A.N. Nagaraj, plant scientist, practitioner and promoter of organic farming, died at a private hospital here on Monday after a brief illness. He was 97. He is survived by his three children.

The son of well-known Kannada writer and thinker A.N. Murthyrao, Dr. Nagaraj went abroad for higher studies in biology and obtained a doctorate in the subject in the United States. He worked as a scientist in the U.S. and later with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Philippines for several years before returning to India.

For over four decades, he practised organic farming and promoted it across the State. In his later years, he settled in Bheemanakatte near Tirthahalli. His autobiography, Anandada Hudukatadalli (In Search of Happiness), was published in 2023, when he was 95.