L.C. Soans of Moodbidri passes away

Progressive farmer and farm scientist of ‘Soans Farm’ fame L.C. Soans of Moodbdiri passed away on Wednesday

Progressive farmer and farm scientist of ‘Soans Farm’ fame L.C. Soans of Moodbdiri passed away on Wednesday. He was 89 and is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, and his brother I.V. Soans.

Mr. Soans was known for introducing exotic fruits to the coastal belt nearly four decades ago.

He had cultivated fruits like Jaboticaba (South America), Rambutan, Durian, Langsat, Malay apple, egg fruit (South America), Diesel tree (Amazon forests), Abiu (Australia), and Macadamia nut.

A Fulbright scholar, Mr. Soans obtained his PhD from the University of Montana in 1966. The farm owned by the Soans family in Beluvai in Moodbidri was originally used by the Swiss and German missionaries of the Bassel Mission to utilise hilly land for horticultural development in 1926. Alfred G. Soans, father of L.C. Soans, was a pioneering horticulturist of undivided Dakshina Kannada.

L.C. Soans was the recipient of Dakshina Kannada Rajyotsava Award and Best Horticulturist Award by the Karnataka government. Mr. Soans was a member of the American Society of Dowsers and British Society of Dowsers. He was also the advisor of Kadalakere Nisargadhama.