Have you started tilling your own garden? Us too! Well, what is it that is pushing us all to abandon the factory made and go back to farm made? Well, the list is long. Though industrialisation and globalisation have commodified each and every food to make it more available for everyone and provide jobs, but, it comes at an enormous cost.
Farming, in India, has been a very intimate and a public affair.
- Traditional farms provide basic necessities to all communities, consumers and society, in general
- They have been vernacular in nature- with traditional, vernacular and interdependent practices and approaches
- It is not just business, it is a multi-functional way of living
- Their motivation is fuelled by a social and inherent responsibility rather than economic expediency
- They do not dump any waste to pollute the air and water of their villages but rather produce organic waste to use as manure and natural fertilisers
- No chemicals or additives are used to tweak the growth of a crop, it is all organic in nature. The land is treated like a family member. Only cherished, and nourished, never exploited
- The animals on these farms have a free life. They are treated with gentleness and respect
- Not only animals, but humans have a free life too. They are not treated as machines and exploited for their skilled labor
- Farmers and animals help maintain healthy and interdependent ecosystems. They help sustain the biological health of your soil
But the so-called modern factory farms have been standardised, corporatised, and controlled in lieu of mass production. Their regulated and monitored environments not only harm the personal lives of the animals and farmers but also the quality of your food is compromised. Industrial systems based on huge machinations and organisations have a more profit-based approach and the agricultural production.
So how is food better when grown in organic farms?
- Picking your own vegetables from the farms is a holistic experience and you get to choose from a large range of organic food that is native to your region!
- Farm-made products are freshly brought directly to you, with no usage of preservatives or gassing to fasten ripening, synthetic fungicides, herbicides and insecticides
- The sustainable grazing practices help improve soil quality. It is done so by carbon-pulling from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil
- All fodder is organic and hence, the waste produced is organic. And the chemical free approaches protect the quality of the food while maintaining the nutritional value
- Products such as milk can be richer in nutrients, such as the fatty acids that can’t be produced by the human body directly. Such as, Omega-3
- All farm food is GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) free and GE (genetically engineered) free. Only naturally occurring alterations and traditional crossbreeding is practiced
Let’s do our part and take a step towards sustainability with trusting, practising and buying farm-made food! Let your social conscience thrive while also saving the ecologies around you.