RETURN TO EARTH 

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A-Z OF BIODIVERSITY, AGROECOLOGY, REGENERATIVE ORGANIC FARMING 

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Navdanya Bija Vidyapeeth, Dehradun, 15 September-15 October 2025

The multi-disciplinary learning program at Navdanya Biodiversity and Conservation Farm (DehraDun, Uttarakhand, India) combined lectures, farm practicums, community visits, and cultural experiences. The 2025 course gathered a dozen youth from Australia, Europe, Latin America and India, as well as another dozen farmers from Punjab. Across all four weeks, participants learned about virtuous production, processing and consumption practices of agroecological, organic, regenerative, and traditional knowledge systems. Agronomists, geneticist, ecologists, nutritionist, and physicians shared workable pathways to restore ecosystems and improve human health. During the month, participants experienced the alternative of ‘living democracy’ (Jaiv Panchayat) and local self-rule concepts (Swaraj, Swadeshi, Satyagraha) embodied in Navdanya.

SUMMARY OF LECTURES

The first week was dedicated to Living Seed, where Dr. Vandana Shiva lectured about the necessity to change the paradigm from industrial to ecological regenerative food systems, turning the nail on its head from the present war against Earth to care for all beings. She described the ecological and social damage created by the Green Revolution, and the non-violent Chipko movement of women who defended the Himalayan forests from commercial felling. Dr. Shiva argues scarcity is politically manufactured, while biodiversity and abundance emerge when ecosystems are respected. Farming is not just production, but an ethical and cultural practice rooted in traditional seed systems, communal food traditions, and spiritual values. She gave much attention to biopiracy and intellectual property, showing how corporations patent crops like basmati rice, wheat, and neem that were collectively developed by farmers over generations. Navdanya’s 150 seed banks across 22 states of the country and farmer-led indigenous seeds conservation are practical resistance and foundations of food sovereignty. Traditional knowledge is a sophisticated agricultural science, embedded in rituals, festivals, and crop diversity. Seed saving, diversification, natural pest control, and reviving “forgotten foods” such as millets and pulses, which are nutritionally rich and climate-resilient but marginalized by industrial food systems, are political acts capable of reshaping markets and policy.

The second week explored Living Soil topics, with the participation of the Navdanya team VP Uniyal and Preeti Virkar regarding practical activities such as making compost and learning about pollinators, local expert RS Rawat on the soil food web, Narsanna Koppula on permaculture and landscape planning, and international expert Andre Leu on principles and practices of regenerative agriculture. Soil is a living system structured by microbial relationships. Through composting, microscopy, and fieldwork, participants learned how microbes, fungi, and earthworms drive nutrient cycling and resilience, while chemical fertilizers disrupt these systems. Biodiversity is a measurable indicator of ecosystem and human health, with pollinators as key signals. Regenerative agriculture is an umbrella approach that restores soil carbon, nutrition, and climate resilience through ecological processes rather than external inputs.

The third week focused on Earth as a Living Being with three international scholars. Av Singh dwelt on agroecology practices that consider the farm as a continuum of soil, plant and animal interactions; weeds and diseases were reframed as signals of system imbalance rather than enemies to eliminate. Salvatore Ceccarelli offered in-depth knowledge on participatory breeding of crop mixtures to adapt and effectively respond to climate change challenges. Participatory plant breeding is a practical alternative to centralized, corporate-controlled genetics, emphasizing farmer autonomy, local adaptation, and dietary diversity over genetically engineered fixes. Nadia El-Hage introduced notions of spiritual ecology whereby Earth is a living being interacting with cosmic changes of light and warmth, in addition to human activities. Understanding of cosmic forces (e.g. electromagnetic fields, gravitational waves, astronomical rhythms) and quantum concepts are applied in biodynamic agriculture; quality is pursued from opting for open-pollinated seeds, through farmers’ intent and awareness, to practices that liven soils and vivify plants through biodynamic preparations and alignment to the lunar calendar. The enhanced vitality of biodynamic foods is reflected in crystallographic images that feature organism’ ability to self-organize and form symmetric signature patterns.

The fourth week was dedicated to Food and Health with four eminent Indian physicians. Dr. Anna Powar unveiled nutrition science and the way micro- and macro-nutrients function in the human body. Dr. Gangadarhan explained the principles and pathways of ayurvedic healing to body, soul, and spirit. In Ayurveda, food, lifestyle, and medicine are inseparable. He highlighted local dietary wisdom and the value of preserving vast, underused Ayurvedic manuscript traditions. Dr. Suresh Kumar focused on ultra-processed foods and their impacts on health and the future of youth. He compared two revolutions shaping modern food: chemical agriculture (DDT-era intensification) and fast-food industrialization (“McDonaldization”), both driven by uniformity, efficiency, and concentrated power, and both linked to biodiversity loss, cultural erosion, and disease burdens. Dr. Mira Shiva covered primary health issues, including the challenges of Intellectual Property Rights on medicines and foods and the right to health. A major structural point is corporate convergence: many agricultural “input” companies are also pharmaceutical giants, shaping both the causes of illness and the markets for treatment. The alternative proposed is local control, ecological regeneration, and a food system grounded in diversity, care, and democratic participation.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Lectures were complemented with participant’s active involvement in farm life, including Sharamdaan duties for regular premise maintenance. Hands-on farm activities ranged from visiting the Navdanya Seed Bank and participating in various stages of seed treatment, through making pollinator seed balls and vermiculture and pit compost, to tending plots and gardens by preparing seed beds, sowing, transplanting, harvesting, sorting, cooking and even making soap.

Students had the opportunity to interact with local realities. They visited red rice growers from Purola, Uttarakhand, where the Navdanya team helps keeping diseases under check with neem oil and other practices. A forest walk introduced the Van Gujjar community’s low-extraction, subsistence-based relationship with forests. A visit to Paonta Sahib Gurudwara in Himachal Pradesh highlighted ‘sewa’ (service) and ‘langar’ as an embodied ethic of food justice and radical equality. A visit was paid to the Doon Valley Mahila Anna Swaraj (Women for Food Sovereignty) group of ecological stewards who practice the ‘health per acre’ model. At last, students attended Bhoomi celebrations in Dehi, which hosted a farmers’ seed fair and a conference titled Nature of Nature: Earth Metabolic Disorder.

TAKEAWAYS AND CLOSING REFLECTIONS

Industrial agriculture is inherently extractive, harming soil life, biodiversity, farmer autonomy, and human health while increasing climate risk. Policy and corporate power shape what is grown, what is eaten, and who benefits, making food a central political battleground. Seed sovereignty is the foundation of food sovereignty and community freedom. Traditional and agroecological knowledge is accumulated science, not nostalgia. Regenerative and organic systems offer practical solutions to improving soil organic matter, resilience, nutrition, and ecosystem functions. Health crises (NCDs, allergies, stress-related illness) are linked to food systems, not just individual choices. Cultural practices (langar, festivals, seed rituals) are living ethics that model equitable food systems.

At the last debriefing session, students demonstrated a heightened perception of Nature as a living being, as well as a sense of reverence and belonging to the Earth. There was a deepened sense that humans are not outside nature but embedded within it. Many participants described increased trust in ecological processes and a commitment to spread learnings through action.

Some students’ quotes follow:

‘I am stunned by Nature preservation in Navdanya, it gave me a feeling of home-coming to Mother Nature, a great feeling.’ (Punjabi farmer)

‘Now I will start seed conservation in my community and to revive indigenous knowledge, as this is the only way to encourage youth to remain on the land – with pride’. (Gurmukh, Punjabi farmer)

‘As light changed, mountains and flowers were changing in a harmonious continuum, to crisp and bright blue, respectively’ (Sara, Norway) 

‘Now I like nematodes, fungi and, bacteria, as I learned to have more trust in their millennia-long presence on Earth.’ (Skanda, Chenai) 

‘The symbiotic living and change in the compost pile reintegrated my own being’ (Kush, Dubai)

‘The dying tree with new leaves sprouting at its base featured both the beginning and end of a life cycle: I wonder if the tree is happy or sad’ (Sneha, DehraDun) 

‘It is not right to judge whether the gourd vine is trapping or not the taro leave trying to unfold, we humans should not interfere in Nature dynamics.’ (Claire, Australia) 

‘My outwards observation of spider webs gradually shifted to an inward observation, from being the observer I became the observed’. (Laura, Denmark) 

‘Today the A to Z course ends, Aki’s sculpture collapsed, we have the first fog, shall we become misty?’ (Chandan, Bangalore)

‘Where does everything fits in the overall life rhythm?’ (Aki, Goa)

The end of the course was crowned with the delivery of a Certificate of attendance by Dr. Vandana Shiva, sweets offered by Dr. Mira Shiva, and plenty of joyfulness. 

JOIN US NEXT YEAR – Email earthuniversity@navdanya.net for more information & to register