Meet the farmers who are growing soil-less crops

For ‘urban’ farmer Kaushik Mukherji, his day starts early and ends late. Very late. He wakes up around 7am and by 8am is watching live streaming of his farms. He sees the day's harvest list, attends team calls, heads out for client meetings or hosts them at his farms, works on value creation, new crop addition, improving efficiency, opening new channels of distribution…calling it a day only around 4am after tracking the auctions at a wholesale vegetable market. Welcome to the world of hydroponic or soil-less farming. These are not farms spread across thousands of acres of real estate. Instead these are located in the basements or terraces or rooms in apartment blocks. These are the latest kitchen gardens that are coming up for either domestic consumption or commercial supplies. And the pandemic has fast tracked that activity into an industry. medium92175255Lab-grown greensShelf after shelf of microgreens, herbs and leafy veggies are being grown at ‘indoor’ neighbourhood farms. Plants are growing out of petri dishes as seeds in foam and blooming into full-grown leafy veggies at times under artificial red and blue lights in strict temperature and humidity control.While the pandemic, weather fluctuations followed by the war in Ukraine have disrupted the supply of a number of food items, leafy greens, micro greens and vine crops were readily available. While hydroponic farms might sound an exception, slowly they are becoming a norm.Himanshu Aggarwal, who runs a hydroponic farm in Delhi that has a capacity to produce 5 tonnes of leafy greens a month and is selling almost 300 boxes of microgreens and herbs a day in the local market, says consistency of taste, supply and price have got him a growing loyal customer base. medium92174823 He says rather than struggle with quality of ingredients due to destroyed crops or rising prices, more and more restaurants order from him as he meets their annual commitment and at competitive prices. “From cilantro, coriander, mint to bell peppers, arugula and mushrooms, I’m the only ‘farmer’ giving quality produce regularly in this weather,” he jokes.Ankur Anand, project head at Burman Farms, a state-of-the-art hydroponic facility on the outskirts of Delhi says with land availability at an all-time low, soil-less farming methods or vertical farms will become important to avoid food shortage. He says that this farming will never replace traditional farming, but will complement it. He is always asked if his is an organic farm and he regularly takes guests through his impressive facility producing almost 10,000 kg of produce a year to show them how residue-free plants are being grown without soil and almost no pesticides. medium nocaption92174883Check the techWhile food security becomes a buzzword and every government looks at ways to be as self-reliant as possible, Mukherji is ensuring our microgreens are never in short supply. He is growing leafy greens in a hydroponic setup in Bengaluru. This soil-less method of farming, Mukherji claims, is the need of the hour, as it allows him to produce quality ingredients, consistently in far less space as compared to traditional farming.He says he will not only be able to ensure quality through the year but also produce maximum crops from minimum land through his own innovations.Mukherji, Aggarwal and Anand agree that many are looking at it as a lucrative investment opportunity and setting up their own farms, but knowing what technology is apt for local conditions and understanding the market is key to get started. medium92174974 Mukherji says people are sold greenhouses and poly houses, which are replicas of the ones used in Nordic countries, to be used in India. He says those fail in the Indian heat. He is working on a unique vertical farming method named UpVerde that will allow him to produce almost 250 acres of produce from just an acre of land. Using other technologies, Mukherji is also trying to cut down production time for each crop and looking at ways to ensure his produce now sold B2B also makes way to local vegetable mandis.Aggarwal, who went to speak at WEF in Davos, observed a heightened focus on sustainable food practices at this year’s forum. He says the US, West Asia, Singapore and European nations are showing keen interest in hydroponic farming. medium92175186In India, he says, technology is a major issue as farms here need not be robotic plants like in the West where there is shortage of manpower. He says many people depend on consultants to set up their farms and get western technology installed. Any glitch leads to a failed crop. “We need to be able to train more people to operate hydroponic farms by using the simplest of technology rather than be dependent on experts to fly in for every issue,” he says. Anand asserts along with right technology, finding the right market and economic viability of a plant matters a lot. medium92175127Global suppliersBoth Aggarwal and Mukherji have seen their share of struggles with setting up their plants to taking their produce and finally selling it at the market. Mukherji lost his traditional farm to an elephant attack and mustered courage to start a hydroponic venture. medium92175026 Aggarwal says while the concept may sound fancy for visitors who come to see greens growing in artificial light, for a retail store a lettuce means lettuce whether it is from soil, water, polyhouse, indoor or traditionally produced. He says hydroponic farms too need to be run personally, farmers must know the demand and supply cycle and produce accordingly, be willing to invest in setting up a plant and keep investing to sustain it and be prepared to bear cruel market dynamics such as return to vendors and elongated credit policies.What drives them is the positive outlook both in India and abroad and going forward they hope through their farming innovations they will be able to put India well and firmly on the global hydroponic map. While they have ambitious plans for their own plants from adding new crops regularly and producing newer varieties, they hope they will soon be in a position to meet the demands of fresh supplies from Southeast Asia and West Asia as well.