A visitor to Mangalore might make it a point to visit the Mangaladevi Temple and may be the tranquill precincts of Mangalagangothri, the post graduate study centre. The curious land-lubber might even go to see what a port looks like. Imagine that he has half a day to spear before heading towards Ullal beach to relax, where would he go? " Go to soans' farm, " some one might suggest .

  Thats near Moodbidri, some 35 km away. certain unusual farming practices and introduction of exotic plant species to this territory are turning this agricultural plot into a tourist draw. A valuable agricultural library, a museum of farm implements and curiosity in the shape of a pyramid, enhance the torist content of the farm.

From Basel Mission :                               

The circumstances of Dr Soans' inheritance of the farm are quite interesting. Way back in 1928, the Mangalore Basel Mission bought about 40 acres to cultivate coconut. But the mission suffered heavy losses and sold the farm to Chandra Mohan's father Alfred Soans, who came back after graduating in agriculture from Allahabad University. Undeterred by this he experimented with fifty sapplings of pine apple given by a cochi planter who had brought it from Sri lanka ( the known as Ceylon). Thogh this laterite stone-bed was considered unsuitable for pine apple cultivation, soans senior harvested a rich yield.

  Dr.L.Chandra mohan soans, owner of soans farm, set out to be a model farmer and he has accomplished his goal. A doctorate in agricultural sciences has helped him to some extent. Over four decades of his unflagging commitment to innovative farming has today paid rich dividence. The hundred odd acres of soans farm stand testimony to the viability of innovative farming for anyone prepared to take up cultivation seriously and scientifically.

  The good harvest encouraged Chandra Mohan to acquire 60 more acres adjacent to the farm when he took over afteer his fathers death and now he is selling pine apple sapplings and its squash not only within India but also abroad.

Small Scale Industry : The ever increasing demand for the tasty squash has turned Dr. Soans into a small scale industrialist witha permanent work force of 10 in the pine apple processing unit. Born in 1934, Chandra Mohan obtained his agriculture B.Sc in Madras and later worked as demonstrator in M.G.M College of Udipi, before obtaining a Masters degree from a Madras College.

To AMERICA :  Later Chandra Mohan went to America to do research in Viral Hormoned to get a doctorate. Neither attracted by security offered by government jobs nor by fat pay packets, he came back to Moodbidri to manage the then Basel Mission farm which required attention after his fathers demise.                             The   speciality of Dr. Soans lies not merely disproving the theory that pine apple is not suitable in growing in laterite land but in growing mixed crop in the same farm. The inter cropping of pine apple with coconut trees has helped  in utilising every inch of the land available.

THE PYRAMID

Many Fruit Trees: Though Pineapple and coconut are the major crops, Dr. Soans has cultivated successfully, several fruit yielding plants whcih are alien to India, Rambutin and Durian ( both from Malaysia),  Mangostein ( Srilanka), canistel, (egg fruit, northern-south America), vanilla(Mexico), Olive ( Italy), cardboard plant, cola essence plant ( Africa) are some of the rare tropical plant being brought from around the world and cultivated besides the usual coca, cashew, ginger, chilly, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg etc.,  Two unusual plants grown here are allspice plant, whose  leaves have the combined taste of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg and "oil tree" from the stem of which oozes a liquid which is similar to diesel.

A curious feature at the entrance of Soans Farm is pyramid in the midst of a variety of ornamental plants. This Dr. Soans says, " is the place where we can sit, relax and have mental peace. This structure has some cooling effect on the body".

Dr. Soans Industrious nature does not end with farming. He has established a museum which contains over 50 samples of wood and a good collection of age old farm implements, artistic mud pots, dudi, a traditional musical instrument and even a 50 year old tractor.

Glimpse of the Past :  The museum gives a glimpse of the traditional agricultrual practices that were in vogue about a century ago. It has a good collection of books related to agriculture.  Nestling close to the Moodbiri jain basadi, Soans farm has thus a become a good spot for tourist to visit. Dr.Soans and his family members greet them with smiles and show them around the farm with pride.

FARM OF FAME

Dr Soans was recently awarded the distinguished alumnus award of the montana, USA. He is the  first non American to receive this award presented to him on october 6,2000.

Dr. Livingston Soans (66) from Belvai near Moodabidri of Dakshina district was born in to  an agricultural family. He had   his early education in Moodabidri and Mangalore. He graduated in Botany from the Madras Christian College and obtained his degree in teaching from the Government Training College, Mangalore. He taught Botany at the MGM College at Udupi for three years.

He worked on the family farm for one year and won a Fulbright grant to study in the United States. He was awarded Phd 1966 by the University of Montana. He also gained valuable experience in teaching Biology at the University. During his return journey from the States, he listed the premier Agricultural Research Institutions in Rothastead, England and Wageningen in Holland.

He decied to return to his family form, where a lot of development work had already been done by his father. He also felt that he would be more useful and effective on the farm. The farm now owned by the Soans family was originally stared by the Swiss and German missionaries, of the Basil Mission as an experimental form to utilise hilly waste land for horticultural development. Dr.Soans applied himself full time on the farm since 1966.

One of the main thrust of the farm at present is to develop a viable multiple cropping system with several models of the complementary crop combinations like coconut, pepper and pienabpple or mango, pepper and vanilla. Pineapple has been a major crop since the early 1930s and planting materials have been supplied to   many parts of the country. Several other crops like cashew, pepper, Rice, Banana, Arecanut, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and

other spices are also grown. An ornamental and fruit plants nursery is maintained and collection of rare medicinal plants is developed. A canning factory is preserve surplus fruit has been set up to add value to the produce of the farm and to create more employment in the village. A programme of work for the students during their holidays is also going on.

Another major effort on the farm has beeen the  intoduction of several new crops from other tropical areas of the world. Chief among them are Rambutan, Mangosteen, Durian, Longan , Langsat and Rambai from malaysa and Thailand, Egg fruit from  south America, Cola nut from austrialia. Some of the species of the economical importance from Brazil and some of the varieties of Bamboo from Burma. Some of them have already attained crop status and planting materials are supplied to the farmers of the area for further expansion.

Farm mechanisation and improved  systems of irrigation have been another area of effort. Dr Soans visited Israel in 1986 to gain first hand knowledge of the methods developed there. They have been adopted on the farm using limited water resources. Other current projects include an agricultural and rural crafts Museum, a four acre Arboretum representing may of the Western Ghat's flora of economic importance and section of the farm devoted to organic farming. A unit of the farm is now set up in the western ghats at the elevation of 800 meters to test many of the introduced species along with traditional crops like coffee, cardamom and arecanut.

The farm at present is jointly owned and managed by Dr. Soans and his brother. It is popular destination for many farmers and student sof agriculture during their educational tours. It also attracts many tourists from abroad because they are able to see many tropical crops whose products they use back home. In 1998, Dr soans received the best Horticulturist award instituted by the Govt of Karnataka and the university of Agricultural sciences, Bangalore.

Future plans of Farm include a visiting centre for farmers, an ecological study centre with a guest house for visiting scientists interested in the flora and ecology of the area. The limited use of alternative sources of energy like methane from agricultural wastes and solar energy for power, is sought to tbe extended.

The Alfred Soans foundation   has been set up recently as a charitable trust ( in memory of Dr Soans father( mainly to help the villate children with their education and to provide functional literacy for the local people with regard to health and agriculture through audio visual devices. All these programmes are carried out from the internal resources of the farm.