Objection to Ayarpadi Farm decision

The Auroville Farm Group has sent an open letter to the FO-FAMC and the newly created Farm Service questioning their decision to request Ayarpadi Farm to give up five acres of their cultivated land to be used by volunteers to explore a farming future. They reminded the groups that farms are not just fields, but carefully set up entities. It advises that volunteers join an existing farm of their choice for a few years and learn farming in Auroville’s challenging reality, after which they can be allocated land to farm on their own, or are now allocated Auroville plots which are not yet being farmed. The Farm Service stated that a new way of looking at our farming is a necessity as many crops that Auroville produces are not used in the community and a large part of what is being used in Auroville comes from outside.