For years, Thammaiah PP had to continuously fight recurring problems of poor irrigation and crop failure despite practising organic farming since 1984. The primary concern was availability of water to irrigate his fields. At his wits end, the farmer from Hunsur taluk of Mysuru (susceptible to droughts annually) decided to take an unconventional route a couple of years ago and experiment with five-layer farming on one acre of his farm – a model that proved to be self-sustaining.