FROM FOREST TO FARM

RANKED AMONGST THE FIFTY MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN INDIA, SADHGURU IS A YOGI, MYSTIC, VISIONARY AND A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR SADHGURU HAS BEEN CONFERRED THE PADMA VIBHUSHAN BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN 2017, THE HIGHEST ANNUAL CIVILIAN AWARD, ACCORDED FOR EXCEPTIONAL AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE.

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Sadhguru: Two years ago, when I was at a program of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), they asked me, "Sadhguru, tell us three things that are most vital to save this planet." I replied, "Soil, soil and soil."

On average, the uppermost thirty-nine inches of soil is what we call topsoil. Eighty-seven percent of life on land thrives on this thirtynine inches of soil. If we keep this soil rich, its ability to retain water is phenomenal. The soil on our planet can store 800% more water than what flows in all the rivers on Earth. Soil is the greatest dam we have! How rivers flow and how the groundwater is, depends on the quality of the soil. If it is kept organically rich, crops and vegetation will thrive and our farmers will not have to struggle on a daily basis.

If we want to improve the quality of the soil, a constant recycling of organic material has to happen. There are only two ways for organic material to go into soil: through the falling leaves of trees and through animal waste. For example, if you grow one ton of any crop out of the land, what you have taken out is one ton of topsoil. Everything that you eat - if you eat one kilogram of food - it is one kilogram of topsoil that you ate. This topsoil has to go back through organic material.

Unfortunately, we have removed too many of our trees through ignorance, greed, apathy and above all, as a young nation we had so many other urgent issues to handle that we did not pay enough attention to these aspects of life. We are about to pay a price for that unless we make corrections. And corrections are beginning to happen, which is very encouraging.