News reports reflect awakening in collective consciousness: progress towards sustainability in agriculture
by Global Good News staff writer

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21 February 2014

Recent news reports have indicated progress this year towards developing more sustainable agricultural practices. Early in the year, Natural News reported: Industrial agriculture has reached its 'peak,' say scientists; time for a return to small-scale organics. The article explains, 'The era of large-scale monoculture [growing large fields of a single crop], with all of its toxic pesticides and untested genetic modified organisms (GMOs) could finally be coming to an end. Researchers from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, discovered recently that ''yield expansion rates'' for most major industrial food crops are plateauing or even declining in many areas of the world.'

'Yield' refers to the amount of a crop that can be grown per hectare or other unit of land. Chemical companies and seed breeders have up to now been able to continually increase crop yield through the development of hybrid seeds, genetically modified crops, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides, explained Dr Peter Swan, an expert in Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture and in sustainable agricultural practices. That increase has reached a plateau, or is even starting to decline in many areas of the world.

The article refers to a recent study, noting that capital investment in the industrial model of agribusiness is still increasing, even though yield is declining. As much as 31% of the global supply of rice, corn, and wheat has reached a plateau and has led researchers to the understanding that the industrial method of farming has nearly run its course—a positive development, Dr Swan commented, in light of the highly toxic, destructive nature of these practices.

At the same time, he said, organic agriculture is continuing to improve its production and its yield. Farmers will turn to organic agriculture when they cannot continue to get the yields they need with chemical methods. This will support the trend towards a return to small-scale, diversified organic farming. Last year, as an example, organic rice production in India outstripped chemical production by a wide margin. Farmers will increasingly employ organic methods simply to improve their bottom line.

Progress in a related area was reported by Reuters: France moves to ban genetically modified maize planting in short and long term. France is continuing its efforts to ban the production of genetically modified maize (corn), in the short as well as in the long term. As the French government 'maintains that genetically modified crops present environmental risks', they have 'published a decree . . . to prevent the planting of genetically modified maize as a stopgap measure, while the government works on changes to domestic and European laws to ensure a longer-term ban' on the practice.

Another angle on this far-reaching topic, indicating a different kind of progress, Dr Swan said, was highlighted in a recent Huffington Post article. In Meet the New Monsanto: Dow Chemical . . . and their new 'Agent Orange' Crops, Andrew Kimbrell exposes the potential for more toxic environmental impact from Dow Chemical company that, according to the author, 'will make Monsanto's glyphosate seem mild'.

This would be the effect of Dow's 'new generations of GE (genetically engineered) corn and soybean varieties that are able to withstand spraying of 2,4-D'. 2,4-D is one-half of the 'highly toxic mix that made up Agent Orange . . . . a defoliant used on the jungles and farm land of Vietnam'—and far more toxic than glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup product. Use of the stronger chemical came about because of diminishing effectiveness of glyphosate as weeds resistant to it began to proliferate.

The interesting point about this article, Dr Swan commented, is that the media are, in a timely manner, spreading the news of a potentially large-scale disaster even before its widespread implementation. This kind of reporting demonstrates the principle of 'averting the danger before it comes' in Maharishi's Vedic Science, and also shows a new level of awakening in the collective consciousness, one of the predicted effects of large groups of people around the world practising Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programmes.

Copyright © 2014 Global Good News Service



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