Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
through K AU—those who are likely to go into professional and govern-
mental agricultural positions—in organic methods and practices. In our
conversations, he told me that change was coming to K AU and state ag-
ricultural offices in general; students and professors increasingly consid-
ered organic farming a viable method of agriculture and were interested
in researching it in depth and with vigor.3
Sherief himself continues to develop K AU's organic farming curricu-
lum. He plans to use the
Adhoc Package of Practices: Recommendations
for Organic Farming
(2009)
—which had come out of discussions and
debates around the state's organic farming policy—as a manual for the
new courses. Having previously conducted research on organic farming
in the United Kingdom, he also intends to draw from these experiences
and to invite guest lecturers from around the world to participate in the
new organic farming program at the university.
These two small examples from Kerala illustrate the fact that although
we live in a globalized world, meaningful environmental and social
changes in our industrial food system are occurring around us—and
many of these local changes are happening through global relationships.
Sherief 's international experiences and IOFPCL's connections to Choco-
lat Stella through Panakal are just two elements in the shifts toward sus-
tainability in Kerala's agriculture. Notably, they are also examples of the
shift toward sustainability in Europe—in the growth of organic and Fair
Trade options for consumers. More significantly, through the develop-
ment of the 2010 organic farming policy and Kerala-based certification
institutions, Kerala's state government and civil society are now promot-
ing the growth of organic farming as a response to the environmental and
social destruction resulting from the Green Revolution. The state's farm-
ers are actively involved in agricultural governance and are taking a more
active role in long, globalized commodity chains. As the conversations
I had with Sherief and colleagues who share his enthusiasm for organic
agriculture also confirm, there are substantive changes taking place in
Kerala's agricultural institutions. Organic farming has created political
openings for farmers and activists to beter regulate agriculture in Kerala.
Decades of political struggle between leftists, feudal interests, and
