We met Sripathi Ramai Hedge when we went to India to talk with the small vanilla farmers who produce Indian Select Vanilla. Sripathi has been a farmer all his life, raising betel nuts on his less-than-an-acre farm since his youth. He told us how for most of his life he had sadly watched the slow erosion of the land and decline of the small farms in the area.
Three years ago he learned about biodynamic farming and decided to give it a try. Sripathi insisted we see his fields, and we hurried to get to them before it got dark. He was proud of his healthy, lush vanilla vines intertwined with the betel nut trees. He took us to a bank cut away to expose the layers of dirt and showed us how the biodynamic materials were working their way down through the layers to energize the soil and nurture his vanilla.
Sripathi told us he was teaching his sons about this new method and would only turn over the land to them after they had the commitment and knowledge to keep the practice going.
Sripathi and other farmers like him produce Indian Select Vanilla. Frontier is providing this group of farmers with fair prices and the support they need to produce and sell top quality organic products so there will be more farmers like Sripathi.
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