Editor's Note: Joe Turner, our newest writer, is based in the UK, and has a strong background in soil science, green clothing, fair trade and more. Joe is off to a great start with this interesting profile of a very successful project in Egypt. Welcome Joe! How does sustainable agriculture look in developing countries? Do local people actually see any benefits or is it all a fad to meet the demand for organic food in western countries? Last year I went to Egypt to find out. I went to visit Sekem, a 300 hectare farm near Cairo airport. The story goes that Dr Ibrahim Abouleish, a wealthy Egyptian pharmacologist, spent most of his early life abroad and was visiting Egypt in 1975 having made a successful career in pharmaceutical research. He was amazed at the poverty and saw how problems of education, unemployment and health were entrenched in Egyptian society.

Leaving his profession, he set about building a better world in a little part of Egypt. In 2003 Dr Abouleish was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes also called the Alternative Nobel Prize.

"SEKEM is establishing the blueprint for the healthy corporation of the 21st century. Taking its name from the hieroglyphic transcription meaning "vitality of the sun", SEKEM was the first entity to develop biodynamic farming methods in Egypt. These methods are based on the premise that organic cultivation improves agro-biodiversity and does not produce any unusable waste. All products of the system can be either sold or re-used in cultivation, thereby creating a sustainable process. In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, SEKEM deployed a new system of plant protection in cotton, which led to a ban of crop dusting throughout Egypt. By 2000, according to UN and FAO reports, pesticide use in Egyptian cotton fields had fallen by over 90%, while prior to the ban 35,000 tons of chemical pesticides were sprayed yearly. Furthermore nearly 80% of Egyptian cotton was being grown organically and average annual yields had increased by nearly 30%." -- Right Livelihood Award 2003

Dr Abouleish founded and continues to provide inspiration and enthusiasm to a movement which attempts to meet all of the needs of the Egyptians that live and work at Sekem. The farm grows soft fruits which are then made into juice and herbs which are used to produce inexpensive herbal remedies. In the middle of the farm is a clothing factory - perhaps the oddest location for a factory anywhere in the world. Clothing is produced using cotton produced by a network of organic and fair trade cotton farmers they have established throughout Egypt. The farms are run on biodynamic principles, an extreme form of organic agriculture involving use of composts and cultivation during certain moon cycles, developed and influenced by Rudolf Steiner. Whilst most soil and agricultural scientists see little evidence for these ideas, it is also hard to see how they can do much harm. At Sekem I saw a thriving, well managed farm, excellent composting site and good products. However perhaps the most remarkable aspect is how Dr Ibrahim Abouleish has incorporated social aspects into the Sekem model. Not content with building businesses, he built a school, a medical centre and a technical University with facilities as good as anything I have seen in the UK. On the day I visited, everyone working on the site finished work early and came to stand together in a large courtyard. Following a short talk from Dr Abouleish, he then proceeded to meet every worker to shake their hand, thank them for their hard work and tell them he looked forward to seeing them again next week. As there were more than a thousand hands to shake, this took some time. I was told this happens at the end of every working week. I have never had a boss say that to me, never mind on a regular basis. Standing near this legendary figure, I began to wonder about the point of this place. Critics could point out that whilst an impressive 55% of sales were made within Egypt, surely prices would mostly exclude all but the very rich. Those in charge were mostly Europeans or very highly educated Egyptians. Without the input and finances of a very wealthy and motivated man, it is hard to see how anything would have happened. Yet Sekem is owned by a co-operative of workers and everyone I met genuinely appeared to like working there. The facilities are excellent and it seemed like every person is encouraged to reach their full potential. The ideas of mutual co-existence, that economic excellence must go in hand with social excellence, of seeking local markets and local benefits offer a vision of sustainable development in developing countries. This video gives a really good tour around Sekem, although it is only in German: