Countries to follow. The authorities and see come are strict conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables are forbidden so theyre being destroyed. When any. Smugglers were looking to sell this produce at a market in gun talk the state capital the smugglers were caught bypassing tamang who is employed by the government as a food control officer. So we are doing something good for our role ard. Thats why we start feel sad because we are giving examples for the whole world 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 cecum 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 worlds 1st 100 percent organic state. Nestled in the eastern himalayas seacom covers 7000 square kilometers roughly half the size of the german state of. The mile high city. Is its capital. Sica might be part of india but in terms of Agricultural Policy its forged its own path for the last 3 years. Produce of valuable to its nearly 700000 inhabitants is organic only. Id go for food because for my kids of my size its especially for health you know out at issue especially good for kids for as. I go for organic food not best decides for. Organic farming expert. Has traveled to see them on behalf of several International Organizations for sustainability hes here to see if its agriculture really is 100 percent organic and if it is how has the state managed in his 1st impressions are positive if poppy if i just try to pepper its fiery hot as a real bite exactly how a pepper should be this. By the carrots are very fresh you can tell they were picked just yesterday. Its 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 thats organic should be delicious looking produce with great flavor from a dish thats organic. Guy or has been tasked with deciding if seacom should be nominated for a Prestigious International award for policies promoting agro a colleague to spend a week here as a guest from germany a country seen in c. Comfort as highly progressive in terms of organic farming. Georg meyerhoff runs a conventional farm near passed on 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 doesnt believe that a complete switch to organic is necessary. By to shimon and all both types of farming produce healthy crops that will help you live to 100. As if this is the analytics we use are very precise. These days we can identify even the slightest residue so the idea that conventional farming has adverse effects on Peoples Health im very skeptical yes keep this. Despite his reservations georg meyerhoff 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 thats made a difference. As of ozma yes it is and baseball is what were seeing here is an infestation of rape stem weevils for me has long been a thrill for me as a farmer its always very hard to gauge exactly what the pesticide does the Vehicle Museum is. Yes so if you dont know exactly what effect its had. Neuer but id like to try new things out and as a beekeeper i wanted to see if doing without pesticides is a viable option you know. The whole. Its all down to the harvest often at all that often given the infestation were seeing here its not looking promising. 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 his experiment with rate seed has cost him 25 percent of his usual yield next year hell go back to spraying his crops with conventional farming crop losses arent factored into the business model. In order to maximize profits farmers need to be an organized and unanimous group. Its German Farmers day and despite the annual conference of the German Farmers association. The event demonstrates how much of farming in germany works its a large scale industry led by risk adverse Interest Groups cases. The delegates insist theyre open minded about organic farming but theyre also quick to stress that its a tricky market. Would have been if we dont find sellers organic farming sector tells us that it prefers organic grain imported from ukraine then we need to take that into account were not operating in a vacuum the market exists and it will continue to grow but a centrally planned 100 percent switch to organic farming just doesnt make sense. Kinds of. Judging by the mood at the farmers General Assembly organic farming has little chance of flourishing the association carefully. Well to bates its ties to the chemicals industry one of the Worlds Largest pesticide manufacturers is among the event sponsors. And yet among German Farmers there are many opponents of conventional methods here in the hall to slant region north of hamburg on race back month turned his back on Old School Farming after 20 years. Its going to rain again on the weekend and if you dont even just lets get rid of those weeds in your own culture on the back of i think its ok ill get 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. Before weve got an infestation of pest. Thats a part of organic farming but for me its a new problem. You know we dont have the option of regulating it we just have to hope that nature comes to our aid and thats enough and the beneficial insects are able to fight the pests in the largest the scheveningen and its a bit come from. A drop in yield is to be expected after a switch to organic farming the oil and all this in here weve also got clouded drab moths and apple scab if you can. In the 1st year the apple harvest shrunk by 30 percent a tough lesson. Among fish trying to get Financial Support for converting but its nowhere near enough to offset the risk of too far you have to shoulder the risk yourself. Hes also not allowed to label his produce organic for the 1st 3 years thats because after decades of conventional farming the soil isnt yet certified as organic. The its that important i have the production costs of organic farming but im not in a position to market my produce as organic. So that adds up to costly production but uncertain prices through on. The here and. 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 raise pennies 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 a higher return for their produce than they would get on the free market for conventionally farm produce that means were paying them a premium which they pass on in the retail price high 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. Its 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 states agriculture to transition to organic 66000 farmers were retrained. With you. 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 the tree. We like do it will not only to plug the harvest of us to build from the fair but we like to see the health. We go for practicing. 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 1st of all that. They harvest 3 times a year. Of asian practice means they grow a main crop such as cauliflower alongside other crops that help it grow. The aim is to cultivate healthy and robust crops and suppress leads insect pests and diseases. Compost replaces artificial fertiliser. Part of the process they help break down the organic waste into high quality compost for the fields. And other crops clearly dont need. The 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 crop failure. But in succumb these setbacks arent a disaster making a profit isnt the 1st priority and in the long run they know their harvests are dependable and the. One reason is Crop Rotation advice to call nother is the compost it ensures a very healthy fertile soil so theres an old soil borne disease. And the crops are very robust and here they use the curative properties of Plant Extracts to prevent the cross balling prey to disease and. The common thread. See comes organic farmers have faith in their methods they cant understand why other countries arent following their example especially germany. But what they feel is money is being all sound in value they have a lot of knowledge of we have a small states here in germany and many many. Many many people. With the intellectual mind so i think you can. Go and practice this. A founding in germany. The reason why farmers in seacom suffer so few setbacks has its roots in the National OrganicFarming Research institute here scientists develop methods to optimally protect and strengthen agricultural crops based 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 tree extract as a form of pest control that doesnt adversely affect beneficial insects. Biologist ravi kind of history fervently believes the extra work is worth it. Organic farming is an ecosystem focus of their. Populations increase the bumblebee population increase the commission of them grieve for you have the. System. In seek 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. With. The fact that seacom became the worlds 1st region to switch to 100 percent organic agriculture has a lot to do with peoples attitudes. But the big. Friends are big friends everything the great if you would. Pass by that eyes out of what he noticed here is that these farmers have a different mentality. Understand that theyre part of nature. Or might be something to do with their faith but they respect nature. And chemical free farming in a vision that seacom is making reality. Here at another Research Institute staff and farmers have gathered to meet the man who led sea kms reinvention as a model organic state. It was indias longest serving chief minister he is the son of farmers and travels regularly through the state drumming up support for his mission to. Persuading farmers to dispense with pesticides and artificial fertilisers wasnt easy at 1st for more than 40 years conventional farming was the norm here as it is across the rest of the country. Their pov on chumming is playing the long game it was very hot. The. Used to say louis. It was because people who. Dont have it and where for thinking this is a very difficult. But slowly you. Realise. Decide to become organic. Now 3 other states in india are planning to go fully organic in the house come on 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 part out a Better Future if we did what. 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 fricks 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 hmong 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 faced with after 40 years we can see that here we have 75 to 80 percent of the yield of conventionally farmed tweet is called the incident bites and you can see with the naked eye that the crop is healthier. Poster device and based on see it is will those ripples weeds under control no problem its 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 wasnt very effective in the listed cool disney things done an unusual amount of damage. In fact a sort of problem is usually very easily solved with organic farming methods used you know. For even if organic farming requires time and effort or cynically predicts tough times ahead for conventional farming. But he saw close at least a small income its a dead end because a number of problems have become insurmountable to see that hes going to be certain reeds are resistant to or bizarre scene certain diseases are resistant to fungicides. Receiving were seeing increased sorely roshan and soil compaction hobby or that as a result systems are becoming uncontrollable because theyre no longer robust godman reroll course. 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 nonorganic for the time being 9 out of 10 consumers buy conventionally farmed produce mainly because its more affordable. But why are fruits and vegetables grown with the help of pesticides and artificial fertilisers so cheap its partly down to the supermarkets price wars but theres more to it than that. Another decisive factor the real costs and who bears them it cant. Mr Adrian Miller has been exploring this issue for some time take milk 24. 00 grass fed cows are kept in the cow shed at the Swiss Research center each of them produces 6000 liters of milk a year high performing breeds 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 its not usually the farmer who bears the cost. In the coast on the phone and thats what gets paid were the ones who bear the costs. For example because we have to pay for purification of Drinking Water due to the nitrogen pesticides used in farming toward the city but we hear those cause. Youre free import animal feed and its the other countries who carry the cost of the animal feed production so were shifting the problem to other countries and in terms of Climate Change i think its the next generations will carry the cost of what were doing today so its an all round bad deal this is the least of the. 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 for out of this machine as an infrared camera. Can see it identifies weeds among the lettuce and cuts it away with a knife. 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 what she did 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 countrys 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 the added nutrients in the loamy soil ensure the tea bushes are highly resilient. And because organic tea plantation shows that its possible to produce tea in harmony with nature its a boy anyone who maintains that large scale model culture farming is impossible without chemicals should come here and see that it is that ive been on here 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 werent right after the plantation went organic harvests dropped by 2 thirds the plants were used to artificial fertilizers and pesticides and werent resilient enough all of the things between quite significantly but no it has been almost 12 years now all the products and thats going back again to both 200 metric tons youve been using every year for well for you coming next 5 to 6 years movies the little bit you fruits have when you get that in from them. Now the tea produced here meets all the requirements of major interNational Organic certification. And. Vanguard geier strip is drawing to an end hes deeply impressed by what hes seen. As was the case i have to say what ive seen here is unique worldwide including conditions in which the people who work in agriculture live if they want them and they dont have to deal with pesticides their workplace is healthy as you can see. That theyre doing well its one thing its a wonderful to see that farmers can have this much pride in what they do and they have that much to be proud of. Im going to sign you. See come is small but its vision is enormous perhaps the eco farmers of the himalayas are kickstarting world wide change. In the. Conservation that won. The coral reefs off the needs are endangered by Climate Change. The local people are aware of whats happening. And their role to protect barrier reef. This is reforestation all the different kind. Of 3000. And 30 minutes on. Eco india. From plastic waste. To crude oil the. Indian entrepreneurs have turned their countrys waste problem lucrative business to their plants transforms trust into. High quality food and eco friendly feel off. Peak over. 90 minutes w. Ws crime fighters are back ever goes most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech cholera prevention and sustainable charcoal production. Olympus odes are Available Online and of course you can share and discuss on africas Facebook Page and other social media platforms. Crime fighters tune in no. It. Has a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all be. Introduced through the topics covered and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcasts you can also find us at. One slash science. This state of emergency normal. People around the world are documenting the strong magic times. Theyre keeping the corona diary. And welcoming us into their lives. They let us get as up close and personal as the pandemic will allow. The diaries starts many teeth on t w. This is deja vu news live from Berlin Germany covers off to beat the virus shoppers and those traveling on Public Transportation have to wear a mask starting today but with a shortage of supplies how will that work. Also coming up british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is back at work a month after contracting cope at night but he warns of British Public uplifting restrictions to soon could risk a 2nd wave of infectious. And scores in Day Care Centers remain open this weekend as it avoids the kind of lockdown seen in all the