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Herbs grown in soilless media in a vertical farm at Panchgaon village near New Delhi
Increases growing area, maximizes crop yield, utilizes less manpower and possible to cultivate wide range of crops in the same infrastructure are the unique features of vertical farming system that attracts new-age farmers. Besides as the crops are grown in soilless media it eliminates the risk of pest and disease attacks, the nutrient quotient is high, reduces the effort in washing and lessens the wastage in processing. “Thus, we opted to grow herbs and vegetables hydroponically using the reverse osmosis water systems. In addition to grow more in less available space we choose the vertical farming system where we have three stacked layers,” shares Mr. Rupesh Singal, Partner, Nature Fit.
Mr. Singal along with his two other friends, Mr. Avinash Garg and Mr. Vinay Jain established Nature Fit in 2015 at village Panchgaon, Manesar, Haryana. It is hi-tech farm that uses indoor farming techniques in a controlled-environment in the green house. The crops grown are tomatoes, European cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, parsley and rosemary etc. The capital investment made was Rs. 60 lakh and the annual operational cost is Rs. 20 lakh.
“We three friends wanted to do something different along with our present jobs hence we decided to grow chemical free herbs and veggies. And as three of us belong to IT industry we were inclined towards using technology in our farm extensively,” he adds.
The crops are grown in cocopeat media and water is pre-treated with essential nutrients. “We have installed two reverse osmosis (RO) water plants in our farm. The plant capacity is 2000 litre/hour. We decided to use RO water for farming to have bountiful production and for that it is mandatory the plants must get the required nutrients and minerals in right proportion," states Mr. Avinash Garg. Reverse Osmosis system is a cost effective and intense way to prepare water for hydroponic farming. It ensures a uniform growth to all the plants and thereby improves the yield. "The normal water is pumped into the RO plant to remove all the dissolved solid concentration, sediments, chorine and bleaching if any. The treated water is brought into centralized tank. And in this water we mix the minerals in the proportion required by the crop using dosatron.”
It is essential to create the precise nutrient mix for each crop. “Manually it is a challenging task with high probability for errors while with dosatron the process of mixing nutrients in water is automated, fine-tuned, multi-chemical mixes with repeatable results every time!” says Mr. Vinay Jain. It is simple to use and allows for flexible dosage rates that assures balanced nutrients mix in the water supply. The mineral enriched water is then supplied to the grow boxes having the cocopeat and crops. The minerals used are bio-nutrients. The grow boxes are made up of thermocol. “These boxes are customized for us. We get these made on order as suitable to our farm. Cocopeat is sourced from Tamil Nadu,” he adds.
The green house is completely automated having water sprayers, foggers and fans to control the temperature to give most suitable environment for the plants to grow. “We have six segments in the green house where we cultivate 3-4 vegetables/herbs simultaneously,” says Mr. Singal. The planting material, seeds are sourced from a Delhi based seed suppliers. “These are imported seeds having very good quality.” The seeds are germinated and developed as saplings which are then re-transplanted in the grow boxes having cocopeat. “Saplings are also developed in the controlled temperature. Time taken for germination varies from crop to crop. For example it takes 25 days for tomato while parsley grows in just 6 days.”
Entire farm produce is sold to bulk buyers in the Delhi and Gurgoan market. “We also sell our herbs to processing companies. In fact in future we want to take up contract farming for such companies. We have heard herbs precisely rosemary and thyme have a good market so we are trying to connect with potential buyers and processors,” shares Mr. Jain.
All three friends cum partners want to expand their operations, “Presently in our 5 acre farm we are doing hi-tech farming in 1 acre green house while we have open cultivation in rest 4 acre. Presently we are testing this model and once the entire process is standardized we shall expand the hi-tech farming area. Three of us are first-generation farmers and we are totally elated with our decision to grow food without using any chemicals. More than the commercial aspect, our farming business is our passion for doing something new to bring a positive impact in the lives of people,” they sign off.
Contact details:
Nature Fit
Farm: Village Panchgaon, Manesar, Haryana
Correspondence: 8786, C-8, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110 070
Phone: +91 97173 33242
Email: rupesh_singal@yahoo.com
Increases growing area, maximizes crop yield, utilizes less manpower and possible to cultivate wide range of crops in the same infrastructure are the unique features of vertical farming system that attracts new-age farmers. Besides as the crops are grown in soilless media it eliminates the risk of pest and disease attacks, the nutrient quotient is high, reduces the effort in washing and lessens the wastage in processing. “Thus, we opted to grow herbs and vegetables hydroponically using the reverse osmosis water systems. In addition to grow more in less available space we choose the vertical farming system where we have three stacked layers,” shares Mr. Rupesh Singal, Partner, Nature Fit.
Mr. Singal along with his two other friends, Mr. Avinash Garg and Mr. Vinay Jain established Nature Fit in 2015 at village Panchgaon, Manesar, Haryana. It is hi-tech farm that uses indoor farming techniques in a controlled-environment in the green house. The crops grown are tomatoes, European cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, parsley and rosemary etc. The capital investment made was Rs. 60 lakh and the annual operational cost is Rs. 20 lakh.
“We three friends wanted to do something different along with our present jobs hence we decided to grow chemical free herbs and veggies. And as three of us belong to IT industry we were inclined towards using technology in our farm extensively,” he adds.
The crops are grown in cocopeat media and water is pre-treated with essential nutrients. “We have installed two reverse osmosis (RO) water plants in our farm. The plant capacity is 2000 litre/hour. We decided to use RO water for farming to have bountiful production and for that it is mandatory the plants must get the required nutrients and minerals in right proportion," states Mr. Avinash Garg. Reverse Osmosis system is a cost effective and intense way to prepare water for hydroponic farming. It ensures a uniform growth to all the plants and thereby improves the yield. "The normal water is pumped into the RO plant to remove all the dissolved solid concentration, sediments, chorine and bleaching if any. The treated water is brought into centralized tank. And in this water we mix the minerals in the proportion required by the crop using dosatron.”
It is essential to create the precise nutrient mix for each crop. “Manually it is a challenging task with high probability for errors while with dosatron the process of mixing nutrients in water is automated, fine-tuned, multi-chemical mixes with repeatable results every time!” says Mr. Vinay Jain. It is simple to use and allows for flexible dosage rates that assures balanced nutrients mix in the water supply. The mineral enriched water is then supplied to the grow boxes having the cocopeat and crops. The minerals used are bio-nutrients. The grow boxes are made up of thermocol. “These boxes are customized for us. We get these made on order as suitable to our farm. Cocopeat is sourced from Tamil Nadu,” he adds.
The green house is completely automated having water sprayers, foggers and fans to control the temperature to give most suitable environment for the plants to grow. “We have six segments in the green house where we cultivate 3-4 vegetables/herbs simultaneously,” says Mr. Singal. The planting material, seeds are sourced from a Delhi based seed suppliers. “These are imported seeds having very good quality.” The seeds are germinated and developed as saplings which are then re-transplanted in the grow boxes having cocopeat. “Saplings are also developed in the controlled temperature. Time taken for germination varies from crop to crop. For example it takes 25 days for tomato while parsley grows in just 6 days.”
Entire farm produce is sold to bulk buyers in the Delhi and Gurgoan market. “We also sell our herbs to processing companies. In fact in future we want to take up contract farming for such companies. We have heard herbs precisely rosemary and thyme have a good market so we are trying to connect with potential buyers and processors,” shares Mr. Jain.
All three friends cum partners want to expand their operations, “Presently in our 5 acre farm we are doing hi-tech farming in 1 acre green house while we have open cultivation in rest 4 acre. Presently we are testing this model and once the entire process is standardized we shall expand the hi-tech farming area. Three of us are first-generation farmers and we are totally elated with our decision to grow food without using any chemicals. More than the commercial aspect, our farming business is our passion for doing something new to bring a positive impact in the lives of people,” they sign off.
Contact details:
Nature Fit
Farm: Village Panchgaon, Manesar, Haryana
Correspondence: 8786, C-8, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110 070
Phone: +91 97173 33242
Email: rupesh_singal@yahoo.com