4
Subtle Agroecologies
person from their own experience, or making their own experiments. We permaculture teachers seek to
empower any person by practical model-making and applied work, or data based on verifiable investigations. This scepticism of mine extends to religious and political party ideologies.
Mollison ( 1996: 623)
A smattering of people wandered into the tent, then a few more, until almost all the fold-up seats
were taken. Feeling relieved at the numbers, I made a start. A few more people turned up, filing
in around the edges, then more and I encouraged them to fill the spaces at the front where they sat
around my feet till I was confined to one spot. Then more formed an outer ring, and still more who
couldn’t squash into the tent and so grouped around the open entrance or peered in through the gaps
between the flimsy tent walls and the canopy. Engulfed in a sea of expectant, bright-eyed faces, my
presentation started with a question, inspired by developments over the last century in quantum science and the underlying wave-based nature of reality. What else could be at play outside of the small
percentage of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye? Indigenous, Majority
World cultures are characterised by their holistic worldviews about the nature of reality, and these
are reflected in their farming practices. Their interactive relationships with invisible dimensions
recognise the existence of spirit, / consciousness and the other- than-human. Yet even though the
founding fathers of quantum science were openly influenced and inspired by such worldviews and
especially those of the Vedic tradition, modern science is ill-equipped to properly explore these
dimensions in agriculture, limited as it is by its own adherence to a particular belief system, one
which is underpinned by reductionism and physicalism.
With audience attention still strong, and sensitive to the customary reticence to share on this
subject in public, each person was invited to turn to her or his neighbour and share a story or personal experience concerning the hidden half of nature. With just a few exceptions, a multitude of
conversations erupted, so animated that the speaker in the neighbouring tent’s ( rather empty) workshop came to inspect. And then, once people realised that they were in a safe space and wouldn’t be
laughed at or ridiculed, and that they weren’t alone in their experiences, stories began to be shared
with the group. The atmosphere was one of vibrant relief; something important had happened on
that previously worn-out afternoon in the hot tent in Telangana.
INTRODUCTION: THE STRANGLEHOLD OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLDVIEW
Contemporary, ecologically based farming approaches (i.e. agroecology and what may be considered as subcategories - organic and biodynamic farming, and permaculture) have met with
strong opposition since they arose over the last century as a conscious effort to divert from the
path mapped by the industrial and Green Revolution models ( Conford, 2002). Why should something as simple as the desire to caringly produce nutritious foods touch upon such a raw nerve?
Exploring this question as part of her doctoral studies in Cuba in the late 1990s, the author asked
over 400 of the country’s farmers, researchers and government officials why they had not shifted
wholescale to more ecological farming. After all, during this period of tough US sanctions and
economic instability, several conducive factors were in place: the scant access to agrochemicals
and fuel to drive heavy machinery, a plentiful labour supply, relatively widespread knowledge
of ecologically based agriculture, and a pro-social politics in favour of human health. Curiously
though, the majority of responses to this question fell into either of two categories: those who
had not shifted to more ecological farming because they were fearful of losing control – be it
over smallholder farmers, specific pests and diseases or nature in general; and those who had
not shifted because they were fearful of not having enough, whether it be of chemical inputs,
crop yields, fuel or food ( Wright, 2009). Such fears were unsurprising given Cuba’s economic
Subtle Agroecologies
person from their own experience, or making their own experiments. We permaculture teachers seek to
empower any person by practical model-making and applied work, or data based on verifiable investigations. This scepticism of mine extends to religious and political party ideologies.
Mollison ( 1996: 623)
A smattering of people wandered into the tent, then a few more, until almost all the fold-up seats
were taken. Feeling relieved at the numbers, I made a start. A few more people turned up, filing
in around the edges, then more and I encouraged them to fill the spaces at the front where they sat
around my feet till I was confined to one spot. Then more formed an outer ring, and still more who
couldn’t squash into the tent and so grouped around the open entrance or peered in through the gaps
between the flimsy tent walls and the canopy. Engulfed in a sea of expectant, bright-eyed faces, my
presentation started with a question, inspired by developments over the last century in quantum science and the underlying wave-based nature of reality. What else could be at play outside of the small
percentage of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye? Indigenous, Majority
World cultures are characterised by their holistic worldviews about the nature of reality, and these
are reflected in their farming practices. Their interactive relationships with invisible dimensions
recognise the existence of spirit, / consciousness and the other- than-human. Yet even though the
founding fathers of quantum science were openly influenced and inspired by such worldviews and
especially those of the Vedic tradition, modern science is ill-equipped to properly explore these
dimensions in agriculture, limited as it is by its own adherence to a particular belief system, one
which is underpinned by reductionism and physicalism.
With audience attention still strong, and sensitive to the customary reticence to share on this
subject in public, each person was invited to turn to her or his neighbour and share a story or personal experience concerning the hidden half of nature. With just a few exceptions, a multitude of
conversations erupted, so animated that the speaker in the neighbouring tent’s ( rather empty) workshop came to inspect. And then, once people realised that they were in a safe space and wouldn’t be
laughed at or ridiculed, and that they weren’t alone in their experiences, stories began to be shared
with the group. The atmosphere was one of vibrant relief; something important had happened on
that previously worn-out afternoon in the hot tent in Telangana.
INTRODUCTION: THE STRANGLEHOLD OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLDVIEW
Contemporary, ecologically based farming approaches (i.e. agroecology and what may be considered as subcategories - organic and biodynamic farming, and permaculture) have met with
strong opposition since they arose over the last century as a conscious effort to divert from the
path mapped by the industrial and Green Revolution models ( Conford, 2002). Why should something as simple as the desire to caringly produce nutritious foods touch upon such a raw nerve?
Exploring this question as part of her doctoral studies in Cuba in the late 1990s, the author asked
over 400 of the country’s farmers, researchers and government officials why they had not shifted
wholescale to more ecological farming. After all, during this period of tough US sanctions and
economic instability, several conducive factors were in place: the scant access to agrochemicals
and fuel to drive heavy machinery, a plentiful labour supply, relatively widespread knowledge
of ecologically based agriculture, and a pro-social politics in favour of human health. Curiously
though, the majority of responses to this question fell into either of two categories: those who
had not shifted to more ecological farming because they were fearful of losing control – be it
over smallholder farmers, specific pests and diseases or nature in general; and those who had
not shifted because they were fearful of not having enough, whether it be of chemical inputs,
crop yields, fuel or food ( Wright, 2009). Such fears were unsurprising given Cuba’s economic