of the year, on average, the organic rice farmers had a surplus income of 5,967 pesos, whereas the industrial rice farmers had a loss of 4,546 pesos.

The improvements in the science and practices of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) using regenerative and organic systems are getting impressive yields higher than the average.

Professor Uphoff from Cornell University states: “SRI methods have often enabled poor farmers to double, triple, or even quadruple their yields, not just individually but on a village level, without purchasing new varieties or agrochemical inputs.”

The Future

The new Sri Lankan Government is working with their national organic movement to develop a plan to implement organic agriculture. The national organic movement is in contact with the organic program managers in Bhutan, who have successfully transitioned most of their country into organic agriculture.

The transition program is essential because of the current exceptionally high prices for synthetic fertilizers and the poor exchange value of the Sri Lankan currency; most farmers cannot afford these fertilizers. They are going into deep debt when they use them or have reduced yields by not using them because they haven’t been taught effective alternatives.

Adopting best-practice organic and regenerative systems based on the science of agroecology will ensure good yields and higher incomes for farmers without these expensive and toxic chemicals.

Regeneration International will continue supporting the Sri Lankan organic movement in achieving this critical outcome.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Vía Orgánica ranch was born as a connection space between producers and consumers. Its first space was a store designed to publicize local, wild, artisanal products, coming from the hands of guardians of some natural landscape. It was the producers who inspired this project and continue to motivate it, which is why we dedicate this newsletter to the families of organic producers who take care of the planet and feed the world.

The need we have as consumers to have healthy, seasonal, local, diversified food and above all grown with agroecological techniques; that improve the soil and preserve the species of flora and fauna, is increasing. The educational ranch concentrates and is an example of the different models of food production in semi-arid landscapes, expressing in a creative and beautiful way the work that many farmers carry out. We promote their wisdom and knowledge in activities that we spread through our tours and workshops. We allow to create a connection with what we consume and we offer the possibility of choosing and thinking about our consumption in favor of the solidarity economy, our health and the planet’s health too.

The educational ranch is a space to think about how our food gets to our table and the challenges that imply for each producer who resists and remains in their territory, which is why our relation offers another possibility to resume our food landscape with greater awareness.

Throughout our history, a network of more than 120 seasonal producers has been strengthened, who in small extensions of land, are given the task of maintaining traditional knowledge of food production, processing and conservation and offer their products in various stores, responsible in the region.

Choose your plan!

All November visit the ranch from Monday to Sunday and learn all about the Ofrenda that will be displayed with products from the milpa and the semi-arid landscape in tribute to the producers and leaders who have left.

Do not miss the whole month of hiking in the mountains! You can now come and collect your pumpkin to bake with butter, or make a pie.

Book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Halfway through autumn, the Billion Agave Project advances with achievements and challenges, integrating more producers, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and decision makers to immerse themselves in this soil regeneration initiative with two dominant species of the semi-desert: the maguey plants and the mesquite trees.

Over two years we’re still learning about the nature of these species; the mesquites propagated by air layering and now distributed in the field while associated with native bushes and trees of the Jalpa Valley, show us their great capacity for adaptation and development.

As for the agaves, we learn about the management of this species, we have adapted tools such as clearings and coas for cleaning pruning and use of the agave leaves. We also explore the use of aggregation pheromones for the monitoring and control of the agave weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus), considered the main pest of the species.

Seasonal Crop

Guavas and the first tangerines begin to be harvested. Crops are raised for storage after the rainy season. The honey harvest begins in the region.

Do It Yourself

During the month of November, the temperature may begin to drop and you will receive the first frosts in your garden or orchard. Here we share some tips to maintain your plants.

– Water in the evening to prevent your plants from frost burn.

– If you have a blanket to cover your plants at night that can lower the temperature, take advantage of it, or use agrovelo or a sky blanket that allows you to lower the temperature below 0 degrees Celsius.

– Get ready to plant root crops that tolerate low temperatures such as radishes, carrots, turnips, garlic, onions, beets and also leaves such as lettuce, arugula and spinach. They love cool temperatures.

– Your orchard will be less colorful because the cold reduces flowering. But surely you can have a delicious salad harvested from your garden all year round.

Cooking Time

TAMALES DE MUERTO RECIPE

INGREDIENTS: 

– 2 kg of black corn dough for tamales
– 1/2 kg of pork lard
– Chicken broth (as needed)
– Corn husks for tamales

FOR THE SAUCE: 

– 10 ancho peppers without seeds hydrated in hot water
– 2 large garlic cloves
– 1 small onion
– 1 tablespoon of butter
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1/2 ranchero cheese

PROCEDURE FOR THE SAUCE

Grind the peppers, garlic and onion with a little of the liquid in which the peppers are hydrated, heat the butter and add the sauce. Cook for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should be thick.

PROCEDURE TO PREPARE THE DOUGH

Cream the pork lard with a little salt until it changes color, then add the dough and a little broth and stir until the dough fluffs and is smooth. Mix vigorously until when you put a small piece of dough into a glass of water it floats.

The dough does not have to be very loose. Once ready, pour half of this dough on a clean and damp cotton cloth, spreading the dough with your hands. Spread using a spoon, half of the sauce and half of the cheese. Roll up with the help of the cloth, cut into slices and put each piece on the corn husks previously hydrated with hot water. Prepare a steamer, arrange the tamales horizontally and cook for one hour.

Enjoy your delicious tamales this Day of the Dead season with a delicious pumpkin atole.

Inspirations

This month in which we honor our deceased, we do not forget and honor those who gave their lives to defend the environment and therefore all of us. This 2022 they have been assassinated: Verónica Patricia Guerrero Vinueza, Francisco Vázquez Domínguez, José Trinidad Baldenegro, Néstor Iván Merino Flores, Patricia Rivera Reyes, Teófilo Barrera Herrera, Marcelo Carrera Reyes, Omar and Jesús Bañuelos Acevedo. We demand justice and an end to violence against defenders in Mexico and around the world.

November Activities

December Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, turnoff  to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

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People’s Food Summit 2022

Regeneration International, in conjunction with our partners, held a world wide “People’s Food Summit” again this year.

It was the second time this world’s first event was held – a major 24-hour event on World Food day on Oct 16, featuring speakers from every region of our planet.
It was a spectacularly successful event, with over 700,000 people from all regions of our world tuning in to watch and listen to numerous topics.

Because we reached so many people, this event had a very high impact.
This year’s participatory, virtual summit started in Oceania and moved westwards through the time zones of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each region was self-organized, so they were empowered to present the messages and issues that are their priorities.

The People’s Food Summit is a truly participatory summit that empowers the majority of the world’s food producers: the small-holder family farmers, pastoralists, and foresters who produce 70% of the food we eat.

This year we also featured natural health as how we produce our food and what we eat is essential to our health and the health of our environment and society. Regenerative organic agriculture and climate change were also a feature of the summit.

Regeneration International has been working with our many partners such as the Organic Consumers Association, The Global Alliance for Organic Districts, IFOAM Asia, Navdanya, the International Network of Eco Regions, Savory Hub Africa, Via Organica, AFSA, The League of Organic Municipalities and Cities and BERAS International in hosting the People’s Food Summit on World Food Day to present these inspiring speakers, and get an overview of exciting agricultural projects from around the world.

Resources:

The  Good Food Festivals  – Market for Smallholders’ Traditional, Climate-Smart Crops and Source of Healthy Foods for Zimbabwean Consumers by Caroline Jacquet

Take some time to listen to some of these highlighted talks!

 

Regenerating Seed and Food Culture in Africa

Production of culturally appropriate food, that is healthy, nutritious and abundant is slowly but surely making its sound known across the African continent. This is mainly due a wonderful collective of country, regional and pan African movement building towards influencing systems and policy.

For the longest time, the narrative of food and agriculture in Africa has been degraded, with African seeds being labeled as tired, ways of farming as backwards, and a chain of narratives that include Africa being poor and needing “new technologies”. However, farmers are putting their best foot forward in changing the trajectory by using natural, local and biologically regenerative practices to grow food and nourish their families. Most industrial agriculture approaches that are mostly linked with the green revolution in Africa are proving to lead to more hunger and crop failures in the face of unreliable weather patterns due to the climate crises.

Small holder farmer organisations are focusing on building soil health,  as a way of creating resiliency, and sustenance for the communities.  I am sharing some photos of a seed fair we recently had here in the communities of Hwange National park in Zimbabwe.  These farmers live in one of the most difficult landscapes, with about 350-400 ml of rainfall on a good year, a long dry and hostile season which makes it hard for them to grow crops for longer periods. The Seed fair was a celebration of seed, food, culture and indigenous wisdom on seed preservation.  It was attended by representatives from 6 villages, the Chief and different leaders.

The theme of this work is founded on generosity and abundance thinking, communities go through a lot of challenges and over time mindsets shift towards scarcity and less connections with the environment around them. Working with farmers to celebrate seeds and food creates a space for just reciprocal relationships between people and between people and their environment.

Farmers are continuously transitioning to growing small local grains that are resilient to the harsh weather and soil conditions.

We use mobile animal enclosures to enrich and build soil, plant mixed crops for resiliency and improved harvest. Farmers harvest 2 times more than they normally would in each plot that has been impacted. This is a win-win-win solution, it is locally cheap, builds soil and nourishes families. Our hope is that eventually farmers will be able to mobilise themselves into bigger groups and continue to impact the broader landscape.

There are a lot of opportunities for communities to connect at country level for cross learning. As we build up momentum to the People’s Food Summit on October 16th, 2022- we are excited that the voices of small holder farmers from across the world will be represented.  Regeneration is creating all the connection of the pieces in the puzzle of life, culture, ecology and economies.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Commemorating the International Day of Rural Women and their role in food, it is important to remember the work of the women who collaborate in the project: 

The team of women that work and create Vía Orgánica are distributed along most of the areas of the ranch: regenerative farm, care of sheep and goats, apiary management, reforestation, seed care, food production, food preparation, customer service, education, finances, social media, administration and maintenance. Their hard work is essential for the operation of the ranch, each one of them being fundamental pieces to make Vía Orgánica work. Demonstrating that field work can be and, in many cases, is directed by women, even if the opposite is thought. 

The women who work inside the ranch are only a small part of the great number of women who work and achieve wonderful things from their own spaces, being providers of food with love and strength. 

Choose your plan!

Visit the ranch and discover the trails to the mountain. Did you know that upon arrival you can rent a bicycle and ride on the ranch? You can also have picnics in one of our rest areas with incredible views and explosive vegetation that you can still see in October. Treat yourself to an adventure ride, if you wish you can stay in a thermal adobe cabin or simply eat a dish made with fresh ingredients from our garden at the restaurant. 

In October, come and harvest your own pumpkin from the milpa and cook it as you like, in a rich pumpkin cream, in a delicious cake or pie. 

Come as a family, ask about our packages and book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Since the Billion Agave Project was created, one of the objectives was, to create a course called “Agaves and Mesquite: Regenerating semi-arid land”. This diploma course was seen since the beginning, as a tool to spread and motivate the regeneration of the landscape with these two crops. It was designed a year ago in collaboration with the University of Guanajuato. The scope of this course was 60 people from all over Mexico and Ecuador, where 50% were women. It was attended by activists, students, producers and environmentalists determined to recover properties, mountains, hillsides, communities or colonies and to contribute to generating change with actions. The diploma course had more than 15 speakers: researchers, committed teachers from different instances such as the University of Chapingo, UNAM, University of Guanajuato, INIFAP, and others. 

The agaves and mesquites have been the perfect pretext to unite, make a community, listen, connect, add, sow curiosity, will and impetus in each of the participants. And with their way of being, strong and resilient, giving more than they take, they give us a life lesson, we just need to understand it. 

Seasonal Crop

Autumn has begun and it is the perfect time to raise some seasonal crops, the milpa is forming the fruits that come from there, such as the pumpkins that are at their maximum growth and mature and can be stored for months. The bean pods along with the cobs, broad beans and everything that the milpa gave us. Let’s not forget the delicious seasonal honey. 

We advice to consume according to the season, take advantage of the gifts that nature gives us full of colors and varied flavors. 

Do It Yourself

Arriving October the temperatures drop down during the nights and sunrises. If you started your garden at the beginning of the year, it probably now has brown and yellow colors, which indicate that your crops are physiologically mature, that is, they are in their reproductive stage and surely full of seeds. If this is your case, we recommend to do the following:

1.- Harvest some flower or fruit seeds that may have formed and store them for the next heat cycle. 
2.- If you have any empty space to cultivate, we recommend to recover fertility in the soil with donor crops (legumes) and some cereal such as wheat or barley that will be sown and integrated into the soil when it has 10% flowering to increase organic matter, fertility, microbiological life and symbiotic activity in it. This will also allow you to give your planter a break and prepare it for the next cycle. 
3.- Plant your mix of salad leaves such as lettuce and spinach, which grow well on cold days. 
4.- Take the time to monitor your plants, check which ones grew better, and write down which ones called the insects, and which crops grew more difficult and easier. It is important that you take note, you will learn from each cycle.

Come and Visit

October Activities

November Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, deviation on the way to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

The Onslaught of Genetic Engineering 2.0

Over the past 30 years OCA and our allies across the world have fought hard against gene-spliced GMO foods and crops and the toxic pesticides and chemicals that always accompany them, exposing their dangers, limiting their market share, and in some countries bringing about mand

atory bans (Mexico) and/or labeling and safety-testing. (USA and Europe)

But now Bill Gates, the gene-engineers, the World Economic Forum, and the Davos “Great Reset” technocrats and authoritarians, the folks who anticipated and profited off of COVID and the lockdowns, have a bold new plan to shove down our throats: get rid of animal agriculture, ranching, and small farms entirely. Make lab-engineered fake meat, fake milk, and fake cheese the new normal. Pretend they’re not genetically engineered and therefore they don’t have to be properly safety-tested and labeled. Divide and conquer vegans and carnivores, urban consumers and rural communities.  Drive into bankruptcy and off the land the billion ranchers, small farmers, and herdsmen/women around the world, who depend on raising animals and livestock for their survival.

The powerful Lab Meat and Lab Dairy lobby, funded by Bill Gates and a growing number of Silicon Valley tycoons, pay lip service to reducing the CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from factory farms, and rhetorically decry animal cruelty, but their highest priority seems to be undermining and destroying organic and regenerative farmers, especially those practicing holistic grazing and pasturing, those raising animals without glyphosate, neonics, GMO grains, or other chemical-intensive inputs.  Gates and the Great Resetters seem hell bent on establishing a new, unregulated monopoly of lab engineered (and of course patented) Frankenfoods. Tellingly enough the Big Meat giants (JBS, Cargill, Tyson, et al) and the Dairy Giants (Unilever and Nestle) are all now investing in fake meat and dairy as well, hedging their bets and diversifying their greed.

The cheerleaders and fake-hip entrepreneurs of Frankenfoods 2.0 claim their products are not really genetically engineered (a lie); that they are entirely plant-based (a lie); and that they are safe (the government allows these companies to self-declare their SynBio products as safe), nutritious (a lie), ethical (a lie), and basically equivalent to real meat and dairy (another lie).

As Organic Insider points out:

“In recent years, ‘animal-free’ dairy proteins have found their way into everything from ice cream to cream cheese to snack bars, but many shoppers, food manufacturers and retailers are unaware that these are actually unlabeled and unregulated GMOs. Further compounding the problem is that consumers may be misled into thinking that these products are ‘natural,’ which could potentially take market share away from the organic industry.”

“‘Companies call these things ‘synthetic biology’ and ‘fermentation technology,’ but these foods are all just GMOs,’ said Michael Hansen, Senior Staff Scientist at Consumer Reports. ‘They are using terms people do not understand, so that people will not realize these are GMO ingredients.’”

recent poll in the UK indicates that 60% of consumers do not want to eat GE lab meat.

The cabal pushing lab meats and dairy, and their Monsanto/Bayer/Syngenta/ Dow/DuPont counterparts pushing pesticide-drenched, first generation GMOs (1.0), claim that organic farming and holistic grazing and the pasturing of animals are inefficient and even dangerous, and that in our Brave New World of gene-splicing, gene-editing, and so-called precision fermentation, only elite lab engineers, large corporations, and technocrats can feed the world and mitigate the environmental and climate crisis.

But in fact there is a growing body of evidence that these 21st Century Frankenfoods are neither safe nor nutritious. SynBio Frankenfoods are neither sustainable nor-plant based, nor by any stretch of the imagination equitable for family farmers, ranchers, and indigenous/traditional communities. SynBio foods are not properly safety-tested nor labeled. Indeed upon closer examination, looking at the official risk disclosures that publicly-traded SynBio manufacturers such as Ginko Bioworks are required to provide to investors, this new generation of GE foods pose a potentially catastrophic threat to our health, environment, and the livelihoods of the world’s three billion small farmers, ranchers, indigenous herders, and rural villagers.

As Ginko admits:

“The release of genetically modified organisms or materials, whether inadvertent or purposeful, into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences… we cannot guarantee that these preventative measures will eliminate or reduce the risk of the domestic and global opportunities for the misuse or negligent use of our engineered cells materials, and organisms and production processes.”

Although there has been a small but longstanding resistance to Synthetic Biology, spearheaded by public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as ETC GroupFriends of the Earth, and the International Center for Technology Assessment, which we have supported in the past, OCA believes the time is ripe to build up a new, vastly expanded U.S. and global campaign of farmers and consumers to stop the Frankenfoods 2.0 fake meat, fake dairy onslaught.

Through mass public education, litigation, boycotts, and protests, the goal of this revitalized farmer/consumer campaign will be to drive these genetically engineered Frankenfoods (fake meat, fake milk, fake cheese) off the market, and, in the process, turn back the planned demolition of our organic and small farmer-based food and farming system by Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation, Silicon Valley Big Meat, Big Dairy, and the Davos Crowd.

Learn more: The Playbook for GMO 2.0 Is Going Exactly To Plan, Brands Step in to Combat It

Read lots more articles on SynBio by going to the Real Farms, Not Fake Food campaign page.

Stay tuned for future developments.

Ronnie Cummins is co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Regeneration International, and the author of “Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Food, Farming, Climate and a Green New Deal.” 

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Ranch news

Corn and milpa at Rancho Vía Orgánica

In the Jalpa Valley, as in many landscapes in Mexico, you can see rainfed cornfields. This combination of corn, bay beans, green beans, pumpkins that look like they’re in a race to grow; the flowers of olives, sunflowers, thistles that house endless bees and other insects that dance around them; quelites, purslane, mallows and medicinal herbs that appear to grow and share at the same time and in the same place on earth a party called “LA MILPA”. The house of corn and its allies, which provide vast food, medicine and many benefits to the soil and biodiversity.

Although the rain came a little late, the people who cultivate prepared the soil, a mixture of seeds and decided to plant. Some planted dry, others almost at the limit of the dates, risking that the cold does not arrive soon to harvest.

The people who work in the milpa are getting older, despite that, you can still see the corn and the milpa in their homes; and with it, the hope of achieving food sovereignty, staying in the territory, rescuing seeds and inheriting the knowledge of our ancestors. 

Cultivating the milpa is a powerful act and this bulletin is dedicated on this occasion to all the families who are summoned to continue cultivating on their rainfed plots. Waiting for a good cycle of rains, waiting for the moon to sow or harvest, the first corn, squash flowers and milpa tomatillos, tiny and sweet. 

Each rainy season is a challenge for the producers who store their corncobs from the last cycle, which were harvested with the moon to prevent them from getting holes, in addition, it is common for them to exchange seeds. In doing so, they select the maize plants that do best even in low rainfall. This is the greatest advantage of an open-pollinated seed that improves its production characteristics every year, adapts to the conditions and to each producer. For this reason, it is an important capital and tailored to each zone of the semi-arid landscape.

There is much to be done: let us consider that a native seed of corn, beans and squash with the manure added by the peasants produces on the plot with the water received in the season, what would become of that seed that already has a lot of potential and vigor if it gets complemented with beneficial microorganisms to make available the necessary nutrients and beneficial relationships. In addition, if we add a little worm humus leachate and if the grasshoppers join too, they can be tricked and eaten in a delicious nixtamalized tortilla taco with a molcajete sauce. The damaging effect of grasshoppers can be minimized with nejayote (water that results from the nixtamalization process) To help our milpa, if the cuttings are left on the milpa land with plant biomass as soil food, the result will be a stronger, and more productive cornfield, placed on soil capable to store more water and with higher fertility. 

Cultivating has always been a laborious activity, but now it becomes a real challenge in the face of the climatic situation, even so, the wonders of growing corn and milpa in your home, are one of a kind.   

This month we celebrate corn at home, the milpa, with special tours to discover the species that sprout on our plot, learn what they’re used for, and how plants are related. At the end of your tour ask for your cooked corn and some product from the milpa. 

Billion Agave Project

The milpa coexists with almost everything and in the semi-arid landscape, it gets along between rows of maguey and cactus. That is, surrounded by magueyes as living barriers. Also the pulque and aguamiel, product of the maguey, get along well during a day of farm work, in moderation, because it is a gift from the gods.

This rainy season, the magueyes are so noble that they make the most of the scarce rains received as well as every drop of dew at dawn, storing them in their leaves. They have a thick and waxy cuticle that prevents them from losing moisture. In addition, it is recommended to plant the maguey during these rainy months so that its roots cling to the ground and can be successfully grounded.

Taking advantage of the humidity, seeds of cover crops, grasses and flowers were added to the reforestation; more biomass that is used by wildlife, grazing goats and sheep, even bees take advantage of it.

We also removed the babies or shoots from the maguey plants and place them on the hillside of our water collection system. There are 7 species of magueyes that have been established in the ranch, the common types are the maguey cenizo, which seems to have powder, the jilote, known for its slow development, long life and high production of aguamiel. Another one is the mezcalero maguey or crassispina, it is not very big but it is very tough due to its hook-shaped spines; another one is the maguey pulquero or salmiana, which is the traditional one that we see of a large size and that is commonly cultivated. The smooth agave is an ornamental species, a bit ashy but beautiful, the striped agave or ornamental marginana gives a special spark and finally the berraco, known by the peasants and typical of the area, producers consider that it’s not good to make aguamiel or pulque, but it’s used for animal fodder during dry season.    

SEASONAL CROP

This cycle, the corn will arrive late if the rains continue, so this September, we began to cut squash blossoms, baby squash, green beans, and quelites.

Do it Yourself!

 

 

The best season for direct sowing is when the soil has moisture from the rain, so take advantage of this season and follow these simple steps: 

Prepare a space in the garden to do your sowing, you can also fill a pot with prepared soil or a planter, just make sure the soil is loose and moist before planting. 

INSTRUCTIONS

– Dig a small furrow an inch deep and plant carrot seeds, an easy growing crop that prefers direct shade. 

– Open the second furrow to the previous depth, sow coriander seeds, another one of arugula and one more of lettuce mix. 

– Cover each planted furrow and wait a few days, from the first week you will see the first leaves emerge. 

You will harvest the carrot when it has formed, and for this you must remove one from the ground to verify. It will take approximately 60 days, on the other hand, you can harvest the cilantro by leaves along with the arugula and make a delicious pesto with sunflower seeds or a delicious salad accompanied by your lettuce mix that can be harvested when it is 4 inches tall. 

Come and Visit

Cooking Time

MILPA SOUP

INGREDIENTS

– 4 bunches of squash blossoms, cleaned and chopped
– 4 ears of corn, cleaned and shelled
– 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
– 1 medium onion, finely chopped 
– 1 garlic, finely chopped 
– 1 bunch of epazote
– 2 liters of hot chicken broth
– Salt and oil to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat a saucepan with oil, add the onion and fry for five minutes.
2. Add the garlic and corn kernels and cook for five more minutes.
3. Add salt and hot broth, cook for 20 min.
4. Add the peppers and continue cooking a little longer.
5. Add the flowers and the epazote, cook for 10 min.
6. Season to taste. 

The soup needs to have a lot of liquid. 

September Activities

October Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, deviation on the way to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

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Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER VÍA ORGÁNICA

For Organic Regenerative Agriculture, Fair Trade,
Social Justice, Sustainable Living and Sustainable Production

Ranch News

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VÍA ORGÁNICA

Billion Agave Project: An Agroecological Proposal for Semi-arid Zones 

The Billion Agave Project is an innovative strategy that consists of the association of trees or shrubs of leguminous species interspersed in strips with annual crops or perennial grasses. The woody elements are pruned periodically to prevent them from giving too much shade to the crops and the pruning are used as green manure for the soil and to enrich the forage derived from the pruning of the agave leaves, which are used from the third year.

This project begins its second season. There have been several challenges and lessons learned, however, much progress has been made in the following steps and scopes.

At the beginning of the mesquite plantation, small trees from one year to 1.5 years old with an approximate size of 60 to 80 cm were established, however, in most of the areas where they were established they were possibly cut down by field mice or hares. This made us pay more attention and emphasis on mesquite propagation using the layering technique, which was promoted about 20 years ago by Dr. Rafael Ramírez Malagón. This technique allows mesquite to be propagated from different trees and with different characteristics to choose from: pod size, quantity, flavor, size, tree health, etc. Once we select the trees, we make ring-shaped cuts in the bark of the branches destined to become trees. Subsequently, we placed the first field layers associated with maguey lines. These branches have resisted establishment in the field, equaling in size to trees of 3 to 4 years, with this the processes of establishment of the species and therefore of soil regeneration are advanced. It is important to mention that this project integrates the species described above into the landscape without the need to remove the current vegetation to regenerate the soil, diversify the landscape and the productivity of this system.

Among the established agave varieties, the following stand out: Agave Salmiana var, Salmiana, Crassispina, Americana and Mapisaga.  

It is important to mention that the lands where this system was established were slightly eroded, overgrazed or simply lands of traditional milpa cultivation.

The second stage begins and now that mesquite layering is part of the annual planning of activities in the Agroecology Park, there is a special season for layering after the hibernation season (from November to the end of January). Many of the layers obtained have been used to replenish the spaces with maguey and we already have some specimens that have been established for a year. This will guarantee the works of reforestation and establishment of the precursor vegetation.

The following activities are planned for this second stage:

1.- Development and layering of mesquite for reforestation.
2.- Propagation of agaves by seeds in raised beds.
3.- Propagation of other native legume species such as guajes, palo blanco, tepame and huizaches.
4.- Establishment of more than 1,500 layers of mesquite.
5.- Replacement of maguey plant.
6.- More than 30,000 magueyes established in Vía Orgánica and other communities.
7.- Exploration of new forest species.
8.- Establishment of the native grassland.
9.- Sowing of cover crops.
10.- Maguey and mesquite forage diet for small ruminants.
11.- Mesquite layer acclimatization nursery.
12.- Integration of the maguey to the forest model of the Regenerative Farm.
13.- Design of informative visual material.
14.- A campaign has been promoted to collect mesquite pods.
15.- A constant maguey fodder production rate has been established, close to 70 tons per year of fodder. A fact that is only possible with the maguey plant in a semi-arid zone.
16.- Groups of producers, students, technicians, organizations and schools have been received to learn about the billion agaves and their benefits.
18.- Experimental or demonstrative spaces have been promoted in other communities with the planting of maguey.
19.- The first Agaves and Mesquites Diploma: Regenerating Semi-arid Zones was designed and is being worked on jointly with the University of Guanajuato.

These are some of the relevant activities of The Billion Agave Project that will serve as a basis and guide to execute the next steps to follow.

One of the constant tasks has been learning and training, especially for the young people who have participated from the beginning and the alliances and links with other organizations, projects and schools, in order to complement the research and expand the opportunity to have maguey and mesquite as an agroecology proposal suitable for a semi-arid landscape so common in recent decades. 

It is important to remember that both maguey and mesquite are pioneers in plant succession, that is, they allow other vegetation to establish itself by stopping and regenerating the soil. This gives way to the development of secondary species such as grasses, herbs and shrubs, even medicinal or melliferous.

By living together, these plants generate different environmental services, promote diversity by needing pollinators, and form a habitat for the native fauna responsible for biological control. This system produces large volumes of biomass that could undoubtedly be a substitute for other forages that require large amounts of water, what to say about the derivatives obtained as food, fibers, firewood, distillates, flour, handicrafts, sweets, landscaping, etc. This set of plants, as Dr. Luis Parra mentions: “They should be considered as first-class plants and not second or third, as they are the most suitable for producing high volumes of biomass in the face of the effects of climate change.”

 

We share this article written by Patricia Zavala Gutierrez for the Global Press Journal entitled “Mezcal producers recycle the waste generated by this spirit drink” where they talk about our project.

COME AND VISIT

DO IT YOURSELF!

Recommendations for your garden during the rainy season: 

– Uncover the beds, let the rain wash and nourish the leaves of your crops.
– Cut the flowers of your plants so that you allow them to give more buttons and flowers.
– Monitor your garden, sometimes surprise plants appear that sprout thanks to humidity.
– If you have earthworm humus or mountain microorganisms, apply them by spray, especially on cloudy days or after a rain.
– If your soil is quite moist, just plant and fertilize or transplant and fertilize, but don’t move it and less rotate it.
– It is important to prune basal leaves in some crops to promote the development of new leaves or the entry of light. Only if necessary and if not, the same leaves keep humidity and are the protective roof of the microbiology of the soil.
– If you begin to see the first grasshoppers or miniature grasshoppers, just apply 100 ml of nixtamal nejayote in 1 liter of water to prevent them from affecting you too much.

COOKING TIME

SALAD OF EXQUISITE PURSLANE

INGREDIENTS

– 2 cups of raw and freshly cut leafless purslane
– 2 tablespoons of raisins
– Sprinkled toasted sesame seeds
– A splash of olive oil
– 1 sliced ​​apple

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix your leaves and raisins, add a tablespoon of olive oil olive oil, add the apple and serve in a bowl, sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Enjoy your salad at all hours and remember that purslane only grows in this season.

AUGUST ACTIVITIES

SEPTEMBER ACTIVITIES

JOIN THE ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION CAMP AT THE VÍA ORGÁNICA RANCH IN MEXICO
FROM SEPTEMBER 5-11, 2022

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, deviation on the way to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

The Nitrogen Problem in Agriculture

Reduce the use of chemical fertilisers, make the chemical industry pay for pollution instead of criminalising farmers who were trapped by in the chemical treadmill  through industrial agriculture

The nitrogen problem in Agriculture is a problem created by synthetic nitrogen fertilisers made from fossil fuels. Nitrogen fertilisers contribute to atmospheric pollution and climate change in the manufacture and the use of fertilisers.

The manufacture of synthetic fertiliser is highly energy intensive. One kg of nitrogen fertiliser requires the energy equivalent of 2 litres of diesel. Energy used during fertiliser manufacture was equivalent to 191 billion litres of diesel in 2000 and is projected to rise to 277 billion in 2030. This is a major contributor to climate change, yet largely ignored. One kilogram of phosphate fertiliser requires half a litre of diesel.[1]

Nitrogen fertilisers also emit a greenhouse gas, N2O, which is 300 times more destabilising for the Climate System than CO2.

Nine planetary boundaries (Steffen et al. 2015)

The linear extractive agriculture system based on fossil fuels is rupturing ecological processes and planetary boundaries. The 3 planetary boundaries that have been transgressed to a danger zone are Biodiversity and nitrogen pollution from chemical fertilisers. The most severe violations of planetary boundaries is due to fossil fuel, chemical intensive industrial globalised agriculture -the disruption of Biodiversity Integrity and Genetic Diversity leading to biodiversity loss and species extinction and the biochemical nitrogen and phosphorus cycles caused by large scale monocultures and large scale use of chemical pesticides Erosion of genetic diversity and the transgression of the nitrogen boundary have already crossed catastrophic levels. All three overshoots are rooted in the chemical intensive, fossil fuel intensive industrial model of agriculture. 93% of cultivated crops have disappeared.

The scientific and just response to the nitrogen problem is to shift from fossil fuel chemical agriculture to biodiverse ecological agriculture and regenerative farming and to create transition strategies for farmers to shift to ecological agriculture which regenerates soil nitrogen while making farmers free of harmful and costly chemicals. Chemical free food is good for the Health of the Planet and People. [2]

The unscientific, unjust, and undemocratic response to the chemical industry created nitrogen problem is to reduce farmers instead of reducing dependence on chemical fertilisers as is happening in the Netherlands. [3]

To reduce chemical fertiliser use, governments need to make the fertiliser industry pay for nitrogen pollution, and redirect subsidies from industrial agriculture to ecological farming. Criminalising farmers for the crimes of the chemical industry is unfair and unjust. We need more farmers, not less, to regenerate the earth through an economy of care and belonging, and to produce real food which regenerates the health of the planet and our health.

There is a dystopian vision of a future of “Farming with farmers”, a digital agriculture with larger farms, more fertiliser use, more biodiversity loss.

While creating “Farming without Farmers” billionaires like Bill Gates are promoting more synthetic fertiliser use, aggravating the nitrogen problem.

Gates is promoting nitrogen fertilisers and chemical intensive GMO soya as raw material for  lab made fake food which is being labelled as “plant based”. [4]

Source: Gates Notes

The billionaire recipe is to have larger chemical intensive monoculture artificially fertilised by synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, which will emit nitrous oxide, a greenhouse Gas.

In total denial of climate science and the soil ecology, Gates is continuing the “chemical hocus pocus” when he says we need to use more fertiliser.

“To grow crops, you want tons of nitrogen-way more than you would ever find in a natural setting. Adding nitrogen is how you get corn to grow 19 feet tall and produce enormous quantities of seed”[5]

This statement is scientifically and ecologically false.

Soil is a living system. There are multiple pathways to regenerate the Soil and Soil Nitrogen and heal the nitrogen cycle.

The living soil was forgotten for an entire century with very high costs to nature and society. Soil was defined as an “empty container” for pouring synthetic fertilisers into, which were falsely seen as the source of soil fertility. “Bread from air” was the slogan after the discovery of the Haber Bosch process for fixing atmospheric nitrogen by burning fossil fuels. The illusion grew that we did not need soil.

There was the exaggerated claim that artificial fertilisers would increase food production and remove all ecological limits that land puts on agriculture. Today the evidence is growing that artificial fertilisers have reduced soil fertility and food production and contributed to desertification, water scarcity and climate change. They have created dead zones in the oceans.

The Process used to make explosives by burning fossil fuels at high temperature to fix atmospheric nitrogen were later used to make chemical fertilisers.

Justus von Liebig was the father of organic chemistry, the first scientist to explain the role of nitrogen in plants, which was quickly appropriated by greed for commerce. A new industry was created for external inputs of nitrogen, dubbed as “growth stimulants”. Outraged at the distortion of his scientific findings, in 1861 wrote a book, ”The Search for Agricultural Recycling”.

Liebig’s book was the voice of a true scientist, protecting his truth from distortions of a pseudo-science being created by commercial interests. As he writes “I thought it would be enough to just announce and spread the truth as is customary in science. I finally came to understand that this wasn’t right, and the altars of lies must be destroyed if we wish to give truth a fair chance.” The truth that Liebig was defending was that the soil is living, and its life depends on recycling, or what Sir Albert Howard later called “The Law of Return” in his “An Agricultural Testament” nearly half a century later. The lie he wanted to destroy was what he called the “chemical hocus pocus”, that you can keep extracting nutrients from the soil, giving nothing back, and have “high yields”.

Selling more fertilisers is good for the profits of the chemical industry, but it is not good for the soil or the climate. It violates nature’s law of return. And it denies farmers the ecological alternatives to regenerate and renew soil nitrogen.

Farmers did not create the nitrogen problem. The problem is created by the chemical industry. According to the Polluter pays principle, the chemical industry must pay for the pollution. Farmers are consumers of fertilisers, not the manufacturers. They are victims of a chemical intensive industrial agriculture system, like the biodiversity of plants, and animals, and the consumers whose health is degenerating with industrial food style chronic diseases. The planet and people need more farmers, not less.

Sacrificing farmers pretending to address the nitrogen problem is dishonest because it blames the farmers for a problem created by the chemical industry. It is dishonest and inconsistent to say farms and farms must be reduced while continuing to promote the use of chemical fertilisers as Gates, the Chemical Industry and governments are doing.

While the chemical industry has spread the myth that chemical fertilisers are necessary for food production and address hunger, they have destroyed biodiversity by promoting monoculture, and they have contributed to desertification of soil by destroying the biodiversity of living soil. The destruction of soil organic matter destroys the capacity of soil to conserve moisture, thereby creating the need for intensive irrigation, and therefore further disrupting the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.

Our practice and research at Navdanya over the last two decades shows the regenerative ecological agriculture builds up soil nitrogen, while synthetic fertilisers deplete it. [6]

Reducing fertiliser use does not reduce yields.[7]

The more nitrogen fertiliser you use the more you must use, because nitrogen fertilisers kill the live organisms in the soil.

Fertiliser response has dramatically reduced. Sharma and Sharma (2009) mentioned about the declining fertiliser response for the last thirty years from 13. 4 kg grain kg nutrient in 1970 to 3. 7 kg grain kg nutrient in 2005 in irrigated areas. According to Biswas and Sharma (2008) while only 54 kg NPK / ha was required to produce around 2 t /ha in 1970, around 218 kg NPK/ha was used in 2005 to sustain the same yield.

Chemical fertilisers are leading to a decline in productivity because they are destroying soil health. During three and half decades, fertiliser productivity has declined from 48 kg food grains/kg NPK fertiliser in 1970-71 to 10 kg food grains/kg NPK fertiliser in 2007-08.[8]

Since synthetic fertilisers are fossil fuel based, they contribute to the disruption of the carbon cycle. But they also disrupt the nitrogen cycle. And they disrupt the hydrological cycle, both because chemical agriculture needs ten times more water to produce the same amount of food than organic farming, and it pollutes the water in rivers and oceans.

Pulses fix nitrogen non-violently in the soil, instead of increasing dependence on synthetic fertilisers produced violently by heating fossil fuels to 550 degrees centigrade. Chick-pea can fix up to 140 kg nitrogen per hectare and pigeon-pea can fix up to 200 kg nitrogen per hectare that fix nitrogen non-violently.

Returning organic matter to the soil builds up soil nitrogen. A recent study we are undertaking shows that organic farming has increased nitrogen content of soil between 44-144 %, depending on the crops.

Since war expertise does not provide expertise about how plants work, how the soil works, how ecological processes work, the potential of biodiversity and or- ganic farming was totally ignored by the militarised model of industrial agriculture. [9]

To address the nitrogen problem, we need to bring back biodiversity in farming.

Farming did not begin with the green revolution and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. Whether it is the diversity based systems of India-Navdanya, Baranaja, or the three sisters planted by the first nations in North America, or the ancient Milpa system of Mexico, beans and pulses were vital to indigenous agroecological systems.

As Sir Albert Howard, known as the father of modern agriculture, writes in “An Agricultural Testament, comparing agriculture in the West with Agriculture in India:

“Mixed crops are the rule. In this respect the cultivators of the Orient have followed Nature’s method as seen in the primeval forest. Mixed cropping is perhaps most universal when the cereal crop is the main constituent. Crops like millets, wheat, barley, and maize are mixed with an appropriate subsidiary pulse, sometimes a species that ripens much later than the cereal. The pigeon pea (cajanusindicus), perhaps the most important leguminous crop of the Gangetic alluvium, is grown either with millets or with maize. . . Leguminous plants are common. Although it was not until 1888, after a protracted controversy lasting thirty years, that Western science finally accepted as proved the important role played by pulse crops in enriching the soil, centuries of experience had taught the peasants of the east the same lesson.”[10]

Vegetable protein from pulses is also at the heart of a balanced, nutritious diet for humans. The Benevolent Bean is central to the Mediterranean diet. India’s food culture is based on “dal roti” and “dal chawal”. Urad, moong, masoor, chana, rajma, tur, lobia, gahat have been our staples. India was the largest producer of pulses in the world. And our proteins are rich in nutrition, delicious in taste.

Pulses have been displaced by the Green Revolution monoculture, and now the spread of monocultures of Bt cotton.

The nitrogen problem due to synthetic nitrogen fertilisers is real. Uprooting farmers is a false, violent, unjust solution. Governments that have subsidised and promoted the fertiliser industry now need to shift public tax money to regenerative agroecology that is chemical free. New Agroecology schools need to be open for farmers to make a transition to ecological agriculture over a 3–5-year period. We need democratic debates on the use of public money to serve the public good, not private greed. Since how we grow our food impacts our health and the health of the planet, growers and eaters of food need to join hands to regenerate the health of the soil and communities.

The Living Soil is the answer to the Nitrogen problem. To regenerate living soil, we need regenerators. Farmers are the custodians and caretakers of the land. We need to create a new culture of Earth Care in agriculture. Getting rid of farmers is an extinction and extermination project which has no place in free, democratic just societies.

(To learn more, Join Return to Earth – AZ of Biodiversity, Agroecology, Regenerative Organic Food Systems, course of Navdanya, 1 – 12 October 2022).


References

[1] Shiva V., Soil Not Oil, 2008

[2] Shiva V., “Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change”, Synergetic Press, 2022 https://synergeticpress.com/catalog/agroecology-and-regenerative-agriculture-sustainable-solutions-for-hunger-poverty-and-climate-change/

[3] Gus, Camille. ‘Police Fire on Dutch Farmers Protesting Environmental Rules’. POLITICO, 6 July 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/police-fire-dutch-farmer-protest-nitrogen-emission-cut/

[4] Gates, Bill. ‘Why I Love Fertilizer’. Gatesnotes.Comhttps://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Why-I-love-fertilizer

[5] Gates, Bill, How to avoid a Climate Disaster, Allen Lane, 2021 – pg 123

[6] Navdanya, “Seeds of Hope, Seeds of Resilience”. 2017 https://navdanyainternational.org/publications/seeds-of-hope-seeds-of-resilience/

[7] Harvey, Fiona, and Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent. ‘Using Far Less Chemical Fertiliser Still Produces High Crop Yields, Study Finds’. The Guardian, 27 June 2022. The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/27/using-far-less-chemical-fertiliser-still-produces-high-crop-yields-study

[8] Aulakh, M. S. and Benbi, D. K. 2008. Enhancing fertiliser use efficiency. In  Proceedings of FAI Annual Seminar 2008, 4-6 December, 2008. The Fertilizer Association of India, New Delhi, India. pp. SII-4 (1-23).

Subba Rao, A. and Reddy, K. S. 2009. Implications of soil fertility to meet future demand: Indian scenario. In Proceedings of the IPI-OUAT-IPNI International Symposium on Potassium Role and Benefits in Improving Nutrient Management for Food Production, Quality and Reduced Environmental Damages, Vol. 1 (Eds. MS Brar and SS Mukhopadhyay), 5-7 November 2009. IPI, Horgen, Switzerland and IPNI, Norcross, USA. pp. 109-135.

[9] Navdanya, “Pulse of Life”, 2016. https://navdanyainternational.org/publications/pulse-of-life-the-rich-biodiversity-of-edible-legumes/

[10]Sir Albert Howard. An Agricultural Testament. pg 13