A Seminar in the form of a lecture cum presentation was organized by a group of Organic farmers from Bundelkhand ,at the IIT campus on Sunday the 22nd July,2012. Initiated by Dr Ravi Kant Pathak ,a Chemical technologist(I.I.T., Bombay) by training but now working in the area of Climate and Atmospheric science(Univ of Gothenberg, Sweden), his foray into the world of Organic farming has been largely self-driven, a motivated personality on an enthusiastic mission, whose chief aim is to enlighten us on the hazards of tech farming ,an umbrella term which spans a wide range of functions, such as application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, genetic engineering, hormone injections and usage of plant growth regulators. They impressed upon the audience that air, water and soil pollution is a major environmental hazard, which is caused by excessive use of chemicals. Similarly introduction of transgenic crops is fraught with high risks to plant as well as human health. The farmers also displayed sample agro-products grown on organic farms.

                    The seminar turned out however to be a damp squib and for good reasons. The team was ill prepared from a technical viewpoint and failed to meet the expectations of an intelligent and inquisitive audience comprising prominent IITK faculty members and our Agropedia agri team. The presentation at best was modest. Organic farming much like anything else is a Science , the way forward to popularize it is through conviction and not by persuasion. In other words we must appeal to the intellect of people and not their sentiments.

                    Prof H.C. Verma(Professor of Physics at IITK) deserves a thank you for granting permission to host the event.