Technology (alone) can’t save Indian agriculture

Why read this story?

Editor's note: Have you started farming yet? Or made a kitchen garden? Do I hear you say you’re thinking about it? Okay, good. That’s a start. One of the side effects of an inordinate interest in farming—as I have discovered during our decade-long relationship—is that one develops the tendency to see connections between farming and other things happening in our lives. This usually happens spontaneously, and subconsciously, while visiting the supermarket for groceries (scanning produce opportunities), or enjoying a meal with friends (do I judge those ingredients? Maybe a little), or even driving through the countryside (imagining farms where none exist currently). But every once in a while, farms pop up into plain sight in the most unexpected places. Just like in Andy Weir’s 2011 novel The Martian, in which astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon in the 2015 movie by the same name) is forced to grow potatoes on the Red Planet. Just for a moment, farming went pop and became part of the mainstream conversation. But, over the last decade, we have moved on from adding agriculture to science …