Captivating story of a farmer who has successfully established Indian Krishi Sanskriti in America

Agriculture has been the identity of India since last thousands of years. the word ‘culture’ as inbuilt in the word ‘agriculture’ conveys that it is not a money-making business but it is our life! Today, when we are rapidly westernizing our agriculture, an Indian in New York is doing farming in a way that Indians did once upon a time. His farm is indeed a learning centre of Indian Krishi Sanskriti.

 

 

On the fertile flood plains of the Wallkill River in the Hudson Valley town of New Paltz, New York, one can see a 90-acre farm named Gopal Farm. There one can meet the Indian gentleman Nimai Pandit, who is dedicated to practicing agriculture in a way that heals and restores to health many ancient seeds, soil, land, human and natural communities. He has named his farm as Gopal Farm as in Sanskrit, ‘Go’ means ‘cows’ and ‘pal’ means ‘friend’. Thus Gopal Farm means Friendly Cow Farm.

On 90 acres of land in the Hudson Valley, Pandit and his wife, Ashley Scott, started Gopal Farm in April 2016 with one guiding principle: love for the cow, something they found lacking at other farms. But selling milk requires permits, infrastructure, and money, so the couple started Gopal as a vegetable farm first, in order to establish themselves and raise funds to take on milk production.

 

 

 

Pandit arrived in Kentucky from India in 1994 with plans to work in IT, which he did until his roommate had a nervous breakdown. Confused about his own life, Pandit returned to India in 1996 to join an ashram. He hadn’t been religious, but in the ashram, he converted to Hinduism. As a new follower of a faith with reverence for cows at its foundations, he gave up meat and trained in Indian temple cuisine.

In 2000, he moved to New York City. After his time in India, Pandit became more critical of his food. He met Scott in Union Square Park and they bonded over their interest in food. Spurred by Scott’s suggestion to start a farm, they began visiting dairy farms in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2008.

Pandit and Scott returned to the States in 2012. In 2016, they bought the land in New Paltz. There’s a house, a barn, a greenhouse, and a small building for the Ayurveda business.

Today, the couple is focused on growing heirloom Indian ethnic specialty vegetables, spices and Ayurvedic herbs sourced from seeds harvested from different regions of India including from the foothills of the Himalayas. Their produce retains the distinctive aromas, flavors and health attributes for which Indian herbs, vegetables, and spices are renowned worldwide. They are in attempt to preserve many ancient varieties while they are becoming obsolete even in India.

 

 

 

‘Ethical milk’ is a special product which Pandit is planning for. His idea is to sell raw milk directly from the farm. He believes that cows are an integral part of our community. The couple is trying hard to popularize ancient Indian agriculture system, which is being forgotten even in India today.

 

Reference: https://gopal.farm