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High-yield farming methods need not cause environmental damage, Vedic agriculture course shows
by Global Good News staff writer

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1 September 2012

One aim of a course on Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture, which has been held on four continents around the world, is to showcase how soil fertility can be maintained and even restored through proper agricultural techniques.

In the course, its creator, Dr Peter Swan, debunked a few commonly held myths of chemical agriculture, which he calls 'the old principles'.

'The old principles are all dependent on destruction of the soil and providing so-called nutrients in the form of chemicals,' he said. 'The new principle is to nourish the soil and provide the nutrients through the biology of the soil.'

In other words, the new principle focuses on creating humus and re-enlivening the biology of the soil. This happens naturally through the life cycle of the plant, but the process can be accelerated through the use of compost.

Applying compost has been repeatedly shown to improve soil quality, even in areas that were previously barren.

However, Dr Swan emphasized that if proper agricultural methods are utilized in the first place, the soil need not be depleted.

Though some question whether it is possible to produce enough to feed a nation using farming techniques that do not cause damage to the soil and the environment, Dr Swan simply points to China as an example.

In 1900, Chinese farms supported 6.9 people, 0.82 cattle, and 1.54 pigs per hectare of land. Some areas supported up to 10 people per hectare. This is a very high density and, as Dr Swan noted, it has been sustained for 4,000 years.

In contrast to this density of one person (with livestock) per 1,000 square metres in China, the United States supports just one person per 13,000 square metres.

'China has managed to maintain soil fertility for over 4,000 years and produce much more than Western agriculture has ever produced until just the last few decades,' Dr Swan concluded, showing that high-yield farming methods do not need to deplete the soil.

See related articles describing the broad scope and holistic nature of the course. Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture is the central theme, and Dr Swan goes into its unique features, in addition to organics utilizing ancient Vedic technologies to assist and nourish the crops in their growth:

∙ 'Popular course on Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture offered around the world'
∙ 'Course on Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture highlights positive worldwide trends'
∙ 'Inner intelligence of nature utilized through Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture'
∙ 'Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture nourishes plants from the level of sound'

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