Kalyan Kishore spent eighteen years in London's financial technology sector, building the kind of stable, well-paying career many aspire to. Global clients like AstraZeneca trusted his quality assurance work. His days were built on precision, structure, and deadlines. Yet something in him remained unsettled, and no corporate milestone seemed to fix it.
In 2023, he made a life-altering decision to return to his hometown of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. Despite having no farming background, he chose to become a farmer.
“I was curious about food, its origins, and the damage that modern agricultural practices were doing to soil and health.”
Driven by these questions, he began exploring natural, chemical-free farming. What started as a personal quest soon became a purpose larger than himself.
A Health Question Brings Him Home
Kishore grew up watching his elders live with a lightness that seemed to disappear in generations. As he began researching, the data told a troubling story. Research supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh found high rates of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Srikakulam. Farmers faced a 20% higher risk than non-farmers due to pesticide exposure. For communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the land, the findings point to the hidden health costs of chemical-intensive agriculture.
“As I researched further, I realised how deeply chemical-intensive farming was affecting both food quality and public health,” Kishore says. “The food which is the main engine for anyone has completely changed; heavily chemically exposed, heavily toxic, heavily adulterated.”
Now, it has become Kishore’s personal responsibility.
Learning Before Planting
Neither his father nor his grandfather had farmed. Both were government employees. When he told people he intended to grow paddy without chemicals, without hybrid seeds, without the shortcuts that chemical farming had normalised over decades, many were sceptical. His own family cautioned him repeatedly about the hardships ahead.
Rather than rely on trial and error, he immersed himself in books, attended training programs, and sought out experienced practitioners. Through his father, he was introduced to Ravi Darlpudi, a Natural Farming trainer with the Art of Living in Srikakulam. Darlpudi's farm in Palakonda became an open classroom for Kishore, where he spent months observing, learning, and understanding chemical-free farming.
Darlpudi often returned to the words of the founder of the organisation, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “If we take care of the environment, it will take care of us and bring us health, prosperity and happiness.”
“Watching Ravi ji's farm taught me practical lessons in farm layout, vegetable cultivation, integration of desi cows, preparation and distribution of seed balls, and natural pest management,” Kishore says.
“Spending time with Ravi ji gave me a strong starting point,” Kishore says. “Learning from people with expertise helps you avoid mistakes they have already made.” He believes this approach saved him valuable time and made the steep learning curve of natural farming far more manageable.
Why do Seeds Matter?
Today, Kishore manages two farms in the Srikakulam district. Near the town, he grows indigenous paddy varieties, Kalabati (black rice) and Chittimutti. In Banam near Ponduru, he manages a 20-acre mango orchard with groundnuts, pulses, and leafy vegetables growing between the trees.
At the centre of everything he does is a belief about seeds. “Indigenous varieties carry life within them. Every seed holds the potential to regenerate, to sustain, and to nourish. Modern chemical farming relies on hybrid seeds that cannot be reused in subsequent cycles. When a seed itself lacks continuity, how can the food grown from it be rich in life and nutrition?”
On World Environment Day, his question feels especially relevant. For Kalyan, the future of the land begins with the seed.
Natural farming has demanded patience he did not know he possessed. Preparing Jeevamrutam and Panchagavya, managing water, and monitoring crops require constant observation.
“Within natural farming, you can control the pest before it attacks,” he says.
The Ripple Effect
Y. Bhaskar Rao, a neighbouring farmer in Ponduru, describes what three years have built. “The farmers are very happy with what we are doing. We have a brand now. We are only using natural fertilizers.”
The ripple effect is being felt beyond Srikakulam as well. Janapada, a farmer from Giralapalem, Godavari, attended the program and returned transformed. “I am now cultivating a variety of crops, including pulses and vegetables, using only natural inputs: Jeevamrut, Ghana Jeevamrut, and botanical extracts,” Janapada says. “The environment in our village has greatly improved, and I am seeing positive changes in the crops and overall land health.”
A Movement Turning 45, and Growing Stronger
This year, Art of Living marks 45 years of global humanitarian service, a milestone celebrated in May ’26 at its International Centre in Bengaluru. Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the newly built Dhyan Mandir. He also launched the expanded nationwide service outreach that builds on the organisation's ongoing service initiatives in rural development, nature conservation, and social transformation. Through its farming movement, the organisation has reached over 30 lakh farmers across India, promoting chemical-free farming, reducing farmer suicides, improving soil fertility, and the well-being of farming communities.
For Kalyan Kishore, natural farming is preventive healthcare. “I never wanted to start farming as a business,” he says. “I wanted to start it as a social responsibility.” Three years ago, he was troubleshooting software for global banks. Today, he is troubleshooting the farmers’ woes.
