Hi, My decades of experience and studies are going to be put into a new company that aims to build a model farm. And I am sharing it here for the first time as I am inviting people who are interested in farming in the near future or are farmers looking to get support.
One of the main principles would be less reliance on labor. That means a lot of hands-on work. That means a system in place. That means being flexible and well aware-of farming, business, and marketing.
The activities involved are as follows.
soil: Here testing learning understanding collecting data reporting and publishing are involved apart from making it productive!
vegetables: year-round veg poly culture NOT monoculture.
Irrigation: understanding irrigation inside out.
Trees: For fruit, wood, and other natural uses such as shade and sight curtains.
processing shed constructions.
Goats & sheep: full-fledged goat farm
business: soil to service
Note: 2 things are enough for a man to be destroyed! forgetting his inevitable death and indulging in long farout dreams with unrealistic hopes.
So the first step is to make a tiny model farm on a land parcel of 3/4 acres and an adjoining 4000 sq ft.
And to build an 8 + acre land parcel for the company.
And to take about 50 to 100 acres non owned land for various reasons like fodder growing, fruits, etc. This dept has various sections. Leased lands for our use. Running other farms with our systems and resources. Building farms from scratch. etc etc.
This is in Maharashtra state, India. In a district called Raigad. In a taluka ( equivalent to a subset of a district) called Shriwardhan. This is five km from Shrivardhan city (town). It is 170km from New Mumbai. About 4 hrs drive. With the coastal road getting almost complete the travel time by road could decrease.
About the area: it’s a coastal place. basically a tropical rainforest.
It is about the same distance from Pune as well.
If anybody is looking for land in this area, get in touch. If anybody wants to partake and get involved in this project may be to get the experience may be to learn, to teach or any other (good) way. Do get in touch here. Share what is it that you are interested in and how you wanna get involved. What resources do you bring in? It is a commercial venture.
thanks, if aint economically viable why am I doing it? it is that simple. The idea here is that farming is not some saintly or poor men’s or a lowly job. Or a job is done necessarily by having tribals or any other labor. No. It is a work that requires a lot of education and research apart from system administration skills and various other things. In spite of everything Indians face on a daily basis on their farms, it is possible to look at the farming venture in an objective rational manner. I tried this earlier many times and failed terribly. Haha. But then I know this time is going to be different for one thing all the earlier times were with partners. This time it is solo as well as i basically am cutting out all dependencies on people who are (sorry to say) mentally not fit for a venture like this.
Let me give you an example. On paper, if you see the profit margins of an urban builder and a goat farmer they are about the same! But the reality is more and more people are in a delusion that if they become a successful builders they are better in some way. whereas if a person decides to farm goats he is lowly or beaten or a fool. The difference is in lifestyle choices and scruples. The systems are not laid out in farming whereas in the construction business even the bribes have fixed rates! And all this is gotta do with the kind of society we have and the kind of society we want. I know farmers who are educated and run their farms like well-oiled machines. I see a lot of potentials. I am willing to collaborate on terms that are win-win and I personally can see benefits in it for both parties involved.
Since my farm is in kokan area I have a list of problems to solve right from the get-go. I know the farmers around do not even know what compost means. I was astonished to find out that one of the two big companies making compost in India does not even define compost as the rest of the agricultural world does. This I have heard from the horse’s mouth. Every farmer in my area thinks he knows better because he has been doing it unsuccessfully forever. The agricultural universities and state-level guidance all come with synthetic input ideas as if they were nothing but marketing institutes of the synthetic fertilizer companies’ marketing arms.
What the local farmer needs is an education and a skill set but more than anything he/she needs a change of mindset. I know i have to make money out of my natural-based farming to be profitable. Since people only are interested in money, they will get interested if they smell money in my systems ! Gotta make pudding to have the proof, instead of (as in my previous mistakes) convincing others. I will surely keep updating on this forum. And thanks again.
Farming is very simple. The sad part the top soil has been destroyed. And Rainwater harvesting has been kicked out by Indian Farmers. We are trying to farm acres after acres without a single farm pond.
If you have a Liner-less farm pond and have a fence around it then 90% of the work is done. Nature will do the rest 10%. If we don’t attend the farm the nature will take over and cure the soil.
But we can speed up the curing process in about 3 months to a year tim.
3 MUST HAVE Thing to have on the farm are:
Farm Pond
Biodigester… shit from cowdung and human toilet along with kitchen and other organic waste goes. What comes out goes on the farm.
Solar Power - A minimum of 1kw Roof top or over cowshed to run various equipments. If you have regular power then use an OnGrid (battery less) solar system. But if you have constant power cuts you already use inverter… so hook both of them up.
Other things required are
4. Fence is another important thing - Grow cactus or thorny bushes along the fence.
5. Grow Clumping bamboo (not runner bamboo) to use the bamboo for various things and support fence.
6. Desi Cows - Importance of its dung is understated. Dung Beetle feed upon it and create rainwater harvesting tracts where EVER the dung falls. So you need to move the cow to EVERY INCH of your farm… BEFORE you plant anything. If you feel the cows are safe on the farm then keep them overnight on the farmland. (Study about Kraals). Massai Tribes are more committed to protecting Desi Cows than Indians even today). Desi cows are found only in 2 continents (Goloka = India & Paatala = Africa… Ancient India of Pak+India+Bangladesh was more like a continent).
7. You cannot say I will grow only crops and not do animal husbandary. Agriculture includes EVERYTHING. Every animal has its own work to do on your farm. Everything from Chickens, Ducks, Goats, Cows, even pigs have their own work to do on the farm.
If we prevent them from doing their work and put them behind bars… then we will have to pay labourers to do their work.
