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Subtle Agroecologies
the intention affected the outcome of the roll of the dice or RNG. The authors concluded from this
study that the overall results could not be attributed to chance, selective reporting or variations in
design quality. A well-known experiment made by Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto (2004) showed
the effects of intent and words on water crystallisation patterns, and this has led to several publications and books which expound the potential implications for living organisms which are primarily
composed of water. Ducharme (2007) published a doctoral thesis on an experiment in which positive and negative prayers were sent towards courgette seeds stored in Petri dishes in a greenhouse.
The prayers were made by the researcher who was a trained alternative healer. The study found,
compared to the control sample, a signifcant increase and decrease in germination rates and weights
above statistical signifcance on the seeds receiving the positive and negative treatments, respectively.
Roney-Dougal and Solfvin (2002, 2003) did two double-blind trials on two commercial organic
farms in Somerset, UK, in which a trained healer blessed some of the lettuce seeds to test for germination and growth. The results showed that the seeds that were prayed for yielded an ~10% higher
crop yield and had less fungal and slug damage during the growing season than the control.
The many spiritual, physiological, psychological and emotional benefts provided by meditation
have also been confrmed in numerous studies as summarised by Erickson (2016), and the practice
of meditation itself has moved into the global mainstream culture for personal well-being (Pathath,
2017). SYA takes this further and applies meditative practices to crop growth and farm resilience
(Ramsay, 2012a), and similar approaches that include a metaphysical dimension in agriculture have
been advocated by Wright et al. (2017), Kieft (2006) and van Eijk (1998).
There are two main challenges with researching SYA. Firstly, in focusing on yield and productivity comparisons, the available research maintains the standard reductionist methodological approach
while attempting to assess complex holistic systems that comprise both the physical and metaphysical. Nevertheless, the wider benefts of SYA are captured subjectively through the valuable anecdotal stories and literature of the SYA farmers, and this provides suffcient indication of differences
between SYA, organic and conventional practices to encourage further research. Ramsay (2013b)
recommends more targeted research on the topics of water absorption and retention, challenges of
conversion from non-organic to SYA, the potential for SYA outside of the Brahma Kumaris community and India, differing farm scales and replicability with other forms of meditation.
The second challenge relates to differentiation between organic and SYA farming. It is possible
that the reported economic benefts which appeared to be a result of the cost savings through both the
non-purchase of agrochemicals and the selling of premium produce could be the result of the organic
practices rather than the spiritual practices of SYA farming. Similarly, the environmental benefts
could also be a result of switching from chemical to organic farming without the meditative practices having any impact. In addition, farming organically also requires conscious intention to switch
from the mainstream approach – which is easier and less labour intensive, and thus, there could be
intentional interference in organic as well as with SYA farming. Nevertheless committing to both
the additional farm practices and the lifestyle changes of vegetarianism and abstinence (necessary
to achieve a higher profciency in Raja Yoga meditation) can be perceived as additional stringent
requirements for the uptake of SYA farming and arguably involve an even stronger intention.
CONCLUSIONS
This chapter aims to provide an overview of SYA practices and investigate their effects. In order to
achieve these objectives, a triangulated approach was deployed through a literature review, group
interview and a visit to the SYA demonstration farm. Notwithstanding the lack of empirical verifcation, this provided rich data for the initial exploration of SYA as a farming system. While neutrality cannot be claimed – the small sample of farmers interviewed for this study had been selected by
the Brahma Kumaris who were present during the group interview and who owned the demonstration farm visited – the author encountered what appeared to be a clear moral and spiritual integrity
within the SYA movement.
Subtle Agroecologies
the intention affected the outcome of the roll of the dice or RNG. The authors concluded from this
study that the overall results could not be attributed to chance, selective reporting or variations in
design quality. A well-known experiment made by Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto (2004) showed
the effects of intent and words on water crystallisation patterns, and this has led to several publications and books which expound the potential implications for living organisms which are primarily
composed of water. Ducharme (2007) published a doctoral thesis on an experiment in which positive and negative prayers were sent towards courgette seeds stored in Petri dishes in a greenhouse.
The prayers were made by the researcher who was a trained alternative healer. The study found,
compared to the control sample, a signifcant increase and decrease in germination rates and weights
above statistical signifcance on the seeds receiving the positive and negative treatments, respectively.
Roney-Dougal and Solfvin (2002, 2003) did two double-blind trials on two commercial organic
farms in Somerset, UK, in which a trained healer blessed some of the lettuce seeds to test for germination and growth. The results showed that the seeds that were prayed for yielded an ~10% higher
crop yield and had less fungal and slug damage during the growing season than the control.
The many spiritual, physiological, psychological and emotional benefts provided by meditation
have also been confrmed in numerous studies as summarised by Erickson (2016), and the practice
of meditation itself has moved into the global mainstream culture for personal well-being (Pathath,
2017). SYA takes this further and applies meditative practices to crop growth and farm resilience
(Ramsay, 2012a), and similar approaches that include a metaphysical dimension in agriculture have
been advocated by Wright et al. (2017), Kieft (2006) and van Eijk (1998).
There are two main challenges with researching SYA. Firstly, in focusing on yield and productivity comparisons, the available research maintains the standard reductionist methodological approach
while attempting to assess complex holistic systems that comprise both the physical and metaphysical. Nevertheless, the wider benefts of SYA are captured subjectively through the valuable anecdotal stories and literature of the SYA farmers, and this provides suffcient indication of differences
between SYA, organic and conventional practices to encourage further research. Ramsay (2013b)
recommends more targeted research on the topics of water absorption and retention, challenges of
conversion from non-organic to SYA, the potential for SYA outside of the Brahma Kumaris community and India, differing farm scales and replicability with other forms of meditation.
The second challenge relates to differentiation between organic and SYA farming. It is possible
that the reported economic benefts which appeared to be a result of the cost savings through both the
non-purchase of agrochemicals and the selling of premium produce could be the result of the organic
practices rather than the spiritual practices of SYA farming. Similarly, the environmental benefts
could also be a result of switching from chemical to organic farming without the meditative practices having any impact. In addition, farming organically also requires conscious intention to switch
from the mainstream approach – which is easier and less labour intensive, and thus, there could be
intentional interference in organic as well as with SYA farming. Nevertheless committing to both
the additional farm practices and the lifestyle changes of vegetarianism and abstinence (necessary
to achieve a higher profciency in Raja Yoga meditation) can be perceived as additional stringent
requirements for the uptake of SYA farming and arguably involve an even stronger intention.
CONCLUSIONS
This chapter aims to provide an overview of SYA practices and investigate their effects. In order to
achieve these objectives, a triangulated approach was deployed through a literature review, group
interview and a visit to the SYA demonstration farm. Notwithstanding the lack of empirical verifcation, this provided rich data for the initial exploration of SYA as a farming system. While neutrality cannot be claimed – the small sample of farmers interviewed for this study had been selected by
the Brahma Kumaris who were present during the group interview and who owned the demonstration farm visited – the author encountered what appeared to be a clear moral and spiritual integrity
within the SYA movement.