In Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada region, the Varanashi family has spent more than two centuries evolving its ancestral property into a 100-acre organic farm where agriculture exists alongside nature. The family traces the property’s history to 1816, when Kodagu ruler King Lingaraju is said to have gifted land and a house in Moodambailu to a wise man known as Jyothishi.
Today, over six generations later, the farm retains around 60% of its area as untouched forest, while the remaining land supports a diverse mix of crops, including arecanut, coconut, cocoa, nutmeg, banana, black pepper and jackfruit. The family’s approach also extends to water conservation, organic farming, research, education and nature-based experiences.
The farm’s own account says it moved from chemical cultivation to completely organic farming in 1991 after the earlier chemical-intensive approach led to increased pest and disease problems without a substantial improvement in profitability.
The current generation, including Dr Varanashi Krishna Moorthy, Dr Ashwini Krishna Moorthy and Partha Varanashi, continues to develop the farm and its associated initiatives.
From Ancestral Land To Living Ecosystem
Varanashi Organic Farms currently covers about 100 acres across two properties, with seven irrigation ponds and a river and riverlet adjoining one of them. Rather than clearing the landscape for intensive cultivation, the family maintains plantations within the existing natural vegetation.
The farm says approximately 60% of the land remains untouched forest, creating an agricultural system where cultivation and biodiversity coexist. The crops are grown using a multi-storey system, with arecanut, coconut, cocoa, nutmeg, banana, black pepper and jackfruit among the produce.
Vegetables, fruits and flowers are also cultivated, while rice is grown organically during the rainy season for both sale and household consumption. The farm’s present model is therefore not based simply on producing organic food, but on maintaining a wider ecosystem around agriculture. Its official account describes the objective as simulating the diversity and eco-friendliness of natural forests through farming practices.
Water harvesting, recycling of agricultural waste, biological control methods and silviculture form part of this broader approach.
Why The Family Chose Organic Farming
The farm’s transition to organic agriculture was not an overnight decision. According to Varanashi’s account, the property was under low-level chemical management until 1981.
The family then shifted towards more intensive chemical farming in an effort to increase yields. Instead, the change brought an increase in pest and disease problems, while profitability did not substantially improve. In 1991, the farm made a complete shift to organic farming, followed by what the family describes as slow and steady improvements in yield and profitability.
The farm subsequently developed methods for recycling agricultural and agro-industrial waste into compost and adopted water-harvesting measures, including catch pits, mini check dams, percolation pits and groundwater recharge structures. Its research arm, the Varanashi Development and Research Foundation, has also worked on organic farming, soil testing and composting, with technologies being field-tested on the family farm.
The foundation says it has conducted more than 50 projects since 1992 and regularly organises workshops and training programmes for farmers and others interested in organic agriculture.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The Varanashi story offers a useful reminder that sustainability does not necessarily begin with abandoning tradition. In this case, the family has adapted an inherited agricultural property to changing circumstances while retaining a substantial part of its natural forest.
Its journey also shows why sustainability needs to be viewed beyond labels: the move to organic farming followed an experience with chemical-intensive cultivation that, according to the family’s own account, increased pest and disease problems without delivering the expected profitability.
Today, the farm combines agriculture with research, farmer outreach, nature-based stays and aquatic education, while the next generation continues to build on the family’s work. There are no government or other official statements cited in the material provided for this story, so none have been attributed here.
For The Logical Indian, the larger lesson is about coexistence: development need not always mean replacing nature, and preserving a legacy does not mean refusing to change.
Can India’s traditional agricultural communities show us new ways to grow without losing the ecosystems that sustain us?
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