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Indian farmer Amarjit Sharma grows wheat and other crops on five acres in the heart of the region known as "the breadbasket of India," the fertile fields of Punjab.
Until four years ago, he was the kind of farmer whom government leaders and agricultural scientists hailed as a model in the developing world.
But now, he has gone organic and is part of a quiet but growing rebellion, which could affect the world's food crisis.
Decades ago, when the modern, chemical-reliant system of farming - the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s - swept across his region, Sharma became one of its biggest boosters. He abandoned traditional methods and embraced synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and modern, high-yield seeds, much like any farmer in Iowa.
And for about 20 years, Sharma says, the Green Revolution worked wonders. His crop yields and his income soared. But then, things unraveled.
"The Punjabi farmer's problems had reached such levels, he wasn't making any profit," Sharma says, through an interpreter, as he walks through rows of his waist-high wheat crop.
Kicking The Chemical Habit
Sharma's soil was deteriorating, so he had to buy more and more fertilizer every year to grow the same amount of crops. No matter how much pesticide he sprayed, insects still destroyed large portions of his crops. Sharma says he "realized the vicious circle in which we were stuck."
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In India, Bucking The 'Revolution' By Going Organic
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By Daniel Zwerdling
National Public Radio, June 1, 2009
Straight to the Source
