On the outskirts of Auroville, Tomas runs Annapurna, its largest (135-acres) organic farm. Experiments are ongoing to try to improve yields, using the most appropriate plant varieties and techniques for that particular environment and they are trying to work as ecologically as possible. But it will never be completely sustainable – economics still have an effect, diesel is needed for tractors and they are on the main electricity grid. Tomas says ideals are crucial, but realism is also needed so the farm produces enough to meet needs. He concludes: “it is continuously this kind of balancing out between ideals, between reality, between economics - it's life, that's how it is.”