One way i know is the “farm veggie box”. If a farm is driven purely by exonomics then farm grows few SKUs and that has dramatic negative impact on farm ecosystem. I have been growing 60 seasonal and 85 plus total vegetables and fruits in one location and similarly in more locations for many years now. Diversity is a business need also for a farm. But it means the labor cost is higher due to complexity of growing so many SKUs and the farm veggie box helps a lot. There are very few farms in India which make a veggie box all grown in one place.
Customer is committed to the box and cannot choose individual SKUs. All veggies are grown in a single farm. I mean 60 veggies and fruits a month and not 10 veggies. 100 veggies and fruits through the year must be grown. Soil biology and chemistry report must be published. Water quality report must be published. Regenerative methods used and not just organic. These days a cerificate makes a farm organic. This is another destructive mechanism. Certificate has no connection to the soil power and soil life. No customer asks for anything other than a piece of paper called certificate. Very few customers actually understand what they are buying and what they consider as healthy. Customers must drive this transformation as much as farmers.
Some herbs and grains and flowers must be grown too. Some milk and eggs and oilseeds like groundnut too. Its healthy and source traceable and gives the farmer a better way to control his ecosystem. Customers must opt for veggies from a single farm fully traced and ready to visit anytime. All other options will destroy the ecosystem because out of sheer need for survival, the farmers will grow few veggies for wholesale price and that wipes out the soil soon unless the farmer uses a lot of inputs to maintain the soil. Selling wholesale at cheaper prices ensures that farmers cannot economically buy inputs. So that depletes both mineral nutrition and soil life. The large buyers must drive policy. But if you look deeper the only economic lever used by farmers and large buyers from farmers is price per kg. So nutrition density of the vegetable is not even an economic lever. So the farmer will destroy the soil to ensure his survival. Bring in nutrition density as economic lever and everything will change.
-Shankar @mapletree farms @bhoomi farms.
