A conversation with Anand Ethirajalu, farmer-turned-ecologist and project director for the Save Soil movement, on groundwork.
We don’t talk about it much, but we should: a remarkable transition has been unfolding on the Indian subcontinent over the past few decades. Hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of farmers have been trained in regenerative practices and have successfully made the switch. Yes, with higher yields and greater profits, largely due to significantly lower production costs.
In the conversation, we focus on one region where the Save Soil movement, led by Sadhguru (yes, the same man who rode his motorcycle around the world to raise awareness about the importance of soil), has been training farmers. More than 10,000 farmers per year have participated in these programs for decades.
There are countless lessons to be learned. Soil can recover quickly, but shifting farmers’ mindsets often takes much longer. One key strategy: don’t risk the whole farm. Start with just 10%, and show immediate financial results—higher profits. Provide crucial support in the early years, especially during the first growing season.
Farmers are now connected through WhatsApp groups, where they can receive expert advice for pest or disease issues within 24 to 48 hours—always with solutions they can prepare themselves, without relying on expensive toxic inputs.
More and more farmers are also joining programs to plant permanent crops like timber and fruit trees, both as a form of insurance and with the broader goal of planting enough trees (currently over 12 million a year) to begin “harvesting the clouds”. Yes, this is part of restoring the small water cycle.
We also take a look at the political landscape, as the Indian government has made natural farming a national goal for the coming decades. This is likely a global first. While it will require a tremendous amount of work to implement effectively, and while there will be pushback from the agri-input industry and, of course, government policy will never be perfect, this is still a massive milestone worth celebrating.
REGEN REDUCES INPUT/CULTIVATION COSTS & INCREASES PROFITS
The core economic incentive for farmers to adopt regenerative practices is the significant reduction in input costs (like synthetic fertilisers and pesticides) while maintaining or increasing yields, leading to higher profits.
“So, when we go and give a new system of practice, saying that doing this was going to reduce your cultivation cost, that is the key incentive for them to even consider transitioning to another system. It is going to reduce your input cost and cultivation, and hence you will have larger profits compared to your conventional systems.” Anand Ethirajalu
SHOW FARMERS THE PROFITS, AND THEY WILL CHANGE
Focusing on the economic benefits and showcasing successful peers is the most effective strategy to overcome farmer resistance and drive the transition to regenerative agriculture.
“The mindset problem we are tackling by bringing in farmers as the resource leaders in all our training programmes and awareness programmes. We have a YouTube channel where we have hundreds of success stories and testimonials of farmers who have converted to regenerative practices, and they’re making their agriculture a very profitable activity.” Anand Ethirajalu
USING DIGITAL TOOLS TO SCALE EDUCATION
Anand details how WhatsApp groups, helplines, and social media platforms became essential tools for providing real-time, localised support and scaling farmer education and problem-solving across thousands.
“We devised a WhatsApp system where we created – we brought all the farmers into WhatsApp groups, which are, again, region specific… A farmer will just take a photo of the pest, and he will put it in the WhatsApp group, and he will ask for a solution. Within 24 hours, the farmer resource leaders, as well as our technical team, will give at least three or four different solutions for the same problem, and the farmer can choose from the four different options based on the local materials that are available to him…” Anand Ethirajalu
WHY PERMANENT CROPS, MOSTLY PRODUCTIVE TREES, ARE SO IMPORTANT
Anand argues that integrating trees into farming systems provides critical climate resilience, long-term income security (“life insurance”), and is essential for restoring ecological balance, including influencing local rainfall patterns (“harvesting the clouds”).
“So, it becomes an alternative source of livelihood, even if there is a storm. The chances of trees surviving over crops are much higher. So, the fruits from the trees or the timber from the trees become additional income and an asset or wealth to these farmers. So, we designed this programme as a life insurance scheme.” Anand Ethirajalu
Above some explanation of the Ekman spirals mentioned in the conversation, taken from the Save Soil’s Policy recommendation book submitted to the Ministry of Environment & FOrests, Govt of India.
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and also Anand talked about
- How grass roots movement has managed to make natural farming an official government mission in India
- The debates internally about using AI to help farmers
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Shameek Chakravarty, how zero budget natural farming is taking off in India
- Satish Kumar – Be humble, you can’t outsmart nature
- Satya Tripathi, raising $2.3B to transition 6m smallholder farmers beyond organic
——————————————
Feedback, comments, suggestions? Reach me via Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, in the comments below or through Get in Touch on this website.
Join the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P
The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.