#fodder crops

Why Cactus Cultivation is a Smart Bet for Vidarbha Farmers For generations, the agricultural identity of the Vidarbha region, with Nagpur at its heart, has been tied to crops like cotton, soybeans, and oranges. But changing weather patterns, unpredictable monsoons, and depleting groundwater are forcing us to think differently. Practical wisdom demands we look for crops that don’t just survive,…

Why Cactus? Why Now for Pune’s Farmers? The story of farming around Pune is changing. Unpredictable monsoons, depleting groundwater, and rising input costs are squeezing the profitability of traditional crops. For farmers in the rain-shadow regions of the district—from Baramati to Purandar and beyond—the search for a crop that doesn’t just survive but thrives in these conditions is more urgent…

Why Bajra is Pune’s Climate-Smart Crop of the Future For generations, the sight of swaying Bajra fields has been a familiar one across the Pune district. But today, this humble millet is no longer just a traditional staple; it is a strategic choice for the modern farmer grappling with the realities of our time. With monsoons becoming more unpredictable and summer temperatures rising, the inherent…

Why Your Farm Needs a Crop That Thinks Like a Camel In the villages surrounding Pune, the conversation is changing. The once-reliable rhythms of rain are becoming erratic. Borewells dig deeper for less water, and traditional crops on marginal, rocky lands often struggle. For the thinking farmer, this isn’t a time for despair; it’s a time for practical wisdom—phronesis. It’s time to ask: what crop…

The Banyan Tree as a Crop: A Radical Idea for Tripura’s Future When we speak of farming, our minds turn to paddy, rubber, pineapple, or bamboo – the familiar rhythms of sowing and reaping that define agriculture in Tripura. The idea of “farming” the Banyan tree, our national tree, the venerable Ficus benghalensis, might sound strange. We see it as a permanent, almost sacred, landmark; a silent…

Why Cactus? The Unsung Hero for the Western Ghats Farmer For generations, the rhythm of agriculture in the Western Ghats has been tied to the monsoon. But that rhythm is changing. Erratic rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and intense downpours are the new reality. In this challenging landscape, a plant often overlooked as a mere desert survivor is emerging as a champion of resilience and…

Why Pearl Millet is the Unsung Hero of the Ghats In the challenging terrain of the Western Ghats, where the monsoon can be both a blessing and a fury, and where soils are often acidic and less fertile, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), or Bajra as we know it, is more than just a crop. It is a symbol of resilience. While other crops falter with delayed rains or extended dry spells, Bajra stands…

The annual Dead Zone from fertilizer runoff is getting ready to hit the Gulf of Mexico

❝ The Gulf of Mexico teems with biodiversity and contains some of the globe’s most productive fisheries. Yet starting in the early 1970s, large swaths of the Gulf began to experience annual dead zones in the late summer and early fall. This year’s will likely be nearly a third larger than normal, about the size of Connecticut, according to a recent report from the Louisiana Universities Marine…