By Erin Bluvas
Megha Singh grew up in what is known as the “Food Bowl of India.” The agrarian community in Punjab introduced the environmental health sciences (ENHS) doctoral student to farming from a very young age.
Growing up, she often visited her grandparents’ home, spending time in their vegetable garden and experiencing the lush green agricultural fields that were part of the surrounding landscape. Singh also observed them using manure and, occasionally, fertilizers to help improve the garden’s yield. Her grandparents shared stories about how farming was practiced in their time, on a smaller scale and with largely manual labor.
“Watching my grandparents cultivate their vegetable garden, and seeing others work the fields naturally sparked many questions in me, like why fertilizers were added and what was in the soil that could turn a tiny seed into a thriving crop,” Singh says. “While witnessing traditional farming practices answered some of these questions, I became increasingly curious about the science behind them, particularly what was happening in the soil that we could not see.”
When it was time to attend college at Punjab Agricultural University, studying agriculture was a natural fit for Singh, and she began to understand the science behind soil and food production, how agricultural practices influence the food we eat, and how they shape the memories and ways of life that stay with communities across generations.
Source : sc.edu