Igniting a new generation of farmer — entrepreneurs.

Contrary to the the assumption that we need fewer farmers and more automation, I would contend that instead, the world needs thousands of new farmers, with fresh energy, who are willing to actively protect and nourish the land they manage, willing to learn new farming practices that help them earn more, grow nutritionally rich produce AND align with environment & modern markets as confident entrepreneurs.

The recent updates to the farm laws promise an open market, allowing farmers to sell their produce where they want, to whom they want and at the most competitive prices suitable to them. It seems like a great opportunity to unshackle agriculture produce and agri markets from State control. Yet we see farmers from Punjab and Haryana gather outside New Delhi demanding a roll back of the new farm laws. This is a great opportunity to reflect on why they resist the change, the challenges with conventional farming, and perhaps look at what makes for a new generation of progressive farmers...

I dip into my own experience of learning to become a farmer over the last few years. Without the benefit of an agri background, when I decided to jump into farming, there was an allure of large scale conventional farming enabled by technology. So I set up a combination of large climate controled polyhouses for floriculture and drip irrigated fields for large scale vegetable production. After three intense years growing a range of commercial horticulture crops...Gerberas, roses, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, beans, millets, pulses etc…, and gaining invaluable experience in farming practice I took a pause to evaluate what had been learnt in the farm business.

The fact was that while I learnt a lot about farming, I had spent a lot of money on growing produce that yielded negligible returns. And the big realisation was that if I continued in this manner, I would only continue to create some cash flow at best, but no real earning.

So I went back to the drawing board. Expensive conventional inputs and related labour costs were destroying the viability of the farm. I went back to the books and old teachers. I dismantled the polyhouses, re-organised my fields, brought in new tools, integrated cattle and rebuilt a viable farm ecosystem from the ground up. This was a very expensive series of experiments over the last 6 years that soaked up all my savings, but today, I feel confident as a farmer that this transformation has been strategic. It has helped me get on the path to financial viability at my farm.

Forest, crops and pastures integrated into a small natural farm.

This new route has taken me through sustainable land management practices combined with market driven enterprise.

Here are four invaluable lessons I learnt from all this intensive experimentation:

1. Soil microbes are the farmer’s most precious resource, even more important than irrigation water, we could argue. But they have been systematically destroyed by conventional agriculture. Over time, the farmer has lost all connect with the language of soil life and soil health. Indiscriminate usage of imbalanced chemicals has killed all microbial activity. It is critical to remind ourselves as a species, that healthy soil has the inherent ability to store nutrients, unlock the nutrition for crops and provide a renewable source of carbon energy needed for sustained food cultivation. The progressive new farmer needs to not only learn how to grow a crop, she needs to learn how to protect & regenerate soil. This is going to be neccessary for sustained viability of agriculture as an enterprise.
2. Pollinators (bees/ birds/ butterflies…) are the farmer’s second most important resource. Pollinator’s are nature’s way of increasing yield and diversity in crops. Unfortunately, the green revolution sought to speed up production and enhance yield of a handful of crops through chemical augmentation. That resulted in an increase in pest activity, which in turn increased pesticidal sprays and the result — no bees, butterflies or birds could survive in those fields. We need to acknowledge that there is a natural communication between plants and pollinators that creates a progressive cycle of flowering, pollinating and fruit production. Farmers who can nurture a healthy pollinating environment, enjoy dramatic reduction in costs and increase in yields. This is not theoretical, I have experienced it at my farm. A progressive farmer grows crops not just to feed humans, but also to feed the pollinators and the soil microbes. She observes and actively adjusts the farm ecosystem to ensure they thrive naturally. The more they thrive, the better the bottom line of the farm business!
3. A sustainable, financially viable farm is an interdependent, renewable ecosystem with a circular economy that grows steadily over time to help the farmer make a sustained livelihood. We often imagine that like a factory, a farm can also work on a simple input-output approach, with a raw material supply chain and a fixed set of products being developed periodically from that. And this is the unfortunate falacy of the green revolution that is now deeply embedded in conventional farmers. I meet field agents of fertiliser and pesticide companies who will give me a fixed ‘crop protocol’ — steps to follow to get an exact output. But the reality of this ‘factory’ expectation is what we see around us — climate destruction, dramatic drop in water tables, dead soil with no microbial activity, loss of native seeds and varieties, dead pollinators and a huge numbers of farmers who have no idea how to cultivate without chemical inputs and pesticides anymore. A progressive farmer recognises the financial value of investing in a circular economy at the farm: integrating cattle, composting, forest sections, natural pesticides, multi cropping and farm waste management into her daily, systemic farm management.
4. And finally, the ‘market’. Once a farmer brings down cultivation costs by leveraging soil, pollinators, and a circular system on the farm, it reduces the pressure to sell urgently to recover expensive costs — instead it creates a base for a new market that appreciates better produce, creates some cash flow to experiment with newer markets, experiment with post harvest processing, even taking the produce a little further if needed to get better value. A progressive farmer recognises the value of her investment into the soil and environment at her farm, and she can reach out to a more evolved market that is willing to pay for better produce. Most old-time farmers will tell you that this new market does not exist — but it does. eCommerce, direct to home, branded products, HORECA, international trade all of these enablers are a very real opportunity for small farmers. Especially for farmer collectives, FPOs and cooperatives. These market channels have the potential to appreciate better quality produce, and the additional investment and effort that goes into it, and are willing to pay competitive prices too. As a progressive farmer it is important to recognize the value of enterprise thinking… don’t depend on a single buyer, hedge produce as well as markets, experiment with some contract farming, grow something unique to balance your portfolio, trade in futures for large scale cereal, oil and pulse crops... None of this is new and many farmers in India are already enjoying the benefits of modern trade. Progressive farmers can use this exponentially to reach higher value markets.

Fruits, fodder, vegetables and pulses multicropped for maximum land and sun utilisation

The conventional ‘farmer’ grew up in times of scarcity, unwittingly slipped into the tyranny of the green revolution, agreed to grow water intensive crops that destroyed his fields with chemical inputs. He also strongly encouraged his children to do anything but farming. What we see outside Delhi are farmers who are afraid. Deeply worried about what they will grow if they don’t grow Rice & Wheat. Anxious about who will buy if not the Government? Afraid because their children are not interested in farming any more and there is no one else to look after the farms. Afraid because they are dependent on expensive labour, fertilizer subsidies and pesticide protocols to continue cultivating. Afraid because they are dependent on traders who will offer loans at obnoxious interest rates, to help create some cash flow for the farmer. They are afraid and rightfully so, because having to change and work with an open market requires them to begin engaging with their farms as land managers and entrepreneurs — but they are just too used to the old system, for too long. This change is hard, and the anxiety and mistrust in an unknown future is completely understandable.

But the truth is that conventional farms DO NOT grow nourishing food. They destroy the water table, kill the soil and are nutritionally and financially unviable. Neither does the farmer flourish, nor does the land. The only one who flourish are the series of middlemen who know how to work the Government APMC/ MSP system to earn profits from the arbitrage on the produce.

So what is the solution? It is not a silver bullet, am afraid. And changing old mindsets will take time. But, as a new farmer, I would like to see this as an inflection point …. let us invite more people to opt to become farmers. Look at farming with fresh eyes. If your families have agriculture land lying dormant, go see it, find ways to transform it into a healthy farm ecosystem. Visit every local mandi in your neighbourhood, study the market, learn what grows easily in your region. Visit a dairy, a sheep rearing unit or even an inland fishery. If you can afford to do a side project then lease some land and begin to create a low cost food forest or small scale dairy. Or pick a second career, become a farmer, invest in a small piece of land and nurture her to health and productivity. Take all your global professional learning to a village and begin the journey of building a sustainable, environmentally rich, financially viable agriculture practice. I truly believe this is the decade for agriculture transformation in India. An opportunity for many new farmer-entrepreneurs to join in, as the restrictive farm laws are slowly and steadily being reformed.

Here are two resources to get you started on the journey to natural farming success:

1. Read Kristin Ohlson’s fabulous book on soil management stories from around the world. You can also watch Kiss the Ground on Netflix as a preliminary starter.
2. Learn from Masanobu Fukuoka’s legendary work in natural farming through his book One Straw Revolution

If you think you are ready to start a journey to becoming a new, progressive farmer, drop me a comment. We will soon schedule open days at our farm and a learning program to meet other farmer-entrepreneurs. We will learn from practitioners who have made the journey from conventional to natural, viable farming. Lets ignite another #100KNewFarmers in 2021.