Gusty winds and rains breached Pelican’s ‘poly houses’ (a type of greenhouse with specialised polythene sheet covering), and the ‘grow towers’ were left in a complete disarray. Mohapatra’s farm measures just 700 square metres, but it can hold nearly 4,000 plants and grow up to 100 kg of vegetables a day. Small landholding had prompted the one-time seafarer to try aeroponics—with ‘grow towers’ that enabled him to grow the crop vertically.

“The cyclone wiped out the entire farm. I am trying to set it up again… We have started growing different varieties of lettuces, cherry tomatoes and jalapenos,” says Mohapatra.
Pelican Aeroponic is among two dozen farm startups that have come up over the past few years, with a promise of growing “better-than-organic” or “beyond-organic” fruits and vegetables in India. All these companies — starting from large players such as Barton Breeze to others like Letcetra Agritech, UrbanKisaan and FutureFarms — adopt modern farming methods like hydroponics and aeroponics, which involve soil-less cultivation in a controlled environment.

But what is hydroponics and aeroponics? Neither growth methods use soil. In hydroponics, the sapling is usually placed on a ‘substrate’ (like rock wool, volcanic ash, peat moss, coco coir or clay pebbles), which is dosed with nutrient-rich water periodically. Many a time, hydroponic farmers do not use a substrate; they simply place the plants along a channel that has flowing water. Aeroponic plants are never placed on a substrate or in water; here plants are grown in a controlled air environment. The exposed roots are periodically sprayed with nutrient solutions for the plants to grow. #igbc #internationalgbc #international green building council

“Both these methods are ideal if the available land is not fertile or suitable for cultivation,” says Praveen Sharma, an agriculture engineer and founder of the Pune-based Flora Consult, which has set up farms using these techniques at Lonavala, Surat, Bhubaneswar and Chennai and in Gulf countries and Africa.

“Using these methods, and more specifically with aeroponics, one can set up vertical farms on grow towers. This is done to increase yield, even if the available land is less or not suitable for cultivation. You can have 75 to 100 plants per square metre using these techniques,” he adds.

According to farm owners, hydroponics and aeroponics are ideal for short crops such as lettuces, strawberries, zucchini and other exotic vegetables, greens and even flowers (such as roses). Almost all of these farm owners and agritech startups sell their produce as “beyond-organic” vegetables.

“Hydroponic or aeroponically-grown vegetables are the cleanest possible varieties you can get anywhere in this world. These are grown in a clean and controlled environment, without the use of soil or pesticides. There’s a very limited chance of contamination,” says Sudhanva Sundararaman, COO of Barton Breeze, which builds ponic farms, offers consultancy services and also does farm management (including selling of farm produce) on behalf of interested parties.

“India imports roughly Rs 5,000 crore worth of exotic greens every year. This can be brought down if we are able to grow these locally. Also, the market for hydroponic or aeroponic vegetables is growing considerably. Supermarkets in metros have started giving separate shelf space to veggies and greens grown using these techniques,” he adds.

Most players are hoping to turn profitable soon, as city-dwellers have started demanding their produce regularly. Many hotels, top-line restaurants, cloud kitchens and corporate canteens have also started ordering these greens and veggies, according to farmers. In their bid to bring down the cost of production, these new-age farmers are now using solar power to run their farms; many of them, like Barton Breeze, are also making their own nutrient solution to feed their crops. But still ponic veggies or greens are at least three times costlier than their regular soil-grown peers in most markets. #igbc #internationalgbc #international green building council

“These vegetables have a good shelf life and taste much better than the regular variants,” says Pradeep Jayakar, a lawyer by profession, and owner of Tridhatri Farms at Lonavala. The farm grows nearly 50 kg of cherry tomatoes every day.

“These farms can be very profitable with automation. If you can automate the plant-feeding cycle and climate control, a lot of running cost can be trimmed down. With proper market linkages, this can be a profitable business,” he adds.

Pelican Aeroponic Farms’ Mohapatra has already built a side-venture—of delivering assorted salad boxes to his nearby customers. “We have a lot of diet-conscious customers buying these boxes from us on a regular basis,” he says.

“This is a great business to be in, but it needs a lot of patience. Running an aeroponic farm is full-time work. You have to be very careful about hygiene inside the poly houses. By any chance, if any plant virus seeps into the poly house, the whole farm would be destroyed in a matter of days,” he cautions.

Smaller startups also focus on peddling domestic ‘do-it-yourself’ hydroponic or aeroponic kits to buyers. These are usually sold to people living in apartments, but having large balconies. What can be more lavish—or fulfilling—than plucking a few cherry tomatoes and lettuce leaves from your balcony garden for a Sunday brunch! #igbc #internationalgbc #international green building council