seacom in the eastern himalayas a unique experiment is underway in this small indian state agriculture here is 100 percent organic synthetic pesticides and fertilizers are banned. we are not only taking everything from the environment but we are giving something back to the environment. in germany meanwhile organic farming remains a niche market why is it still not mainstream is seek them an example for other countries to follow. the authorities and see come are strict conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables are forbidden so they are being destroyed.

smugglers were looking to sell this produce at a market in gun talk the state capital the smugglers were caught by pusong tamang who is employed by the government as a food control officer. so we are doing something good for our or our. that's why i wish to not feel sad because we are giving examples for the whole world out of this is not good for a hell this is not good for environment so we are destroying all these things. fresh produce is destroyed on a regular basis and succumb with its policy the regional government is taking a firm stance against global farming practices that rely heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. in 2016 seacom became the world's 1st 100 percent organic state. nestled in the eastern

himalayas seacom covers 7000 square kilometers roughly half the size of the german state of tyranny and the mile high city of gum is its capital. sica might be part of india but in terms of agricultural policy it's forged its own path for the last 3 years. produce of valuable to its nearly 700000 inhabitants is organic only. go for food because for like here's the problem i saw this is 1st of all if you look out at issues especially good for kids for us and i go for organic food decides for . organic farming expert. has traveled to see them on behalf of several international organizations for sustainability he's here to see if it's

agriculture really is 100 percent organic and if it is how has the state managed it his 1st impressions are positive if i just try to pepper it's fiery hot as a real bite exactly how a pepper should be. by the carrots are very fresh you can tell they were picked just yesterday. it's a pleasure to see how fresh everything is what good quality the papaya is are excellent you just want to cut them open and dig in so that's organic should be delicious looking produce with great flavor make from a dish that's organic. guy or has been tasked with deciding if seacom should be nominated for a prestigious international award for policies promoting agro a college to spend a week here as a guest from germany a country seen in c. comfort as highly progressive in terms of organic farming. meyerhoff for runs a conventional farm near passed down in southern germany approximately 60 percent

of his earnings come from crops used for bio gas he wants to farm sustainably and avoid using pesticides but he doesn't believe that a complete switch to organic is necessary. biters schiemann of both types of farming produce healthy crops that will help you live to 100. as that this is the analytics we use are very precise. these days that we can identify even the slightest residue so the idea that conventional farming has adverse effects on people's health i'm very skeptical yes keep this. despite his reservations my hope for experiments with organic practices now and then this year he did not use any insecticide on the rapeseed he grows for human consumption today he wants to see if that's made a difference. as

of ozma yes it is and b. follows what we're seeing here is an infestation of rape stem weevil longer it looks really for me as a farmer it's always very hard to gauge exactly what the pesticide does the vehicle museum. so you don't know exactly what effect it's had. neuer but i'd like to try new things out and as a beekeeper i wanted to see if doing without pesticides is a viable option. for the i thought. it's all down to the harvest is often at all that often given the infestation we're seeing here it's not looking promising to get. to switch to organic farming is a time consuming process and calls for a lot of patience crops and soil need to adjust after years of conventional farming . my hope for the experiment with rate seed has cost him 25 percent of his usual yield next year he'll go back to spraying his crops with conventional farming crop

losses aren't factored into the business model. in order to maximize profits farmers need to be an organized and unanimous group. of. its german farmers day and be spotted the annual conference of the german farmers association . the event demonstrates how much of farming in germany works it's a large scale industry led by risk adverse interest groups. the delegates insist they're open minded about organic farming but they're also quick to stress that it's a tricky market. been fighting for much of what of india it would obviously if we don't find sellers in the organic farming sector tells us that it prefers organic grain imported from ukraine then we need to take that into account we're not operating in a vacuum. market exists and it will continue to grow but

a centrally planned 100 percent switch to organic farming just doesn't make sense. kinds of. judging by the mood at the farmers general assembly organic farming has little chance of flourishing the association carefully. cultivates its time is to the chemicals industry one of the world's largest pesticide manufacturers is among the event sponsors. and yet among german farmers there are many opponents of conventional methods here in the oil to slant region north of hamburg back month turned his back on old school farming after 20 years. it's going to rain again on the weekend in the gardening let's get rid of those weeds in their own culture on the back of i think it's ok august started. his apple orchard covers 50 hectares 2 years ago that month stopped using glyphosate and pesticides he uses mechanical methods to tackle weeds and relies on nature to regulate itself but weed control

without the help of chemicals is a major challenge. we've got an infestation of passes here that's a part of organic farming but for me it's a new problem. we don't have the option of regulating it we just have to hope that nature comes to our aid that's enough and that beneficial insects are able to fight the pests in the largest you should linger with some to come from a drop in yield is to be expected after a switch to organic farming the oil and all this in here we've also got clouded drab moths an apple scab that's leaving. in the 1st year the apple harvest shrunk by 30 percent a tough lesson. among fish trying to get financial support for converting but it's nowhere near enough to offset the risk of too far you have to shoulder the risk yourself. he's also not allowed to label his produce

organic for the 1st 3 years that's because after decades of conventional farming think the soil isn't yet certified as organic. i have the production costs of organic farming but i'm not in a position to market my produce as organic 55 so that adds up to costly production but uncertain prices through on. the hear the. farmers who convert to organic farming get little to no subsidies it varies from state to state but now a discount supermarket better known for pressuring farmers to lower their prices is trying to help. penny subsidiary launched an initiative to help farmers who are transitioning to organic standards thereby boosting the sector. we give producers who have decided to make this transition to higher return for

their produce than they would get on the free market for conventionally farm produce that means we're paying them a premium which they pass on in the retail price so our customers are paying slightly more for this produce than they pay for conventionally farmed goods but not as much as they pay if the goods were certified organic. it's a scheme that makes financial sense for penny it saves costs by reducing its share of expensive imported goods. just 8 percent of farms in germany are organic demand for locally sourced organic vegetables tends to exceed supply. back in sea come here it took 13 years for the state's agriculture to transition to organic 66000 farmers were retrained. with you. unfound

guy is visiting mom and her husband. they have just 4 hectares of land but grow 16 sorts of fruits and vegetables even though they could live from sales of cauliflower broccoli and can bench alone the tree. we like do it well not only to plug the harvest of us divil from the fair but we like to see the health of. we go for practicing. into cropping best of those we go for maintaining the soil fertility and planting only a single crop. in every time gives us the back to. the healthy ways so we go further of an idea of estival slate that. they harvest 3 times a year. and practice means they grow amain crop such as cauliflower alongside other crops that help it grow. the aim is to cultivate healthy and robust crops and

suppress one needs insect pests and diseases. compost replaces artificial fertilizer. part of the process they help break down the organic waste into high quality compost for the fields. in other crops clearly don't need chemical harvests have been steady for 6 years so the farmer is astonished to find her potatoes affected by a fungal disease for the 1st time it could mean total problem failure. but in succumb these setbacks aren't a disaster making a profit isn't the 1st priority and in the long run they know their harvests are dependable and i'm one of the. one reason his crop rotation advice to another is the compost it ensures a very healthy fertile soil so there's no soil borne disease. and the crops are

very robust and here they use the heritage properties of plant extracts to prevent the cross balling prayed to disease. and to come when. she comes organic farmers have faith in their methods they can't understand why other countries aren't following their example especially in germany. what i feel is the money is being all already it is sound in value they have a lot of knowledge of we have a small states here in germany many many. many many people are there with the intellectual mind so i will. go and correct is this. a family in germany. the reason why farmers and see come suffer so few setbacks has its roots in the national organic farming research institute here scientists

develop methods to optimally protect and strengthen agricultural crops based both on traditional practices and the latest scientific findings. the farmers themselves have to be proactive over 700 further training programs are available to them maize cultivation for example this farmer is experimenting with using named tree extract as a form of pest control that doesn't adversely affect beneficial insects. biologist robbie kind of his day fervently believes the extra work is worth it. organic farming is and bridging the ecosystem services that we have a lot of those that are through. the populations increase the bumblebee population increase the port au prince for permission of the grave for you have the impact on the production system. in seeking feeding the population is the 1st consideration but all the while protecting biodiversity and the environment

a wealth of expertise in organic farming has been built up here in the himalayas nature is seen as a valuable asset that deserves to be handled with care. fact that seacom became the world's 1st region to switch to 100 percent organic agriculture has a lot to do with people's attitudes. to the big. dog friends that make friends with the group if you would. pass by that i say but i noticed here is that these farmers have a different mentality. understand that they're part of nature. or it might be something to do with their fates but they respect nature for them not to. pick out

was the same as because of that they can't really imagine using agro toxin eyes and artificial fertilisers dillard's as it's. chemical free farming a vision that seacom is making reality. here at another research institute staff and farmers have gathered to meet the man who led sea km's reinvention as a model organic state. it was india's longest serving chief minister he is the son of farmers and travels regularly through the state drumming up support for his mission if you're glue frequently. persuading farmers to dispense with pesticides and artificial fertilisers wasn't easy at 1st for more than 40 years conventional farming was the norm here as it is across the rest of the country.

if your pov on chumming is playing the long game it was very hard to be. is to say louis. part of most it was because people. that have it and where for thinking this is a very difficult. but slowly people. realize you have to decide to become organic. now 3 other states in india are planning to go fully organic in the house of commons channeling one the people who seek him over to his vision others are now following suit. is that. should be organic by 2050 and for that we all. work together. if we walk to

a good though it is definitely possible. this is my message to the work. but the acid test is this does organic farming have the capacity to meet demand in large industrialized nations. researchers in frick's switzerland are looking to answer this question for 40 years this field has been farmed conventionally directly next to it are fields that are being farmed organically the long term experiment has led to a significant finding the soil on the organic fields is of considerably higher quality. of course neatly heads up this ambitious experiment the only one of its kind worldwide he says it shows that organic plants are stronger and more robust than their detractors maintain. your theology is to be faceless after 40 years we can see that here we have 75 to 80

percent of the yield of conventionally farmed tweet is calling the incident bites since hot and you can see with the naked eye that the crop is healthier. poster device and based on his will this ringo weeds under control no problem it's a flourishing field. i go to john and i says the fall guys your rights and all. the researchers have also shown that there are fewer pest investigations on the organic fields obviously problems do arise organic pesticide has failed to tackle potato beetles for example you know i thought it seemed it was a bit late so it wasn't very effective i just see it go as anything to turn unusual amount of damage. in fact a sort of problem is usually very easily solved with organic farming methods as you know. even if organic farming requires time and effort course neatly

predicts tough times ahead for conventional farming. but the soco seem least a small income it's a dead end because a number of problems have become insurmountable seem to be going to be certainly aids or resistant to or bizarre got sick i can see certain diseases are resistant to fungicides. really seeing we're seeing increased sorely roshan and soil compaction hobby or that as a result systems are becoming uncontrollable because they're no longer robust colony reroll groups. from his and his colleagues point of view the only type of farming that can meet the needs of the world population and benefit the environment is organic farming. but it is consumers who will decide if they want organic war non-organic for the time being 9 out of 10 consumers buy conventionally farmed produce mainly because it's more affordable. but why are fruits and

vegetables grown with the help of pesticides and artificial fertilisers so cheap it's partly down to the supermarkets price wars but there's more to it than that. another decisive factor the real costs and who bears them it can. mr adrian miller has been exploring this issue for some time to take milk $24.00 grass fed cows are kept in the county sheds at the swiss research center each of them produces 6000 liters of milk a year high performing breen's in conventional dairy farming are expected to produce up to 50 percent more if they are to be profitable this increased production is bad for the environment and it's not usually the farmer who bears the cost. in the cost of the phone and such from gets by on so we're the ones who bear the costs. for example because we have to pay for purification of drinking water

due to the nitrate and pesticides used in farming toward the city but we share those cause. if we import animal feed then it's the other countries who carry the cost of the animal feed production so we're shifting the problem to other countries and in terms of climate change i think it's the next generations will carry the cost of what we're doing today so it's an all round bad deal this is the. least of the you. british researchers have calculated that if all the costs were taken into account we should be paying at least twice as much for conventionally produced food . but on the other hand in the future organic products could become cheaper thanks to agricultural robots and satellite navigation. machinery i mean that out of this machine as an infrared camera. can see it identifies weeds among the lettuce and cuts it away with a knife but. hope 3 to buy it. for you to move the pieces

faith used to take 25 people working on a whole afternoon to achieve the same result we can now achieve with one person using a tractor and a robot that would help. them . geier rounds off his trip to see come with a visit to the country's largest agricultural area the tell me t. garden covers $177.00 hectares $400.00 people work here producing some of the best organic tea in asia. harvests are completely stable he added nutrients in the loamy soil ensure the tea bushes are highly resilient. because organic tea plantation shows that it's possible to produce tea and harmony with nature which support anyone who maintains that large scale monoculture farming is impossible without chemicals and should come here and see that it is but i've

been there done that i was based on the land. once the leaves have been harvested the tea pickers take them to be weighed they earn significantly higher wages than their counterparts in neighboring darjeeling not least because the yields are good although they weren't right after the plantation went organic harvests dropped by 2 thirds the plants were used to artificial fertilizers and pesticides and weren't resilient enough all of. you for quite significantly but now if you've been almost 12 years now all the birds have coming back again to both 200 metric tons or if you've been increasing every year for a while for the coming next 5 to 6 years movies the little bit you fruits have when you're going through. now the tea produced here meets all the requirements of major international organic certification. and it would. ban bad guy

or strip is drawing to an end he's deeply impressed by what he's seen. as was the case i have to say what i've seen here is unique worldwide including conditions in which the people who work in agriculture live on them and they don't have to deal with pesticides their workplace is healthy as you can see. that they're doing well and it's a wonderful to see that farmers can have this much pride in what they do this quarter and they have that much to be proud of ballance i can only abs i'm going to sign you need to see them is small but its vision is enormous perhaps the eco farmers of the himalayas are kickstarting world wide change. i mean.

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