1. Organic v/s Industrial Agriculture
Common
Field Trip 6th - 7th April
Light
Drawing on the success of Common Light’s first field trip to Kathputli and GP Colony in
North Delhi, Common Light is now partnering with ISayOrganic to take interested photogra-
phers and filmmakers a good deal further afield. Common Light’s second field trip will take
them to Sirsa, Haryana, the heart of India’s industrial agriculture belt. This field trip will
explore the harmful side effects of industrial agriculture and compare these practices with
emerging organic farming practices. There is space for ten photographers and filmmakers.
For the unacquainted, Common Light is a non-profit project that partners with photogra-
phy & film enthusiasts to capture compelling image and film footage of important social
issues. Together, we can help other small non-profits create content and shed light on im-
portant social issues. The first field trip, for instance, created a huge portfolio of material on
open defecation and the lack of sanitation in urban slums, which is hard to come by content,
but undeniably significant and impactful. All Common Light content is made available under
Creative Commons License for use by the greater public.
Our partner, ISayOrganic (http://www.isayorganic.com/), is a South Delhi based company
committed to providing fresh, organic produce. ISayOrganic is committed to providing cus-
tomers with synthetic chemical free, local/desi varieties of food while ensuring that farmers
receive fair prices for their hard work. In Sirsa, ISayOrganic works with Dharini Suphalam,
one of the oldest organic farmer’s unions in the country, which operates more than 4,000
acres of land near Sirsa.
Those selected for the field trip will depart with the Common Light team on the 6th of April.
The team will depart at 7:30 am from AIIMS metro station and will return to Delhi the next
day at 5:30 PM. The cost for participating is Rs. 1500 payable upon confirmation, which
covers travel and lodging, food will be extra.
During these two days the focus of the documentation will be:
- Cost economics for a farmer: Includes supply and demand of organic vs industrial crops
- Enviornmental effects; Soil and Water
- Chemical inputs into food, and their impact on food quality.
- Loss of desi, local varieties of crops.
To participate, email/call Common Light manager Vivaan Misra at vivaanmisra@gmail.
com/+919810208088 by April 4th.