(a) Give the specific features of organic farming and natural farming. Briefly discuss the preparations and role of biodynamics…

(a) Organic and natural farming; biodynamics and cow-pat pit

Organic farming is a certified system that avoids synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and GMOs but permits off-farm organic manures, biofertilisers, biopesticides and approved minerals. In India it follows the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), with certification and traceability, and aims at soil health, biodiversity and market premium; yields can dip during conversion.

Natural farming, associated with Masanobu Fukuoka and Subhash Palekar's Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), is a low-cost, non-certified approach that rejects purchased inputs, including organic manures. It uses on-farm preparations: Beejamrit for seed treatment, Jeevamrit (desi cow dung, urine, jaggery, pulse flour, soil) as a microbial culture, Ghanajeevamrit, mulching (acchadana), moisture retention (whapasa) and mixed cropping, with no tillage emphasis.

Biodynamics (Rudolf Steiner) is an organic system guided by a sowing calendar and preparations: BD 500 (cow manure in a horn) and BD 501 (horn silica) are sprayed on soil and leaves, while BD 502–507 (yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion, valerian) are added in tiny quantities to compost to regulate decomposition.

The cow-pat pit (Maria Thun) is a pit lined with bricks or wood in which fresh cow dung, basalt dust and crushed eggshell are layered, and covered with jute; BD 502–507 are added after about a month and it matures in 1–2 months into humus-rich, microbe-active manure. Diluted and sprayed, it supplies microbes and nutrients, improves soil structure and cuts input cost.

(b) Agroforestry classification and social forestry in India

Agroforestry integrates woody perennials with crops or livestock on the same land. By structure: agrisilviculture (trees with crops: alley cropping, shelterbelts, boundary plantation, Taungya), silvopastoral (trees with pasture or livestock) and agrosilvopastoral (trees, crops and animals, as in home gardens). By function: productive, protective or service (windbreaks, soil conservation), and by agro-ecological zone and socio-economic scale (subsistence, commercial, intensive).

Social forestry, launched after the National Commission on Agriculture (1976), means forestry by and for people, through farm forestry, community forestry and extension forestry on roadsides, canals, railways and wastelands. Its importance for India:

• It relieves pressure on natural forests by meeting fuelwood, fodder and small timber needs.
• It gives employment and income to rural poor, landless and women through nurseries and plantations, and income support for farmers as in poplar and eucalyptus agroforestry in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
• It restores wastelands, prevents soil erosion, recharges groundwater and sequesters carbon; Sukhomajri in Haryana (watershed-based community action) is a classic case.
• It builds community ownership through Joint Forest Management (1990) and Forest Rights Act 2006, and is backed by the National Agroforestry Policy 2014 and the Sub-Mission on Agroforestry.

Weak land tenure, grazing conflicts and market access remain limits.

(c) Tools in proximal and remote sensing

Proximal sensing uses instruments in or near the crop or soil: handheld chlorophyll meters (SPAD) for nitrogen status, NDVI sensors such as GreenSeeker for crop vigour, field spectroradiometers, soil sensors (TDR and capacitance probes, EC and pH meters), thermal cameras for canopy temperature and handheld XRF or near-infrared spectrometers for soil analysis.

Remote sensing observes from a distance with sensors on satellites, aircraft and UAVs: passive optical, multispectral and hyperspectral sensors (Landsat, Sentinel-2, Resourcesat, Cartosat) and active sensors such as SAR (RISAT, Sentinel-1) and LiDAR, which work through cloud and measure canopy structure. They support crop acreage and yield estimation, drought and flood monitoring and soil mapping, in programmes such as FASAL and Bhuvan, with GIS and GPS used to combine data.