In 2007, 22-year-old Ramesh’s peanut farm lost money. As was often the case in most of India, Ramesh was _______ pesticides (杀虫剂) and fertilizers across his 2.4 hectares in the Anantapur district of southern India. In this desert-like area, which gets less than 600 millimeters of rainfall most years, farming is a(n) _______.

“I lost a lot of money growing peanuts through chemical farming _______,” says Ramesh, who is interested in agriculture. The chemicals are _______ in many parts of southern India. The farmers depend too much on pesticides. The chemicals are _______ but the production is low. Then in 2017, he _______ the chemicals. “Ever since I _______ sustainable agricultural practices like natural farming, the production has been _______ and the cost has gone down,” he says.

One natural farming method calls for _______ all chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic matter to boost soil nutrient levels. Ramesh also expanded his crops, ________ peanuts and some tomatoes. Then he added eggplants and other crops.

With the ________ of the non-profit organization Accion Fraterna Ecology Centre, which works with farmers who want to try ________ farming, Ramesh increased his ________ enough to buy more land, expanding his field. Like thousands of other farmers practicing natural farming across India, Ramesh has ________ to enrich his dead soil while his new trees help keep carbon out of the atmosphere, thus playing an important role in reducing India’s carbon footprint. Recent study has shown that the carbon absorption ________ of natural farming is as much as 34 percent higher than standard forms of agriculture.