The article examines India’s Green Revolution of the 1960s, which boosted wheat and rice production through high-yielding seeds, chemical inputs and irrigation, achieving food self-sufficiency. However, it argues this came with costs: declining soil health, groundwater depletion, rising farmer input expenses, and loss of biodiversity, questioning whether agricultural success should be measured solely by yield.
It highlights Bhaskar Save, a Gujarat farmer known as the “Gandhi of Natural Farming,” who demonstrated ecological, chemical-free farming as an alternative and challenged conventional policy in a 2006 letter to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The piece advocates redefining agricultural progress to include soil health, nutrition, biodiversity and farmer prosperity, concluding with ShopApni’s commitment to promoting natural farming and community-based food systems.
It’s Time to Rethink What Agricultural Progress Really Means
In the 1960s, India was facing serious food shortages and depended heavily on food imports. The Green Revolution emerged as a major agricultural transformation, with the primary objective of increasing food production and making the country self-sufficient in food grains.
The introduction of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, modern machinery and extensive irrigation helped India significantly increase its wheat and rice production. It was an important chapter in India’s agricultural history, and its contribution to food security cannot be ignored.
But decades later, an important question deserves our attention:
Did we increase food production at the cost of the very foundation of agriculture — healthy soil, nutritious food and prosperous farmers?
The Hidden Cost of the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution changed not just what India grew, but also how it farmed. Traditional mixed-cropping systems gradually gave way to intensive cultivation of a few major crops, particularly wheat and rice in regions such as Punjab and Haryana.
Chemical fertilizers and pesticides became increasingly central to farming practices. Initially, higher yields offered attractive returns, but intensive agriculture also brought rising input costs and increasing dependence on external resources.
Over time, several challenges became difficult to ignore:
- Declining Soil Health: Excessive and imbalanced use of chemical inputs, along with intensive monocropping, has contributed to soil degradation and declining soil organic matter in many agricultural regions.
- Water Depletion: Water-intensive crops and extensive irrigation have placed enormous pressure on groundwater resources, particularly in Punjab.
- Rising Farmer Costs: Seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, machinery and irrigation have increased the financial burden on farmers. Higher production does not necessarily translate into higher profits.
- Loss of Biodiversity: Traditional crop varieties and mixed farming systems have lost ground to a narrower selection of commercially preferred crops.
The consequences have not been the same everywhere, and many farmers did benefit from increased productivity. However, the long-term environmental costs and unequal distribution of economic benefits raise serious questions about the sustainability of this agricultural model.
What About the Food We Eat?
Agriculture is not merely about producing calories. It is about producing food that nourishes human beings.
When farming becomes increasingly dependent on intensive chemical inputs, concerns about pesticide residues, food safety and environmental contamination become increasingly important.
Excessive or inappropriate pesticide use can expose farmers, farm workers and consumers to health risks. Chemical residues in food and contamination of water sources are legitimate public health concerns that deserve greater attention and monitoring.
There is also a growing scientific discussion around the relationship between intensive crop production, changing crop varieties, soil conditions and the nutritional composition of food. Higher yields do not automatically mean higher nutritional value.
We have spent decades learning how to produce more food. Perhaps it is time to give equal importance to producing healthier food.
The Farmers: The Very People Agriculture Was Meant to Support
Behind every agricultural transformation are millions of farmers whose livelihoods depend on the land.
Yet, for many small and marginal farmers, farming has become an increasingly challenging business. Rising input costs, unpredictable weather, water scarcity, market uncertainty and fluctuating crop prices make it difficult to earn a stable and dignified livelihood.
A farmer who has to spend more every season on purchased inputs is not necessarily becoming more prosperous simply because production has increased.
The growing dependence on external agricultural inputs also means that a significant portion of the money earned from farming goes back into purchasing those inputs.
Agriculture should not become an endless cycle in which farmers spend more to grow more, while their margins remain uncertain.
A sustainable farming system must make economic sense for the farmer, not just production statistics.
Bhaskar Save: The Courage to Think Differently
At a time when chemical-intensive agriculture was being widely promoted as the future of Indian farming, one farmer in Gujarat chose a different path.
Shri Bhaskar Save (1922–2015), popularly known as the Gandhi of Natural Farming, dedicated his life to demonstrating that agriculture could flourish by working with nature rather than attempting to dominate it.
At his Kalpavruksha farm in Dehri, Gujarat, he developed and practised natural farming methods based on biodiversity, ecological balance, living soil and cooperation between different elements of nature.
He believed that healthy soil was not merely a medium for growing crops, but a living ecosystem that needed to be nurtured.
In July 2006, he wrote an open letter to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, then Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, highlighting the economic difficulties of farmers, declining soil fertility and the need to rethink India’s agricultural policies.
His message was courageous because he questioned an established agricultural approach when doing so was far from popular.
Bhaskar Save did not merely criticise conventional agriculture; he demonstrated an alternative through decades of practical experience.
His work reminds us that progress does not always mean adopting more technology or using more external inputs. Sometimes, progress means rediscovering the wisdom of nature.
Natural Farming: Not a Step Backwards, But a Step Forward
Natural farming is not simply about avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is about understanding how nature sustains itself and designing farming systems that work in harmony with those principles.
It places importance on:
- Building living, biologically active soil.
- Encouraging biodiversity and mixed cropping.
- Recycling farm-generated organic matter and nutrients.
- Reducing dependence on expensive external inputs.
- Conserving water and protecting local ecosystems.
- Creating healthier and more resilient farming communities.
It is important to recognise that the transition to natural farming requires knowledge, patience, suitable practices and economic support. Farmers should not be expected to bear the risks of this transition alone.
The objective should be to develop farming systems that are ecologically sustainable as well as economically viable.
A Different Vision for the Future of Agriculture
We believe it is time to redefine agricultural success.
Success should not be measured only by tonnes of wheat or rice produced per hectare. It should also be measured by the health of the soil, the nutritional quality of food, the availability of clean water, biodiversity and the prosperity of farming communities.
A farmer should be able to earn a dignified livelihood without becoming increasingly dependent on expensive external inputs.
Consumers should have greater confidence in the food they bring home.
And the land we inherit from previous generations should be left healthier for the generations that follow.
Our Commitment at ShopApni
At ShopApni, we believe agriculture should be built around a simple principle: Nature, Farmers and Consumers must all prosper together.
Our vision of Community Farming is rooted in this belief. We want to encourage natural farming practices, support local farmers and producers, strengthen direct connections between farming communities and consumers, and create greater transparency in the food ecosystem.
We see farming not merely as a business of growing and selling products, but as a responsibility towards people, nature and future generations.
We are committed to taking natural farming forward, one farm, one farmer and one community at a time.
Bhaskar Save showed us that another way of farming is possible. It is now our responsibility to take that vision forward and turn it into a larger movement.
Because the real success of agriculture is not simply growing more food. It is growing healthier food, nurturing the soil, empowering farmers and sustaining life.
Organic. Local. Trusted.
ShopApni — Building a healthier and more sustainable food ecosystem.