I have been tracking this tread for a while and I would like to contribute to it with my thoughts and perspectives that I have observed and learned.
Firstly, I would like to establish a rough framework for guiding my agricultural decisions which are as follows.
1. - Classifying and estimating the strata’s of society based on income group
12.5 Lacks/p.a ----------- qualifies as higher income group within the middle class
20 L/p.a -------------------- qualifies as higher income group
50L /p.a ----------------- qualifies as Luxury class income group…… one step ahead of the higher income group
These would be some of my targets to achieve
2. – Assessing the business based upon the following parameters.
1- Opportunity
2- Scalability
3- Competition
4- Valuation
5- Management.
Each of these need to be carefully thought over and all actions should ideally justify all of them.
3. - There are three lines of business in the agriculture business.
1- Investment – i.e. capital investment in land
2- Leasing – i.e leasing of agriculture business.
3- The actual activity of farming, cultivation and selling of produce.
4. - Certain biases and perception that I hold
Understanding and managing machines is much simpler and better than understanding and managing labor……… So my bias would be towards mechanized farming /automation and best use of technology until unless somebody can give me a better cost –benefit explanation to go against ……
Labor Management ……. Is Time consuming and complicated so my bias would be towards hiring more skilled/ or the best non- skilled labor and paying the lucrative compensation package…
I would want to ensure that the net profitability always is above 20% p.a from the sum total of every aspect of agribiz.
And that I break even in approximately 3.5 yrs …… i.e respecting the rule of 72 …… 72/20 = 3.5 yrs approx.
5.- My idea of logic has two parts
Present logic that deal with all validated facts and figures of the past and present but without assumptions.
And Future logic based upon present logic + assumptions + future vision.
So based upon the abovementioned frame work my thoughts regarding agribiz are as follows.
Buying land …… the most critical decision ………main parameters for evaluation would be location, cost and size and the proposed future utilization of it. I would want to achieve diversification in both …i.e …. The actual lines of biz…….i.e. investment + leasing + cultivation and in the actual cultivation (monoculture + cash crops + dairy farming).
I would want to buy two separate chunks /Pieces of land ………such that
The first chunk should be one large one where I can practice mechanized wheat farming + others or lease it or do both. Diary farming would also be done on this chunk. In this chunk location has less importance but size and cost have more.
The second chunk would be where I would practice cultivating cash crops and should ideally be close to the market place that is close to the consumption centre so I wouldn’t mind paying the extra buck provided it covers it thru good profit margins.( idea is to start off Floricuture / growing vegetables here in green/Polyhouse)……(just saw the other day a rose cultivator increasing is per acre productivity yield by 5 time with the help of green houses)
And secondly …… they should be located such that they both are reachable and manageable in a single day ideally.
Keeping the abovementioned concept in mind and after some casual research I have zero in on Rajasthan state ……The things that excite me about Rajasthan are the place Pushkar and Ajmer. Being religious place there is constant demand for flowers and fruits to certain extent and Jaipur a major consumption centre for other cash crops.( have a look of their relative location on google maps )
However ---- land in Rajasthan also brings in their certain limitation and challenges also which include…… extreme weather , availability of water and the denial of local law barring non rajasthani from buying agricultural land having access to irrigated water.
But inspite of these challenges and based upon a superficial casual investigation of farmlands price ……. The benefits of valuation outnumber the locational challenges.
Besides in the future may be Farmlands in Rajasthan could be used also as energy farms ………… with the help solar energy given the extreme summers and sunshine and wind energy given the evolution of non – conventional horizontal wind mills ( willl post a link regarding these in the future)
Besides this some other things that I would want readers of this post to learn/explore are
Robotic farming … please read the article on this link………
singularityhub.com/2011/01/31/au … ium-video/
Next is the idea to setup a biogass processing and compressor system …… something that compress biogas to make compressed bio gass (CNB)cylinder which can be used for generators /gysers and cooking ……. Although I would prefer one that uses cowdunk only. Would want to use this alongside dairy farming ……. and I would like to know at what rate this residual organic manure that is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus if I am not mistaken is sold at.
A brief survey on the net say that on an average each cow produce 62 kg of cow dunk which in turn also produce 60 odd units of CNB…… our home gas cyclinder is about 15 -17 odd units so in a year a cow gives approximately enough CNB to make 4 cyclinder ……. Multiply this with 20 cows and we have 80 cyclinders ………
And besides cow dunk can also be bought from outside and processed ……
Due to lack of time I could not devote much time on this subject but I would want somebody to do a online survey on this …… and shed some light by sharing filtered knowledge and some critical insights how to make this a viable workable and scalable.
Next is identify and learn from people who have already established and refined their cash crop farming ……….have a look at the below mentioned link ……… the claims of this gentlemen seem to be impressive …….would like u all to read and comment on this
vermaagri.com/services.html
Next is I would want one of u if possible ……… download install and play this computer game farming simulator 2011……. And update this thread about what it is all about and its utility( u will get this game online……for free … if u know where to look)…….
Next I would want somebody to contribute with regards to mechanized farming ……. I what to explore the idea / options of mechanized farming on large low cost farmlands ……… and if possible I would want to know specifically about mechanized cotton farming …… something not practiced in India and also mechanized sugar cane farming
Next is about farming management control systems devoted towards preventing theft and pilferage of agricultural produce thru labor and other causes and the checks and balances required to enable the same.
Next is the use of GPS w.r.t to Indian farming environment
And lastly …. Now that I have said a lot …something about me …… I grew up in the concrete jungles of Mumbai and for the last 3.5 year have been living in Punjab like a Nomad ……. Where this bug of agri biz has bitten me. I have just completed my mba in finance .Currently I am on the look out for a good job and in the future definitely want to startup some agri biz…………
With this long post that took me more than 8 hours to make …… 
… 
I am hoping to make some likeminded friends …….with whom i can share and pursue my new passion and hobby … agri biz.
I hope u find this post intellectually stimulating and would like all of u to contribute to it
Regards.
