Europes leading agritech innovators

The Face of a Reformative AgriTech Era
Gavin Dunne
CEO
2019 | VOL- 11 | ISSUE- 8
EUROPE’S LEADING
INNOVATORS
www.insightssuccess.com

AgriTech,
Pioneering
Pathways for
Agricultural
Industry
Editor’s Desk
The human population is growing at an
unprecedented rate. According to a report
published by the United Nations, it is
expected to reach 9.7 billion, adding 2 billion people
on earth by 2050. This visibily ascertains that there
will be many mouths to feed and the demand for
everything under the sky will increase. Looking at the
current static where only 40% of the land is available
for growing the crops, the circumstances of the future
seems overwhelming.
The agriculture industry has also been thought of as
the industry that is too deeply rooted in traditional
ways, and that is seldom adapts to changes. But when
combine these old-fashioned methods and the rising
appetite of human society, these new challenges have
paved the path for something even greater -
innovation.
Innovation is the catalyst to disruption in every
industry there is and the agriculture industry isn’t far
behind. It has even given rise to its discipline by the
name AgriTech. In simple terms, it means the use of
technology in the agriculture industry to improve
yield, efficiency and profitability. These advancements
in technology and precise data are opening
opportunities for production, traceability and the
preservation of natural resources.
Agritech is adopting new technological innovations
such as leveraging the cloud, big data, IoT and much
more. Its success can be seen in multiple projects that
are carried around the world such as: Drone scanning
- used on crop field for scanning with multiple
spectral imaging sensors, GPS map creation through
Gavin Dunne
CEO
2019 | VOL- 11 | ISSUE- 8
EUROPE’S LEADING
INNOVATORS
www.insightssuccess.com

onboard cameras, heavy payload transportation and livestock monitoring with thermal-imaging camera equipped drones.
Using remote sensing to collect vast amount of info which helps farmers and fishermen in making informed decisions.
Bridging the information gap between farmers and Agripreneurs via communication technologies like podcasts, blogs, social
media platforms, and ebooks.
Such multiple technologies along with farm robotics, blockchain trading, hydroponics ( soilless farming tech used to insulate
crops from the effects of climate change), Bio-Energy and Bio-materials, etc. are stepping their foot and leading the way for
other ingenious approaches.
We at Insights success have come across companies that are committed to disrupt the agricultural industry with their avante-
garde ways and technologies. It is our honor to introduce you to this edition, “Europe’s Leading Agritech Innovators”.
On the Cover, we are introducing you to The Olive Feed Corporation spearheaded by CEO Gavin Dunne. The company
transforms olive waste into a nutritious feed. It provides cutting-edge scientific-based research on nutritional health benefits
not only for the wagayu cattle, but also for the consumer of the meat.
Other prominent companies featured in this edition includes: Agro Innovation Lab which actively take part in shaping the
future of agriculture by implementing new technologies and strategies, increasing efficiency and conserving resources;
Agvesto, a company that aims to help farmers by providing parametric insurance products against natural hazards; Desert
Control, which is changing the landscape of deserts and arid soil into fertile land; FFRobotics, a startup that provides cost-
effective solution to ever-increasing fruit harvesting necessities; and Leaf Agriculture, a platform that provides its API for
the agritech companies to make use of the data in the agriculture sector seamlessly.
We are also privileged to mention the contribution of notable companies such as: Intelligent Growth Solutions, Evja,
Mazzotti SRL, SANN Group.
The edition also has a CxO and articles written by the industry-expert and our in-house editorial team. We hope you enjoy
reading this edition as much as we did while curating it for you.
Have an exciting read ahead!
Vishal Muktewar

Cover Story
Articles
Editor’s Desk
Farming as a Service: Embedding
Hope and Enriching Lives of
Indian Farmers
20
Info Insight
Innovative Food and Beverages
from Farm to Fork
08
24
40
Farming Archive
Forethoughts for the
Modern day Organic Farmers
36
TechPowered
Fraternization of Technology
and Agriculture
CXO

Leaf Agriculture
Revolutionizing the
AgriTech Industry 38
Desert Control
A Promise to Make the
Earth Green Again 28
Agro Innovation Lab
Deﬁning a New Age for AgTech
with Innovative Approach 16
18
Agvesto
An Innovative Insurance Platform
Protecting Agricultural Assets
32
FFRobotics
Creating a New Age for
Fruit Harvesting
CNETOTNS

sales@insightssuccess.com
November, 2019
Circulation Manager Tanaji
Research Analyst Eric Smith
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
Anish MillerSenior Editor
Anna, Kelly, SapnaBusiness Development Executives
Managing Editor
Abhishaj, Upama, Sneha, Ryan
Sherin RodricksBusiness Development Manager
Vishal Muktewar
Contributing Writers
Art & Design Head Amol Kamble
Art & Design Assistant
Asha Bange
Visualiser David King
Paul BelinCo-designer
Art & Picture Editor
Deepanjali Jena
Marketing Manager Mary D’souza
Technical Consultants Pratiksha, Aditya, David
Technical Head Jacob Smile
Assistant Technical Head
SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Uma, Manoj
Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege
Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale
Copyright © 2019 Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd., All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not
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Sales Executives Michael, Judy, Sophie
Amar Sawant

Where would the world be if the disciplines of
agriculture and technology hadn’t intertwined
for the greater goal of humanity’s progress?
How else would our economies sustain, if not from
exporting agricultural produce backed by quality-enhancing
technologies? Would we have leveraged the benefits of
agricultural revolutions across the world, if it weren’t for
this reformative amalgamation? These questions unveil the
amount of emphasis there is on the progress and
development of the AgriTech sector across the globe.
To bring your attention on the motive of this particular idea
about exploring the AgriTech landscape, which is of
seeking and unveiling innovative solutions and
technologies, we at Insights Success are privileged to
introduce The Olive Feed Corporation.
Most organizations, in some or the other way, strive
ceaselessly towards catering to certain requirements of a
particular industry and customers. On a similar notion, The
Olive Feed Corporation, through its proprietary cooking
process, has derived a solution to use olive waste as an
animal feed which harnesses all the benefits of Olive Oil,
significantly improving the quality of meat and animal
health.
The Olive Feed Corporation’s reformative animal feed
increases the Oleic acid content of meat, which lowers the
melting point of fat, giving it a softer and juicer texture.
Glutamic acid, which is essentially flavour, increases by
over 50%, creating an amazing umami and distinctive
sweet-buttery flavour in the meat. The Monounsaturated fat
ratios within the meat also increase, compared to saturated
fat which gives a lighter eating experience especially in
Wagyu Beef. All of these aspects together lead to incredible
tasting meat that allows the farm to add significantly to the
bottom line, simultaneously having a positive effect on the
environment. Meanwhile, in the distribution chain, there are
enhanced performances. Farmers, distributors, restaurants
and retailers make higher margins, while the end consumer
receives a healthy meat, all the while acknowledging that
they are reducing their carbon footprint.
Personifying Innovation
Any organization, to sustain and thrive in the global market,
requires a proficient leader who is innately passionate and
driven towards the organization’s mission. Similarly, The
Olive Feed Corporation’s helm of progress and widespread
recognition, is at the hands of its CEO, Gavin Dunne.
It was Gavin’s love for food and cooking that led him to
testing various cooking methods on olive waste. This
ultimately led to the discovery of the organization’s
proprietary cooking process which has since been patented.
Since then, for Gavin and the team, it has been about
putting a structure together internationally to make the
business work.
“We built a production line with the leading Olive Pomace
factory in the world Elsap SA in Nafplio, created a brand
suitable for such a prestigious animal feed, and have since
proven the concept around the world about how Olive Feed
improves meat quality and leads to increased profitability

for farmers,” states Gavin.
Gavin, with great concern, expresses his opinion upon the
gravity of the resulting eﬀects of disregarding the
appropriate technique or process of creating animal feed out
of olive waste. He states, “We have seen some companies
try to use olive waste as an animal feed, jumping on the
back of what we are doing without doing their research.
They soon realize its not safe to give Olive waste to animals
in its regular state as it causes digestibility issues as well as
health problems. There are innumerate studies out there for
the last 70 years showing this but I guess there are always
going to be some people who try to cut some corners.”
“ We create ,Olive Feed
the finest animal feed
available using a process
that solves a Global
”Environmental Issue

Surpassing Adversities
Challenges and adversities are a part and parcel of
entrepreneurship and the pertaining surroundings. Gavin
and The Olive Feed corporation have also had their fair
share of challenges. The most prominent among them being
the prolonged strife of getting organizations like the EU,
and even their own government’s publicly funded bodies to
recognize what they are doing for the environment.
Gavin emphasizes on the fact that apart from being the only
entity in the world using olive waste in a 100%
environmentally friendly way, The Olive Feed Corporation
has achieved a visible reduction of Methane gas production
when feeding animals with Olive Feed animal fodder.
“Not a single Irish Journalist has cared to look into this
despite being made aware, our country’s publicly funded
body showed little interest at the top of the organization,
wanting us to privately fund any studies done in Ireland on
it, despite Methane gas production being Ireland’s single
biggest agricultural problem,” Gavin expresses.
Additionally, Gavin states that the European Union’s
environmental bodies have completely ignored dozens of
letters and attempts to bring their attention to what the
organization has been doing. “It’s quite sad really as it
highlights the dark reality that none of these organizations
or people involved in them really care about the
environment,” he adds. However, one organization in
Ireland – Bord Bia, helped the company a lot in its overseas
challenges, and Gavin asserts that it is no surprise they were
chosen to represent the European Union to market it’s

products around the world.
One other challenge that The Olive
Feed Corporation regularly faces, is
that of exports. The company’s central
product is a feed for Wagyu cattle. The
challenge there is that these cattle are
few and far between in Europe, and
therefore while The Olive Feed
Corporation has a small number of
customers in Europe, its business has
to be conducted mostly in Australia,
Asia and the United States. “Passing
Bio-security audits from the Australian
government was an expensive and time
consuming process, but ultimately
passing their stringent controls has
made us a better company with a
ﬂawless production system,” states
Gavin.
Envisioning Excellence
The Olive Feed Corporation has
developed a unique traceability
software allowing retailers and
consumers to see exactly what they are
eating and where its coming from. The
company hopes that this will
eventually become the standard in the
industry, in the near future.
The Olive Feed Corporation is now
expanding into diﬀerent markets,
developing products for Ducks, Pigs,
and Horses. Gavin hopes that within a
few years these products will be
recognized as the best animal feeds on
the market, for not just producing
exceptional meat but also as health and
wellness products.
“By hiring the right people, and
selectively dealing with farms that
have a personal touch and care for
their animals, we can grow in a
sustainable and healthy way keeping in
line with our environmental ethos,” he
concludes.

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Founded in 2016, Agro Innovation Lab is a trend
scout, accelerator, networker, mentor,
unconventional think tank, knowledge carrier,
partner, and facilitator unified in its goal to play an active
part in shaping the future of agriculture through innovation.
The company’s manifold activities conjoin AgTech with
conventional agricultural technology, merging the expertise
of traditional agriculture with the possibilities of
digitization, thus building a network of research,
development, entrepreneurship, investors, and the market.
We approached David Saad, the CEO of Agro Innovation
Lab for an exclusive Interview with Insights Success:
Q: Give a brief overview of your organization and the
services and/or solutions you offer. Enlighten us with your
inception story and the inspiration behind it.
A: Agro Innovation Lab is the joint innovation hub of
BayWa and RWA. Our task is to scout, validate and support
the implementation of collaborations with innovative
partners in order to secure the pipeline regarding innovative
technologies, business model and products. We do this
because it is a core value of BayWa and RWA to stay the
partner to turn to when it comes to modern agriculture.
We resort to different tools in order to fulfill our mission:
Acceleration programs, innovation challenges, hackathons,
individual innovation projects and co-innovation initiatives
with industry/cross-industry peers are examples of formats
that we are able to utilize. Over the past 3 years, we
evaluated more than 800 startups from more than 70
countries all over the globe and realized more than 25
collaboration projects.
Q: Give us a brief overview of the featured person(s) and
their contribution towards the company and its success.
A: I joined the company in its very beginning in 2016 in
order to bring in startup and entrepreneurial perspective,
and together with my team we developed AIL from an
accelerator program to the joint innovation hub of BayWa
and RWA. We could achieve this by continuously
expanding its service catalog, starting with the acceleration
program and adding diverse innovation formats from
hackathons over innovation challenges, internal innovation
processes to individual collaboration search projects and so
on.
Q: How do you think has the AgriTech and affiliated
solutions market evolved and what can be expected in the
forthcoming years?
A: Trends like Digitization and connectivity have definitely
arrived in agriculture over the last years. Farmers
worldwide need the tools these developments offer them
because they face the challenge of producing more in a
shorter time span using fewer resources - be it time, land or
input materials. However, compared to other industries
agriculture faces longer lead times – just think of vegetation
periods, higher invest requirements and further specific
hurdles. Take robotics for example: although the use of
robots in e.g. the automotive industry is state of the art,
using a robot on the field is a totally different task. You
simply do not have a closed and secure environment, soil
changes from one passing to the other and plants are simply
not standardized.
Thus the practical implementation of robots, satellite
analysis, machine automation, AI-plant disease-forecasting
algorithms and so on are still not at the point where farmers
can fully rely on them and are using them on a day to day
basis. I think the challenge ahead is to constantly improve
these technologies and thus bring them to a level where
farmers can and are willing to apply them as confiding as
they do their tractor.
Q: What are the benefits gained by your clients/users from
your products/solutions/services?
A: Innovations we work on are as diverse as agriculture
Defining a New Age for AgTech with Innovative Approach
16 | November 2019 |

itself and range from machinery over plant breeding,
forestry, animal health care and irrigation to trading
platforms and urban farming. However, what all of them
have in common is that they aim at making the lives of
farmers easier by helping them to increase eﬃciency, save
resources, or do things in a totally new way. For us it is
crucial that our innovations really deliver value to our
customers, that is why we engage with them in close
contact from the very beginning of our projects. Customer
centricity is key in all of our activities and I think this is the
reason why we have a very good success rate considering
the implementation of our projects.
Q: What obstacles and/or limitations does you and your
company face while growing, sustaining or retaining its
clientele?
A: Bringing innovation into a big corporation is always a
tough task. It requires a lot of convincing, communicating
and hard work because you often have to go to other
people’s extra miles in order to prove that what you are
doing makes sense. The good thing is that is getting a little
bit easier when you score your ﬁrst successes. The bad
news is that it will never stop, no matter how successful you
are.
Q: What does the future hold for your company in terms
of internal as well as holistic development?
A: Internal: In the upcoming year will expedite our Co-
Innovation initiatives with industry and cross-industry
peers, so interested partners are welcome to shoot us a
message!
Holistic: I think that due to factors like labor shortage,
climate change and population growth innovation in
agriculture will become more and more important over the
next years and I am really looking forward to being a part
of it.
Q: Would you like to highlight any awards, accolades or
testimonials your company has achieved throughout?
A: Born Global Innovator Award by the Austrian Chamber
of Commerce, listed among the top 5 innovation units in the
DACH region when it comes to “scaling innovations” (by
in front consulting and the venture capital magazine
“Capital”), First Corporate AgTech Accelerator in Europe.
For us it is
crucial that
our innovations
really deliver
value to our
customers, that
is why we
engage with
them in close
contact from the
very beginning
of our projects
“
David Saad
CEO
| November 2019 | 17
“

Apart from air and water, vegetation, or simply put,
food is what makes life sustainable on planet earth.
This makes agriculture a ubiquitous industry. It
doesn’t matter how developed other industries are in a
country. If it isn’t agriculturally strong and self-sufficient in
addressing the food requirements of its population, it isn’t a
developed nation. But with changing times and an environ-
ment that is turning volatile, the agriculture industry is in
dire need of methods and support that will help it stay strong
and secure. It needs technology and financial instruments
that can protect landowners and farmers globally to make
them robust and face the adversities.
Keeping the requirements of the industry in particular and
sustainability as a whole, a team of entrepreneurs is looking
to make agriculture and related energy infrastructure to stay
resilient through their company, Agvesto. It is a technology
platform business with a mission to mobilize capital and
insurance to meet sustainable development goals worldwide.
Agvesto provides parametric insurance products to farmers,
agricultural businesses against natural hazards due to climate
change. It also assists issuers such as state government,
municipalities, and corporations in issuing green and
sustainable bonds.
Understanding the Problems to find Solutions
Agvesto was founded by Dr. Srini Sundaram with a desire
to transform the way the agricultural sector is served by
financial institutions. Traditionally seen as a high-risk sector,
farmers and agricultural businesses have been issued credit at
a higher cost than the lent credit. This together with lack of
insurance brings a spiral of risks to farmers worldwide when
they are working day and night to serve their surrounding
population.
Before founding Agvesto, Srini was involved in microfinance
institutions in the UK and Europe and advancing sensor and
artificial intelligence technologies in the Aviation sector with
Rolls Royce. Using the experience gained in the financial
sector and industry, and his passion towards earth and natural
resources, he wanted to bring resilience and sustainability to
the agricultural sector. He recognized that a sector such as
agriculture requires long term structural rethinking and hence
patient capital was something which as a founder, he was
willing to add to the business.
Using his expertise in the science, engineering and financial
services sector, he was able to lead the product strategy with
the assistance of his team in delivering a best in class product
to the market. This quest resulted in building Agvesto, a
platform capable of bringing the best in class technology to
solve a critical problem society needs to address i.e food
security and sustainability.
Understanding Agritech as an Industry
Agritech is a complex sector with various facets to it. Team
Agvesto explains the amalgamation of agriculture and
technology saying, “Technology has shown value and
penetration across various segments such as seed to sale,
improving the farm operational practices and land manage-
ment practices. Technology can also aid some of the
manually intensive safety-critical processes so that the farm
businesses can become lean efficient machines and hence
improve the productivity and yield along the process. The
adoption of technology very much depends on the value add,
the market conditions the farm businesses operate. What it
has shown over the recent years is that this sector has
potential to improve the way of lives of farmers and allow
them to focus on what they love. i.e. farming”
Technology also enables the financial aspects of agriculture
such as banking, insurance, investment, and trade finance.
The use of technology allows Agvesto to digitize and deliver
products through the last mile seamlessly. It also foresees
technology transforming the conventional product delivery
across various segments enabling them to transit to a new
model of delivery that is bespoke and that works for farmers
and farm businesses worldwide.
Making a Difference
Agvesto’s overall mission is bringing the farmers and
agriculture businesses out of their current structural depend-
ency to a self-sustaining and resilient industry. Using its rich
data, Agvesto designs insurance policies with the Insurance
carriers and Managing General Agents (MGAs) and works
with Brokers to distribute the products to the market using its
Digital Platform. These policies are designed to protect
farmers against natural perils using a pre-determined Index
for a given area that closely tracks the losses. These indices
can be a data derived or a machine learning model derived. It
uses a combination of radar, optical satellites worldwide
along with weather station data. To compliment them, it also
sends weather stations and sensor equipments on the ground
to get a full picture of what the physical asset is exposed to.
The datasets it acquires during the season is also made
available to farmers as the company believes he/she is the
asset owner and they should be given the data to make better
decisions and hence giving them a chance to reduce the
An Innovative Insurance Platform Protecting Agricultural Assets
AGVESTO

exposure when a perils strikes them.
The payout is determined and agreed in advance using these
parameters bringing the users the total transparency. The
team has garnered vast experience in not only developing
and deploying technology products but also a very solid
understanding of how it can impact the insurance delivery
and credit delivery in a given country.
Through its distinguished services, Agvesto was able to
protect farmers against natural hazards in the US with its
protection parametric insurance products developed in
partnership with underwriters and brokers.
Agvesto keeps the product’s payout terms transparent so that
there is a little delay between the claim a farm business
makes when a natural peril happens to the payout. This is
very important in the context of both developed and
developing markets where the inefficiencies of loss
assessment result in farmers unable to get protection when
they most need it after a natural hazard event such as Flood,
Drought, Heatwave, Hail, and Wildfire. In certain countries,
farmers have lost faith in insurers ability to protect them as
delays are observed as much as a year. It feels inadequate to
demand as a consumer to instant coffee with modern e-
commerce and payment innovations and yet when the coffee
producing farmer face losses due to climate related perils, we
are happy to have a system that makes him/her wait for
months to pay his claim.
Surpassing Adversities
Talking about challenges that Agvesto strives to conquer,
Srini explains, “We believe progressive policy-making
towards achieving sustainable development goals and
regulatory regimes can unlock the value for Agvesto in
various countries. Lack of clear policy framework and
regulatory guidelines could mean institutional and private
sector investors’participation will be weak in mobilising
capital and in providing innovative products such as
parametric insurance. This not only hampers the progress we
can make as an organization but also hinders the
sustainability of agriculture as a sector.”
Challenges aside, Agvesto is busy developing solutions that
are being built using high performance and low latency
infrastructure for global delivery. The future, for Agvesto,
looks very promising. In the last 12 months, it has ramped up
the insurance protection provision and also looking at a
wider adoption by producers community worldwide.
The company is also committed to assisting countries, sub
nationals and corporate sector to reach their sustainable
development goals and this is very much embedded in its
product thinking when it develops for various international
markets. Agvesto foresees a strong demand for its products
“
Dr. Srini Sundaram
Founder
that are sustainability, adaptation and resilience-focused in
coming years ahead. In this direction, the business is
working currently with a number of state governments and
municipalities in India to mobilise Climate action and SDG
programs through debt financing instruments such as Green
and Municipal bonds.
Reducing the cost of capital together with providing
protection to vulnerable countries could pave a path to
achieving sustainable development goals and the team is
fully focused in helping the underserved community
worldwide.
We believe technology can unlock
values in many ways in across the
agricultural value chain.
The impact of technology will
be realised by those who work on
behalf of the farmers and
produce farm and crop centric
bespoke nancial products.
“

Farming as a Service

“When tillage begins, other arts
follow. The farmers, therefore,
are the founders of human
civilization.” – Daniel Webster,
Renowned American Statesman
fter the great
Atransformation of IT
sector with the
implementation of Software-as-
a-Service model, India is going
to witness a transformation in
the ailing agriculture sector.
Well-known as agrarian
economy, India has the second-
largest arable land globally with
its 160 million hectares,
succeeding the United State of
America. Despite this, the sector
is facing a depriving state.
Around 70 per cent of Indian
population is totally dependent
on agriculture. Sadly, they
comprise of small farmers who
barely hold one hectare of land
holding, struggle to make ends
meet and depend on loans for
their day to day farming.
Alarmingly low rate of
productivity in this sector is due
to various structural challenges,
including heavy dependence on
rainfall for irrigation,
small-farm land holdings and
lack of access to technology and
real-time information.
”
EDITOR’S DESK

Indian Agriculture. With the arrival of FaaS, India has
witnessed an increase in number of start-ups and an influx
of funds to the sector. Total investor for FaaS in India is
currently $105 million to $115 million, which undeniably
looks promising. The number of startups evolving to growth
stage funding has increased as investors become more
confident in the viability of these business models and the
returns. It has seen to become a global trend as FaaS based
start-ups have gained popularity as investors have invested
millions of dollars into it.
The majority of the investments in start-ups that offer farm
management solutions that are primarily influenced by
developed markets with high mechanisation. Many
start-ups are in the digital or technology space, which is
already attracting investments from tech giants.
In addition, both the central and state governments have
taken initiatives regarding this new innovation of
agricultural technology. The government is actively pushing
FaaS-based services through customer hiring centres
(CHCs) and soil testing. The government's focus on
increasing institutional credit to farmers, improving
infrastructure (such as investment in cold storage areas) and
promoting digital transactions will also expand FaaS-based
solutions.
Looking the Way Forward
FaaS can definitely help address the problems like
inefficiencies across the agricultural supply chain, such as
low productivity, lack of farm mechanisation, access to
markets and data asymmetry.
FaaS will encourage product innovations such as
multipurpose agricultural equipment and tools for real-time
data capturing and analysis. FaaS has the potential to spark
an economic and social revolution by improving the status
of small and marginal farmers. Coordination between all the
direct stakeholders (start-ups, investors, governments and
corporations) and indirect stakeholders (local entrepreneurs,
implement suppliers, agronomists and IT vendors) is critical
for the success of FaaS. Addressing the key structural
challenges, such as the lack of infrastructure, technology
and financing, the resistance from the ground level and
regional differences, is critical to realising the concept's full
potential. In the future, all the FaaS solutions—farm
management solutions, production assistance and access to
markets—are expected to converge into a single model, as
the end customer is the farmer.
What is Farming-as-a- Service?
Farming as a Service offers innovative, professional-grade
solutions for agricultural and allied services via a
subscription or pay-per-use model. Some solutions by FaaS
are organized, efficient reinventions of existing practices,
while others are brand-new tech-driven innovations.
The first FaaS category is farm management solutions,
which offer information sharing, analytics and precision
farming tools. Information management between farmers,
government, corporates, financial institutions and advisory
bodies fall under this category.
Production assistance is the second category of FaaS, which
offers on-farm resources to aid production. This involves
equipment rental, labour services and utility services.
The third and final FaaS category offers access to
markets—platforms connecting farmers with suppliers of
agrochemicals and consumers of their farm produce.
These solutions have been adopted globally to provide a
gateway to innovations across the agriculture value chain.
High Impact Model of FaaS
With a clear perspective of an efficient and productive
future of Agriculture sector, both the Government and the
private players are inclining towards the effectiveness of
Farming as a Serving. Basically, FaaS provides affordable
technology solutions for efficient farming. It converts fixed
costs into variable costs for farmers, which makes the
techniques more affordable for a majority of small farmers.
The services are available on a subscription or pay-per-use
basis in three categories, which are crucial across the
agriculture value chain:
Farm management Solutions: Information sharing,
analytics and precision farming tools
Production assistance: On-site resources to aid production,
such as equipment rentals
Access to markets: Virtual platforms that connect farmers
with suppliers of seeds, fertilisers and other agrochemicals,
as well as consumers of their produce.
Nonetheless, the model also has a vast social impact on the
rural agrarian economy in which small and marginal
farmers are the primary beneficiaries.
Farming as a Service in India
FaaS bears a lot of potential to the forever-ailing scenario of

From strict regulatory requirements, increased
consumer awareness, market consolidation and
more complex supply chains, food and beverage
(F&B) manufacturers face constant challenges today to
deliver innovative products more efficiently to the retail
market and consumers. Successful businesses need to be
able to react quickly to specific market demands, ensure
their products meet the highest quality and security
standards, and keep development and administrative costs
minimal to increase profit margins.
The F&B industry is characterized by complex product
structures and production processes, making a process-
oriented concept in product development indispensable.
Companies need to maintain and manage comprehensive,
coherent and accurate product data in all internal systems
and exchange information with trade partners as required.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) manages data for all
stages and areas of the product lifecycle, integrating them
into a single solution and facilitating efficient and
transparent information management. This comprehensive
and cross-functional solution can streamline and improve
company-wide processes that are associated with the
development, production and launch of products, allowing
producers to drive innovation, minimize costs and risks, and
eventually gain a competitive advantage in the market.

SpecPage, a global provider of integrated data
management and compliance software, understands
the needs of the recipe-based manufacturing industry
and has extensive experience in developing cost-
effective solutions to address the challenges in this
field. The return on investment for a PLM software
can be quite impressive as it leverages productivity
and reduces risks, ensuring long-term success and
profitability for F&B producers. Research has shown
that by adopting a PLM approach the efficiency of
engineering and formulation solutions can be
doubled.
To date, many manufacturing companies manage
product information isolated in different departments
and do not create company-wide visibility. They are
therefore not able to utilize existing resources and
expertise; nor are they able to control the entire
product lifecycle efficiently, which slows
down projects and delays product
launches. Within R&D
departments, data is often
recorded several times instead
of updating and modifying
existing product
specifications and recipe
formulations. Manual data
entry and modification can
result in high costs and
inaccuracies, and may
also lead to missed
INFO INSIGHT

market opportunities as companies are not able to react to customer demands in time. Industry
experience has shown that formulation software can save >56% of the development staff’s time
by reusing resources and avoiding the creation of duplicates.
With the help of PLM solutions, businesses can develop innovative products optimally, boost
efficient production and enhance their performance. An integrated solution can create a global
project framework that can easily be adapted to regional and local requirements.
Besides effective cost management, quality assurance plays also a critical role in ensuring
company success. Packaging and labeling processes are a substantial part of the product lifecycle
and are receiving more attention than ever before not least due to the increasing regulatory
requirements and demands from trade partners. Designing informative and appealing labels
involves the work of engineers, design and marketing managers, and compliance specialists,
where keeping information in data islands can slow down the time-to-market. Manufacturers need
to fully integrate quality assurance processes in product development and management, and
ensure compliance across the entire product lifecycle to mitigate risks and avoid product recalls.
The implementation of a PLM solution helps companies to proactively and transparently manage
information throughout the product lifecycle and supply chain. Standardized processes enable
traceability, and ensure quality, safety and regulatory compliance. By preventing lost, misplaced
or unapproved documentation and records, 20% of the development staff’s time can be saved.
A PLM software investment is often initiated by a single department such as product development
or quality assurance, however the financial benefits are visible across the entire business.
SpecPage’s PLM software Return on Investment (ROI) calculator has been programmed on the
basis of best practice and successful projects over the years. With minimal data input, the ROI
calculator produces clear outcomes using easy steps to measure financial benefits that can be
achieved with the help of SpecPage’s solutions for product development and information
management. These have been developed to meet the specific needs of the F&B industry, and can
easily and quickly be implemented and deployed; specific functionalities like nutritional
databases, global compliance and label support are available out of the box and offer users great
value.
To cope with the growing challenges in the industry and to remain competitive, F&B
manufacturers must take an integrated approach in product development and quality assurance,
managing all phases of the product lifecycle - from concept to marketplace. This enables them to
use existing resources and expertise efficiently and drive innovation. PLM is becoming a standard
in the industry and is a crucial step for long-term success.

C
limate change and global warming degrade land,
cause deserts to spread and temperatures to rise in a
vicious cycle. The degradation of land and soil,
cripples terrestrial ecosystems crucial for biodiversity, CO2
uptake, and nature’s fragile balance vital for all life on
earth.
Twelve million hectares of productive land perish annually
due to desertification and drought. Growing water scarcity
magnifies the challenge of combating this dilemma. Nature
alone lacks the resilience to endure continued
overexploitation and impacts of climate change. Disrupting
current trends by restoring ecosystems and fostering
sustainable use of scarce resources is crucial for the health
and prosperity of our planet.
Desert Control is a ClimateTech company which caters to
this necessity. It is specialized in transforming deserts and
restoring arid soil into fertile land. Its patented Liquid
TM
NanoClay (LNC ) is a compound of clay and water proven
to enhance the health of sandy arid soils by reducing
salinity and improving hygroscopy (ability to absorb and
hold water molecules and nutrients).
Research by ICBA (International Center for Biosaline
Agriculture) validates increased yields while using up to
50% less water for irrigation. Restoring unproductive land
and making deserts fertile can take 7-15 years, however,
TM
soil treated with LNC can be productive within 7 hours.
The revitalized soil facilitates sustainable land usage and
strengthens ecosystem resilience to overexploitation and
climate change.
The Story of Inception
10 years ago, the Founder, Kristian P. Olesen came to
know about a problem created by the Aswan Dam on the
Nile river. The Nile is rich in nutrients and deposits, such as
slit and clay minerals. Before the construction of the dam in
the 1960s, the Nile brought these minerals along and
naturally built up the river delta and surrounding land. The
Nile periodically flooded its banks. Such floods along with
the river’s natural supply of minerals created fertile and
green areas.
After the Aswan project, the flow of silt and clay minerals
stopped behind the dam, and the controlled river did not
flood its banks in the same way as before. The river delta
and associated areas along the Nile went into regressive
development with erosion, deterioration, and soil erosion.
Egyptian scientists determined early on the direct cause
being the lack of silt and clay minerals previously supplied
naturally by the Nile. Research has shown that clay enriches
soils with a better ability to absorb and retain water and
nutrients.
Inspired by drilling technology and mud pump systems
from the oil and gas industry, Olesen approached and
solved the problem which had Egyptian scientists at a pass.
Results from Egypt had shown that clay could act as a
natural binder in soils with high sand contents. Degradation
of soil gradually reduces the organic matter until only
minerals like sand remain. If you try to shape a handful of
sand into a lump, it is futile. The key is getting the sand
grains to stick together, and in this way, to re-create
formability and structure that resembles organic dark
farming soil.
The Solution - LNC: Liquid NanoClay
Based on the architecture of mud pump systems, Kristian
developed a technology that processes clay into a
TM
homogenous liquid. He invented LNC which enriches
sandy soils to the equivalent of normal dark soils, with
TM
traits comparable to high-quality farming soil. LNC is a
mineral-based entirely natural combination of clay and
water (without any chemicals), that is ready for any organic
use.
The first attempts revealed several issues. The breakthrough
was a combination of established offshore concepts and in-
house developed precision grinding, Nanotechnology, and
A Promise to Make the Earth Green Again

particle theory. Through analysis and algorithms, automated
TM
through software, LNC undergoes formulation to form
specific properties – right down to the particle, proton, and
electron level.
TM
LNC can contribute as a catalyst for soil and ecosystem
resilience, enhancing their ability to cope with the harsh
impact of climate change and over-exploitation. In a world
where water is becoming a scarce resource at the same
TM
time, LNC ’s proven effect with up to 50% reduction in
irrigation needs will also be of great value.
A Step-by-step Guide to Implement the Process
1) Process clay and water into a compound uniquely
formulated for specific variables such as soil, sand and crop
applications.
TM
2) LNC is applied to sand or arid sandy soil using
established irrigation methods.
TM
3) The LNC percolates through the soil, forming a natural
bond between sand particles.
4) When sand particles bond, more stickiness and holding
TM
capacity in the soil texture is created. Without LNC , water
and nutrients merely flow straight through sand or arid soil;
leaving plants, root systems, and fungus unable to make use
TM
of them. LNC enables the soil to retain water like a
sponge and fosters perfect conditions for growth.
TM
5) Seeds can be sown within 7 hours of an LNC
application; allowing plants to grow even in areas
previously unfeasible for them to survive.
The Dynamic Leader
Ole Kristian transforms technology innovations into
business value at companies such as Citrix, RES Software,
Sun Microsystems, Telenor, EVRY, and Global Eagle. His
leadership has delivered significant shareholder value from
M&A activities, turnarounds, corporate restructuring, and
growth through a relentless focus on “People First –
Customers Always.”
His philosophy is all about making others successful;
Empowering colleagues to be successful creates a great
workplace, inspiring them to make customers successful
creates a great company.
With 20 years of experience from scaling business in global
markets combined with driving change and innovation; his
key take-aways are that even global business is a local
business, and success depends equally on focus, execution,
and engagement.
Today, Ole Kristian dedicates his passion and energy to
ClimateTech and combating some of the greatest threats to
life on earth together with his team at Desert Control.
From sand
to soil in
7 hours
“
“

Due to the increasing demand in the market, the
adoption of mechanical and robotic systems in
AgriTech has evolved. Farmers have realized the
added value of new technologies in other fields that would
contribute to their own needs and requirements. They have
started to look for solutions to the pressing problems of
scarce laborers and diminishing profits due to rising labor
and other costs relating to farming.
As such demand became apparent, several startups entered
the field, trying to develop the solutions to these problems.
This also captured the attention of venture capital firms who
started to inject the necessary funding to support such new
developments, which in turn sparked yet additional
companies to look for specific field where
mechanical/robotic/software solutions would ease off these
problems.
FFRobotics is a startup that provides a cost-effective
solution to ever-increasing challenges of finding and
retaining labor, rising labor costs, and potential damage to
hand-picked fruit, with a significant gain to growers in
added productivity and efficiency.
Making Fruit Harvesting Effortless
The majority of harvests, such as wheat, corn, green beans,
tomatoes, and many other crops have been mechanized for
decades. However, for the fragile produce of tree fruits for
fresh consumption (i.e., without processing), like apple,
citrus, peach, pear, as well as table grapes, where the crop’s
quality and appearance is especially important, have
remained stubbornly resistant partly because of the non-
availability of technology.
In 2016, over 7 million tons of fresh apples were picked off
trees all around the USA alone. 100% of these fruits were
picked manually, mostly by seasonal laborers. These
laborers become more and more scarce, as old pickers
retire, the young ones do not want to work in agriculture,
and laborers from foreign countries are limited in number
or entirely forbidden from entry, and in any event require
extensive training, with increasing lodging, food and
transportation costs.
FFRobotics Fresh Fruit Harvesting solution has a three-
fingered gripper that can grab fruit and twist or clip it from
a branch, and has twelve robotic arms, which means,
according to the company, it will be able to pick up to
10,000 apples a day.
The company envisions that the machine could pick up to
90 percent of the crop with humans picking the remainder.
FFRoboticsCreating a New Age for Fruit Harvesting

The Visionary Leaders
Gad Kober, isCo-founder & VP/Business Development
a highly-experienced senior-level management leader in
industry and services. He is the former VP/Director-General
at the Weizmann Institute of Science; Director of
Innovation, CP LLC, UK; and Co-founder and CEO of
several startups in medical instrumentation.
Avi Kahani, the CEO and Co-founder of FFRobotics, is a
visionary with years of experience in Sales, Marketing, and
team leadership. He has also worked as the VP at Mobixelle
Networks previously.
Mr. Kahani was the manager of a large apple orchard many
years ago. It was then that the idea occurred to him that
mechanical picking of fruit will resolve three pressing
issues: Picking labor availability, rising labor costs and
quality of the fruit picked.
After a few years, equipped with a degree in Mechanical
Engineering and global experience coupled with
technological advancements, he decided to leave his
position of VP sales and marketing at large corporations and
concentrate on developing a robotic fruit harvester. Avi was
joined by Yoav Koster and Gad Kober to enhance the
venture.
Yoav Koster, the CTO of FFRobotics is a well-known,
experienced, and highly-motivated designer of successful
robotic systems in civil (which includes the agricultural as
well) purposes. He worked as a chief engineer at Siemens
in Israel and was the Founder and Owner of Eship-4you.
Sustaining through Obstacles
According to Gad Kober, VP of Business Development,
growing a clientele is not an easy task given the relatively
conservative approach of farmers towards new
technologies. In the absence of a solid reference point in the
form of an end-to-end working solution, this became the
biggest obstacle for the founders. Having demonstrated the
viability of the Robotic Solution in several countries - this
obstacle has been met by a specially tailored program
enabling early-adoptors to embrace the company’s solution
for robotic fruit harvesting.
Harnessing the Disruptive Technologies
“FFRobotics’s technology has been and continues to be
developed with on-line collaboration with leading tree-fruit
growers in the USA, Europe, and Israel, combining
attention to the growers’needs, experience, know-how and
advice, with the potential of applying current and newly
developed Vision, AI, Algorithmics and Robotic software
and hardware, leading to a product which will address the
growers’needs very precisely”, reﬂects Avi, the CEO on the
adoption and fruitfulness of new technologies.
Awards and Accolades
FFRobotics has been recognized as a most promising
developer of robotic fruit harvesting solutions by bi- and
multi-national R&D funds, and received, twice, an
Honorary Medal from the EU Horizon 2020 Program.
“We fulll a
life-long dream
to automate fresh
fruit harvesting
“
Gad Kober
Co-founder & VP/Business
Development
FFRobotics
- Avi Kahani, CEO & Co-founder

Fraternization of Technology and
AgricultureAgriculture
I
th st
n the second half of the 20 century and at the beginning of the 21 century, a technological revolution in farming led by
advances in sensing and robotics technologies looks set to disrupt traditional farming. This technology changes forever
the way farmers work. Performance of agriculture and modern farms technics work far differently than those a few
decades ago, because of advancements in technology, including sensors, devices, machines and information technology.
Today’s agriculture prefers to use advanced technologies such as robots, temperature indicators and moisture sensors and
GPS technology. These advanced technologies and robotic systems allow businesses to be more profitable, effective, and
secure and environmentally friendly.
Background of the Agriculture Sector
The first twin-rotor system combine was introduced in the year 1975. This system allowed to cut crop and separate in one
side over the field. In 1994, a widely known scientist introduced satellite; it helped farmers to use this technology to see their
farms from overhead and allowing them for better tracking and planning. Year 2000 was a technology revolution year; when
people got to know about the use of mobile phone. Likely many people and farmers started using mobile phone which helps
them to maintain communication and on the other hand it facilitated farmers to place orders for seeds, fertilizer and it
provided information towards new techniques. The data revolution is helping people to take the right decision, and farmers
are no exemption. New mobile applications are providing information about the variety of fertilizers, firming process and
other resources which help farmers to get knowledge about farming. 2015 was the year when masses introduced with the
digital platform that conveys info about data collection, agronomic modeling and local weather monitoring, which gives the
idea to farmers about their fields. These tools allow farmers to plan for healthier crops and make firming strategy that is
beneficial for the planet. Therefore in the current year, the major breakthrough happened in farming technology which breaks
the all previous technics of farming.
Some Breakthrough Technologies are -
Use of Global Positioning System
Mainly GPS technology pinpoints location through satellites. Just like previously tractors replaced draft horse on the farm,
GPS technology also replaced eyeballing and guessing process in the farm. GPS can give farmers valuable information about
which areas need fertilizer and which don't. This information can save money and ensure that only the areas that need to
nutrients are getting it. GPS guided drones are performing tasks from crop spraying to livestock monitoring and creating 3D
maps.
The other technology is Sensor technology;
Sensor technology is basically monitoring everything like soil water content, temperature, humidity in grain silos and
information about plant health.
Advantages of Smart Phone
Now a day’s farmers are using advantages of the internet through their mobile phone. For the purpose to check current
marker scenario, Firming related videos, agriculture news, new technologies, and invention. In the other hand, they can easily
find out those applications which are specifically developed to help farmers. Not only this but also some mobile applications
allow them to ask their quires to the experts and get an appropriate response.
Harvesting with WIFI
In the modern agriculture system, technology helping farmer’s to use the electronic sensor distributed process which helps
them to find out different conditions; sometimes the gadgets send data to the farm server about the farm condition. This data
gets analyzed automatically. Then instruction gets passed on to the farmer which includes an appropriate dose of fertilizer,
delivering the right amount of water and finding the hole punched in crop rows. These data’s are easily accessible by the
farmer in tablet or smart phones, giving real time information. These advanced technologies can also monitor soil conditions

i.e. nitrogen level in the soil and when to add fertilizer.
Robotic Formation in Agriculture
The self-driving cars one of the latest innovation in car
manufacturing industry and impact of this innovation could
also be witnessed in farming. Robots and self-driving
tractors are becoming very common in farming. Which
helping farmer to cut cost and time by automating time-
consuming tasks done by humans.
There are farming robots for picking strawberries and
lettuce, harvesting oranges and pruning grapevines, for
mowing hay etc. Many farmers still prefer using human-
driven tractors while others are using highly customized
and automated tractors attached to sensors and robots. That
can perform highly specific tasks, such as detecting where
cows have peed and treated the affected grass to stimulate
regrowth. Usually, these robots are guided by highly precise
GPS tracking that allows them to nimbly navigate through
the narrow spaces between crop rows.
Indoor Farming
According to research, Vertical farming or indoor farming is
gaining popularity because the farms optimize land use in
land-scarce and it can operate on minimal manpower. This
technic helps growers of to produce year-round including
specialty crops regardless of outdoor weather conditions.
But this is not as easy as indoor farming since it is very
challenging to produce an ideal sunlight that optimizes
growth in cramped indoor spaces. Full-spectrum fluorescent
and energy-intensive technologies provide required lights in
indoor farming which is very expensive. But innovations of
light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in recent years have provided
a cheaper and better alternative.
LED has also reduced the growing time compare to the
traditional lighting technology because farmers can use
different configurations to maximize the wavelengths of
light certain plants prefer. Hooking LEDs to timers allows
indoor farmers to maximize the ratio of light to dark that
can speed up the growing process. For example, certain
combinations of red and blue LEDs can reduce the amount
of time it takes to grow a head of lettuce indoors by up to
17 days.
The Agriculture sector is the essential sector for any
countries, as a stable agricultural sector can ensure food
security of a nation. It can generate employment and also
contributes on countries economic growth. Technology is a
magic touch in farming which can help a country to makes
drastic changes in this growing sector. In the past, farmers
worked hard for farming seeds but now scientist and
developers introduced new technology which can reduce
farmer work and make them smart and contribute to
country’s economic growth.
“Agriculture looks different today - our farmers are using GPS and
you can monitor your irrigation systems over the Internet,”
– Debbie Stabenow
TECHPOWERED

Following is an interview between Insights
Success and G. Bailey Stockdale, the CEO of
Leaf Agriculture, a company which partners
with companies around the world to facilitate
aggregated, standardized, and secure Agriculture data
through the precision agriculture workflow.
G. Bailey Stockdale has worked in Agritech for over
eight years as a developer, speaker, and investor. Having
experienced the frustration of data inoperability first-
hand for years he started Leaf to provide an easy way for
developers to work with AgTech data.
Through this interview, Mr. Stockdale shares valuable
insights into the AgriTech industry and how Leaf caters
to its requirements.
Give a brief overview of your organization and the
services and/or solutions you offer. Enlighten us with
your inception story and the inspiration behind it.
AgriTech companies use Leaf’s API products to access
unified agriculture data and services.
Our products are the digital infrastructure for agriculture
and work in the background to enable AgTech
companies to scale their products.
We started Leaf after years of frustration working with
agriculture data from a wide variety of sources. Initially,
we tried to launch an app that connected all farm data
points together in a single dashboard. The problem was,
farmers didn’t want another dashboard; they wanted
fewer dashboards! We quickly understood this and
realized that our energy was best directed to making sure
that their current dashboards works seamlessly with all
of the data their farm generates.
So, we went back and began building the tools every
AgriTech company needs to make their products
compatible with farm data from any source. Today,
Leaf’s products power AgTech products around the
world and allow every tool to instantly be compatible
with farm data from any other source.
How do you think has the AgriTech and affiliated
solutions market evolved and what can be expected in
the forthcoming years?
Over the past five to ten years, the majority of farmers
have begun using multiple types of farm data from a
wide selection of companies, but the data was spread
across hundreds of different apps leading to confusion,
frustration, and limited value.
This has been changing quickly and today we have
companies, researchers, and farmers building massive
value with this data by combining it in centralized
platforms, creating agronomic recommendation
products, employing new business models like outcome-
based pricing, offering credit programs based on farm
data, etc.
Finally, the true value of farm data is being unlocked by
companies building new products on top of it.
Previously, the limiting factor to building these types of
products was data interoperability. Any new product
built on top of Agriculture data would be limited only to
other farms using the exact same data companies. Leaf’s
technology solves this problem and acts as the
Revolutionizing the AgriTech Industry
LEAF AGRICULTURE

infrastructure that AgriTech companies use to scale their
products. We’ve been fortunate to see and help many of
these projects throughout their development and are
extremely excited about the upcoming companies and
products being built.
What are the beneﬁts gained by your clients/users
from your products/solutions/services?
Simple and powerful APIs are foundational to any
modern industry. If we look at Plaid in Fintech for
example, they’re providing backend bank integrations
for companies like Venmo, Transferwise, Robinhood,
etc. instead of worrying about making their apps
compatible with a big list of banks around the world,
these companies use Plaid to instantly become
compatible with all banks so they can focus on their
product.
Leaf’s story and role in AgriTech is similar to Plaid’s in
Finance. We have companies building valuable products
on top of data but struggle to make it compatible across
machine brands, weather stations, or imagery providers.
Similar to how Plaid helps FinTech companies scale
their products across banks instantly, Leaf helps
AgriTech companies access data and scale products
across all other AgriTech companies.
What obstacles and/or limitations does you and your
company face while growing, sustaining or retaining
its clientele?
Our current focus is international expansion. While we
already have customers in most regions of the world,
we’re doubling down on expanding our presence outside
of our initial focus on the Americas.
G. Bailey Stockdale
CEO
Our products
make working
with agriculture
data simple, fast,
and secure
“
“

he backbone of the Indian economy,
Tthe agricultural sector, ranks second in
the global farm output. In India, the
word ‘organic food’ has created quite a buzz.
This has resulted in more number of farmers
turning to grow food without the use of
chemicals and pesticides rather than the
traditional method of farming. Organic
farming has no universally accepted definition.
However, it can be widely considered as the
specific production system that aims in
avoiding the use of harmful and synthetic
fertilizers, pesticides, livestock feed activities
and growth regulators.
The reason why one chooses to be an organic
farmer differs from one to another. At first, this
idea would be overwhelming; the path to it is
different for everyone. This new trend in
farming is now gaining prominence amongst
the city dwellers too; who are venturing into
this field. While the start line of this career
seems all promising many are not sure about
the finish line. Below are some of the ideas
about how to get this finish line.
FARMING ARCHIVE

Personal Commitment
One of the most important aspects of being an organic
farmer is to make sure that one must have the drive to
accomplish a milestone in farming. Farming, in general, is
a tough career path; nevertheless, organic farming is a
much difficult path due to the need of gaining certifications
and the rules that need to be followed. However, there is
nothing that cannot be achieved if one has dedication and
willingness to encounter anything that comes its way. To be
successful in organic farming one must at first be clear
about his or her reason behind, ‘why they choose this
career’. Secondly, they must be willing to invest sufficient
time and their resource into it.
Healthy Body
“The greatest wealth is health”! People from all walks of
life might have come across a variant of this legendary
phrase. Speaking about a farmer, this phrase is more than
just a reference. Stepping foot into farming is different
from having a corporate job. Farmers have to spend long
hours standing, pulling, lifting and the on-the-go moving
swiftly and quickly from one task to another. This one
such kind of profession one is always on the move. On one
hand were farming tasks are extremely strenuous, these
tasks are often done under various conditions like extreme
heat, rain, cold which might add to the stress. Unlike a
regular 9 hour job, farming does not have time limit. All in
all, there is no other alternative than being healthy and
stable. Having a healthy diet and maintain body will help
one to invest more time into farming.
Management Skills
A farm no matter how big or small, managing it effortlessly
is what makes one a good farmer. Farming does not end
with just growing crops, there are other tasks like
expanding farm, finding new employees, getting a good
buyer or agent. Ability to manage all these tasks without
much hassle is the attribute of a good farmer.
Being capable of managing tasks swiftly also indicates
being organised. If one is unable to balance their check
book and locate health insurance, organic farming will
come as much as a chaotic task. Farmers, especially the
organic farmers should keep all the records accurately and
should update themselves with any alteration. Being a
farmer friendly nation, the Indian government frequently
announces farmer friendly programs, offers financial
supports and lots more. In order to be a beneficiary of such
programs and following upon on such packages needs
proper handling of documents.
Managing skills does not end with just handling the paper
work. A farmer also experiences pressure at certain times.
Factors like changing climate, stress from both organic and
conventional sides of agricultural industry and other issues
can be challenging for farmers. Keeping oneself composed
and calm and the ability to solve a problem are also the
traits of managing skilfully.
A Business Savvy Mind
Unlike traditional farmers, the role of an organic farmer
does not end with just growing crops and caring for other
livestock. An organic farmer needs the shrewdness of a
businessman. Dealing with bank and other financial related
matters, interacting with buyers and sellers, making deals
with marketers, promotions, budgeting, bills to be taken
care off, hiring employees, managing a website and the list
goes on and on. Organic farming basically is practical like;
growing crops, cleaning and harvesting which consumes
most of the time while the pending time is spent running
the business end of it.
Eagerness to Learn
Being an organic farmer means exposing themselves to
new ideas and possibilities. Accepting and analysing new
opportunities and willingness to learn are important to be
in this profession. Learning goes in many forms; there are
some farmers who get their training from experienced
farmers while there are few who go to colleges. Along with
knowing the drills of conventional farming, organic
farmers should also equip themselves with some
mechanical knowledge like running some machines, fixing
these machines etc. Even though having mechanical
knowledge is not necessary for organic farmers, learning to
become a mechanical minded does no harm.
Unlike the earlier days when most farmers learned the
trade by growing up in a farmer’s family, the farmers today
are unknown to the conventional ways. Many of the new
entrants have joined this career path for its unique feature
and the increasing demand. The modern day farmers have
much more qualifications under their belt. Standing on the
cusp of a new era, organic farming is set to make new
levels. The above mentioned points will help the budding
farmers to stay focused and achieve their goals.

Europes leading agritech innovators

Europes leading agritech innovators

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