Vision and mission of the farm

Auro Orchard is the oldest and the second largest farm of Auroville, that grows most of the fruits and vegetables produced in the community. It also serves as the main poultry farm of Auroville. Since its inception, Auro Orchard’s main vision was to provide food for the Auroville community. For many years, to meet the immediate needs of the Auroville community in food, conventional farming practices were used, but since 2012, Auro Orchard is being converted into an organic farm.

Auro Orchard also initiated the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for organic certification of Auroville farms in 2014, and 9 Aurovilian farms, including Auro Orchard received the first PGS organic certification for fruits and vegetables in September 2015.

Regenerative organic farming (agro-ecology) is now the motto of the farm.

Current operations

Gérard with the help of his assistant Bithi have managed the farm since 1969. Christian and his wife Flore joined in 2012 and under their management, the farm is now almost totally organic.

Auro Orchard grows about 6 tons of fruits, such as avocado, lemon, coconut, cashew, mango, watermelon etc. every year. Approximately, 10 tons of vegetables such as cucumber, different kind of beans, brinjal, lady's finger, bottle gourd, tomato, basil, spinach, spring onion, capsicum are also produced every year. Vegetables and fruits are grown without any chemical input, following organic and sustainable methods like mulching and BRF (“Bois Raméal Fragmenté”, a thick mulch technique coming from Quebec, and adapted to tropical climate), compost, rotations and associations, green manures, etc. Land is also reserved for regenerative forest. 

The poultry comprises of 2-3 batches of 400 white leghorn hens that produce about 200,000 eggs a year. Eggs are produced according to the “Auroville poultry” standard, which complies with the European free range standard, which includes a space of 6 sq m per bird and minimal allopathic interventions in terms of vaccination and treatment. The farm is working at providing fully organic feed, which would then result in 100% organic eggs.

Plans in the upcoming years

Since 2000, the farm has not been able to significantly extend nor modernise its facilities and equipment (buildings, irrigation systems, etc. Renovating and modernization is the need of the hour, along with the ongoing work of organic cultivation and rearing organic poultry. Significant investments in terms of human and financial resources is what Auro Orchard needs at the moment for its development.

For any inquiry, please write to: contact@AuroOrchard.org