When Papa Said "No"

A young farmer in India dared to try zero tillage against his father's instructions, thereby changing his life and his father's low opinion of "planting without plowing".

Durgesh Kumar Singh shoulders a huge responsibility. When his father became too ill to work his small farm near Varanasi in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, the 24-year-old student had little choice but to take on managing both the farm and his studies. His father was always there, however, to share his knowledge. When the younger Singh decided to defy his father's instructions and test zero-tillage for sowing wheat after rice on a small portion of the family's homestead, he was taking a big risk. Now his zero-tillage fields have produced - and produced well. The father, who said he would die if his son tried such a foolish thing as planting without plowing, now asks, "Why didn't you do the whole farm this way?"

Read the full story on CIMMYT's web site.