Pesticide drift in CA

A harrowing news story of (commonplace) pesticide poisoning from the California Report.
Note: even workers on organic fields are susceptible to drift from other farms. Makes me wonder how chemical-free our organic fruits and vegetables really are….
Listening to this story, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a certified organic farmer in Wayanad, [...]

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Biodiversity and Sashi Tharoor

(Unrelated — or are they?  This is where my PhD seems to be heading now….)
Rattan plants facing extinction in the Western Ghats
Sashi Tharoor wants more organic farming in Kerala

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Chief Minister: encourage organic farming in the State

From the Hindu:
Encourage organic farming, says V.S. Achuthanandan…this will save the soil from negative impacts

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In honor of World Food Day, two stories from the Hindu

Protests against genetically modified eggplant (bt brinjal).
Kerala’s Chief Minister reasserts his position against GMOs
And, randomly: the most expensive Malayalam film hits theaters today. Worth the money?

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On NPR: Organic Farming in Punjab

In India, Bucking The ‘Revolution’ By Going Organic
Interesting quote from the article:
Environmental groups in India estimate that more than 300,000 farmers like Sharma have switched to organic growing methods in recent years, or have started the transition from conventional to organic farming. Comparisons between India and the U.S. are difficult because their economies and cultures [...]

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Organic mango festival!

I had meant to post this earlier.
Organic Mango Fest
Unfortunately, I think I reach Kerala just as the mango and jackfruit seasons end.

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Organic news from Kerala

From the Hindu: Tribal communities continue to export organic pepper (grown in reserves) to Germany
(Some more background from other news articles: Apparently this scheme was set up to help members of these communities battle things like bad debt. A parallel eco-tourism scheme, aimed to attract well-off people to the Periyar Tiger Reserve, is also in [...]

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Organic Food Sales Still Growing Despite Economic Woes

From TreeHugger.
Quote from the article:
while the organic industry is still growing the growth is slowing.

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Organic news from the Hindu

Switch to GM crops cost South African farmers dear. Some visited the State for organic lessons.

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A depressing graph

Rate of suicides = the number of suicides per one lakh (100,000) population.  Kerala is #3.  In 2006, about 9,000 people committed suicide in Kerala.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau of India, 2006

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