Remember the days when we’d sit glued to the train window as vast expanses of fields whizzed past? Fast forward to the present day and we now know that those fields are laden with factory-produced pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers and growing one’s own food leaves us feeling like we’ve lost our connection to the soil to such an extent, we don’t know where to begin. But there’s good news: It turns out we don’t have to choose between living in urban spaces and giving up your smartphone to move to the countryside.
Technology, it seems, has the answer. Tech entrepreneurs across the country are creating a whole subset of agriculture: urban farming. The focus today is on bringing the farming lifestyle to cities, within individual apartments, housing societies, even offices. Techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics are words that are now as common as composting and rainwater harvesting. Planters, the size of aquariums, are being designed to occupy pride of place in living rooms, even as rooftop farms are becoming integral parts of building design.
Farm at home
Future Farms, for instance, has a slew of technology solutions aimed at kitchen gardens at home and urban farming systems for large commercial projects. Says founder and CEO Sriram Gopal, “We’ve tied up with large global brands and represent them in India. We also develop indigenous solutions for rooftop and urban farming.” The three-year-old startup stumbled upon hydroponics on YouTube, while researching a project on green buildings. “It was during the course of this that we realised that most solutions towards this area in the country were more ‘jugaad’ in nature. There was no engineering involved. We thought it was a great place to start and we began to work towards better technology to implement in the sector.”
The systems are designed to enable people to grow anything, from something as simple as leafy greens such as mint and spinach (commonly grown near gutters or railway tracks) to broccoli, tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce. Most of these systems are both water and energy-efficient as well, with the indoor planters designed by Crofters consuming as much energy as it would take to run two ceiling fans. Says Deepak Srinivasan, co-founder of the Chennai-based startup, “Our scaled-down indoor planter system can be easily fit in any urban living room. With an aquarium at the bottom and grow area on top, the system is connected via pipes to transfer water and can be controlled via a smartphone app. This lets you set timers to control the lights and water transmission, apart from providing information on the types of plants that can be grown and how. The app also has a marketplace for related accessories. There is no soil involved; just clay particles that are more water-efficient, and it also has inbuilt sensors to gather temperature and humidity data, which help identify plant issues. The idea is to provide better solutions for plant growth.” All one needs, he says, is a good wifi connection.
Today, the company, which was one of the early movers in the space, has a 4,000 sq ft rooftop farm using hydroponics in Perungudi, Chennai, and are mapping climate, technology and crops and their viability. They identify plants that can grow better indoors and are working with large corporates such as the Adani Group to set up smart farms for them. In 2016 alone, the company sold 1,000 units, with sizes ranging from 20 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft and capacities of 15-200 plants; some going up to 7,000 plants on rooftop spaces. “This year, we’re looking at selling close to 5,000 units,” says Gopal.
A growing market
While techniques such as aquaponics and hydroponics are not new, the technology aspect involved is. Remember Hollywood mafia movies, with the bad guys growing illegal substances under grow lights? What is relatively new, however, is the scaled-down version combined with the Internet of Things. In fact, these are great ways to address other issues, such as rapidly expanding cities and shrinking farmlands. In countries such as Singapore, there are entire indoor farms spanning massive buildings, where food is grown to meet the demands of the populace.
Several technology startups in the country are now working towards providing better urban farming solutions. Planters such as the above eliminate the use of chemicals used in sowing, harvesting, packaging and storing, and also cut down food miles to ensure healthier and safer food for consumers.
Anjal Salam, co-founder of Bengaluru-based startup Farm Dimension, says, “We’re currently working towards developing indoor planters that look like mini refrigerators. The idea, is to enable people to grow clean food in a controlled environment. We’re running pilot projects to get the technology right, and in the next 10 months plan to move into engineering and production of the product that we call Fable.” Salam, who co-founded the company with fellow engineers Julu Ahmed and Sanjay Krishna, adds that Fable is but a baby step towards change and addressing food-safety issues.
For many of these entrepreneurs, the idea is to visualise a world of urban farmers. “We want to appliance agriculture. If people can dedicate, say two hours a day each day, it’ll be easy to produce clean food. In fact, homemakers in large apartment complexes can get together to adopt these methods. They can cut down water consumption by up to 90% using recirculating systems, and the food is of superior grade, since our systems use RO water,” says Gopal. “Branded fresh food is the way forward. Currently, awareness about these options is rather low in our country. Certified clean food is still a long way off, but once people understand and are sensitised towards clean food, things will change,” he says.
