Auro-Orchard goes organic

Auro-Orchard, one of Auroville’s biggest farms, took the decision to go organic in October 2012. How have they done? And how optimistic are they about the future of food production in Auroville?

Auro-Orchard was one of the first pieces of land purchased for Auroville in 1964. The land had been owned by a Brahmin, who was often referred to as ‘the Swami’, and there was a small Ganesh temple on it. When the land was bought, a promise was made to the Swami that the temple would be maintained and a puja offered there every day. This is still happening today.

Gerard, who had been in the Ashram since 1955, was the first manager of Auro-Orchard and is still there today. “It happened like this. When I asked the Mother if I should go up north to study agriculture, she encouraged me and I went. On one of my visits back, Mother called me and said, ‘Near Promesse I have a piece of land. Nothing much is happening there. Why don’t you go and see if you can do something there?’ She mentioned it could be a good place to grow food for Auroville.”

The work began there in 1969. “We dug a bore-well and began developing the infrastructure without any big funding as Mother had told us to start small and let it grow. She also made me responsible for trying to make it self-supporting. Somehow, over the years, and thanks to many people who have worked here and to Bithi who is the backbone of our administration, we have succeeded in this.”

Throughout the years, Gerard and his team worked to build up the farm and provide food for Auroville, refusing to become involved in the conflict with the Sri Aurobindo Society in the1970s. “Mother took me out of the Society,” said Gerard, “and said ‘work directly with me and carry on your work’.”

Recently, Christian, who is a civil engineer and town-planner by profession but who has had much experience in the fields of forestry, gardening and poultry, joined the Auro-Orchard team. It was Bernard from nearby Pebble Garden who introduced Christian to farming and then to Auro-Orchard. “Christian is a grace, he has fallen from the sky,” enthuses Gerard. “He is the man who will carry Auro-Orchard into a new cycle of better things, and it is time for me to slowly withdraw.” Christian is equally admiring of Gerard. “He is a great man and it is wonderful to work with him.”

That cycle of better things includes the decision to turn Auro-Orchard into a fully organic farm. Gerard’s decision not to go fully organic in the early years was based upon the need to provide enough food for the growing Auroville community, and his feeling that this would not be possible if the farm was organic. It should be remembered that the conventional farming doctrine of that period was that chemical inputs were essential to promote production. However, he had seen that over the years the soil was becoming exhausted and diseased and today he is fully supportive of the decision to go organic.

“Going organic is not an easy choice when the primary focus of Auro-Orchard has always been to produce plentiful food for the larger community,” explains Christian. “Going organic requires a huge investment and there is a period when production falls off and there are losses. It is also important to manage the flows of organic matter so that you avoid external input: if you are importing organic matter from elsewhere, you are stealing it from another place. However, thanks to techniques like BRF (Bois Raméal Fragmenté) and the use of green manures, we managed to go fully organic. Only two years after achieving this we are back at the production level we had before Cyclone Thane in 2011. This means we are producing approximately ten tons of vegetables and five tons of fruit each year off the ten acres that we presently farm.”

And it is not only the soil that has benefitted from the new regime. Auro-Orchard has always been a big provider of eggs to Auroville, and now the standard of egg production is also being improved. “Now we raise the chickens in a more respectful way,” says Christian, “by no longer de-beaking them and by allowing them to range free, feeding them kitchen waste and by providing them with a comfortable shelter. We are trying to establish the “AV egg” as a better standard for our eggs than the ‘Pondy egg’.” Gerard chuckles. “The eggs taste much better because the chickens have a 5-star hotel here!”

What are the major challenges facing Auro-Orchard today? Christian notes that it is sometimes difficult to balance the accounts. “We do not rely on guest contributions, or providing consultancies or training courses, and we do not do food processing, as other Auroville farms do. We have to be very tight with our expenses. Our focus remains on providing simple, affordable food for the community.” In fact, at present Auro-Orchard is one of the main contributors to Foodlink, with 98% of its produce going to Auroville. Water has not been an issue in the past, but there is concern that development along the Puducherry highway, which runs adjacent to Auro-Orchard, may make water scarce in years to come.

Christian, however, is optimistic about the future. “There is still potential for production to increase: we are still far from using the full capacity of the land as we still use only a small fraction of the organic matter available here. This place is like Sleeping Beauty that, one day, will awake and blossom. We just need to have more committed people – volunteers, Newcomers, Aurovilians – helping here.” Gerard adds, “Our dream is that one day Auro-Orchard will become a centre of excellence and a first-rate research institute.” In the long term, they would like to train Indian farmers and others in organic methods.

Meanwhile, they are concentrating upon stabilizing their organic production and exploring getting organic certification for Auroville farms. This could be third-party accreditation, like the one obtained by Annapurna from IMO India. For the moment, however, Auro-Orchard has pushed for the creation of a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) which is a way that a group of at least five farmers can certify their produce themselves. At the moment, Auro-Orchard, Brihaspathi, Discipline, Kalpavruksha, Sustenance and Windarra farms are part of this PGS.

Mother had wanted Auroville to strive to be a self-supporting township. At present, it is estimated that, on average, the Auroville farms provide only about 10% of the food needs of the community. Can Auroville ever be self-sufficient in food? Christian is doubtful. “There is no city in the world that can feed itself. Cities, by definition, are places where population gathers to maximize opportunities. As a consequence, they depend on their hinterland and surrounding regions to provide for their diverse needs.” He believes that Auroville should encourage farmers in the region to turn organic and provide us with good healthy food rather than the food Auroville purchases at present in the open market, food which is laced with chemicals and which is sometimes transported from far afield.

“Within Auroville we can also do several things. Through truly innovative town planning, we can encourage vegetable gardening and urban farming, namely farming in the city itself. And of course, we should make better use of the Greenbelt to improve and augment the production of our existing farms.”