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Rising coherence in collective consciousness reflected in the field of agriculture
by Global Good News staff writer

Global Good News    Translate This Article
15 October 2008

Dr Peter Swan, Minister of Communication for the Global Country of World Peace, recently reported on the rise of positive trends in the field of agriculture as an expression of increasing coherence in collective consciousness created by groups of Yogic Flyers around the world.

Speaking on the Maharishi Global Family Chat he said that despite the imbalances caused by modern industrial chemical-based farming, there is a great transformation taking place in agriculture.

'There are perhaps five main areas which farmers have always struggled with,' Dr Swan said. These areas are the fertility of the soil; the problem of weeds; pests and disease; efforts to maximize yield; and the moisture-retention capacity of the soil.

Soil Fertility
Over the last 50 years, chemical agriculture has aggravated all these five areas, Dr Swan said. However, scientific research and practice on farms in the last 20 years have shown that soil fertility is not just a chemical factor; it is based on the organisms, the microbes in the soil. While all soils around the world have been found to have enormous amounts of mineral nutrients in them, what has been lacking is the biology to make the nutrients available to the plants. As long as there is enough organic matter, fertility remains high. Chemical fertilization kills the soil biology, so it causes a severe imbalance. Utilizing the latest knowledge, equipment, and understanding, farmers can very quickly raise the fertility of any soil within a matter of a few weeks—not years, just a few weeks. So this is a sign of increasing coherence, increasing positivity, moving in the direction of a much more ideal non-damaging agriculture, Dr Swan said.

Weeds
The second great factor that bothers farmers is weeds. Weeds flourish when nitrates—which are applied in modern chemical farming methods—are high in the soil. In addition, continuous ploughing and harrowing kills fungi—which create ammonia, a different form of nitrogen. New farming methods allow cultivation without ploughing, and when farmers stop ploughing and applying the chemicals, fungi are restored in the soil, the soil becomes ammonia-rich, and very few weeds are able to sprout.

For about 15 years in Argentina, approximately 14 million hectares of land have been farmed without ploughing; in Brazil, 12 million hectares; in the United States many millions of hectares are farmed without ploughing—and many farmers find it's much more successful. Many of those farmers still use chemicals, so it's not as successful as it could be, but it's moving in the right direction, Dr Swan noted.

Pests and Disease
Many farmers have found that chemical fertilizers increase pests and disease. Pests and diseases, Dr Swan said, are nature's way of removing plants that are not strong in order to make room for strong, healthy plants—and plants grown with chemical fertilizers are not strong. Farming without chemicals, in soil with good biology, produces healthy crops where pests and disease are not a problem—and if they do come up at all they can be handled extremely effectively through biological means.

Maximizing Yield
In the past, farmers switching from chemical agriculture to organic agriculture would expect several years of reduced crop yield during the transition period. However, by restoring the correct biology to the soil, in the very first year of transition, the farmer can increase his yields by 20 to 30 per cent—and the produce will be higher quality as well.

Moisture Retention
Farmers have struggled with the soil's moisture retention largely because of agricultural methods which advocate ploughing, sowing the crop, and then leaving the soil bare after the harvest.

The majority of the moisture retention capacity is through the organic matter in the soil. 'So with more modern, enlightened approaches, the farmers leave the organic matter in the soil, they culture the biology of the soil, and in that way retain much more moisture in the soil,' said Dr Swan. This approach can reduce or even eliminate irrigation in many areas of the world—it's simply not necessary because the soil is holding so much more moisture.

These more enlightened approaches are more successful and help reduce the pollution imbalances that have been created through years of conventional or chemical industrial agriculture.

'All of this I've been speaking about is a correlate to the rise in the collective consciousness in the world which Maharishi has brought about . . . through the groups of Yogic Flyers around the world, [and] through the great Yagyas which Maharishi has been sponsoring with the Vedic Pandits in India throughout the years, and now in the United States*,' Dr Swan concluded.

*There are now over 1,000 Vedic Pandits creating a powerful influence of peace, harmony, and coherence in Fairfield and Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA.

© Copyright 2008 Global Good News®

Global Good News comment:

For information about Maharishi's programmes to bring fulfilment to the field of agriculture, please see Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture.

For information about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.



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