The background.A rural survey conducted in 2015-16 by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) which mentioned that the average landholding size of a farmer had shrunk. One out of every three farmers had a land parcel smaller than one hectare and only 13% of agricultural households at the time actually held plots bigger than 2 hectares.
Small farmers faced many challenges, the prime among them being the lack of access to consumer demand, and the sub-optimal yield due to lack of resources or knowledge on precision farming techniques.
And so, in 2018, the four Bengaluru-besties pooled in their collective skill, expertise, and vision, to set up 'Clover', an agri-tech start-up that aimed to farm in an unconventional and sustainable manner. Clover started out with 60 small-scale farmers spread across 70 acres around Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It specialised in helping small farmers produce high-quality perishable crops with steady demand.
The first four seeds.
In the meantime, four childhood friends who grew up in Bengaluru but went abroad to both study and work, decided to come back home in 2016-17.
Santosh, who owned a coffee estate in Chikmaglur (Karnataka) was slowly learning the limitations and unpredictability of traditional farming methods. Meanwhile, Avinash’s work led him to understand the under-leveraged potential of greenhouse and hydroponic farming.
In 2017, they all got together with the aim of developing a scalable model which would not only make traditional farming immensely more robust and productive, delivering higher yield and minimize farm losses but also provide access to consumer demand.
The fruits of their labour.
In 2018, they pooled in their collective skill, expertise, and vision, to set up 'Clover Ventures', an agri-tech start-up that aimed to provide the hotel and restaurant industry with consistent access to high quality produce grown primarily in greenhouses and hydroponic farms.
Clover grew to work with 60 small-scale farmers spread across 70 acres around Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It specialised in partnering with small farmers, providing them dedicated agronomy support from seed to harvest, and ensuring the supply of high-quality perishable crops catering to consistent customer demand.
"We realise the majority of farmers who have greenhouses are unable to use them judiciously as they are grappling with challenges of demand know-how, yield and productivity, and access to markets. We offer such farmers the full-stack agronomy service—assistance on crops, best crop management techniques, fertilisers and pesticides, and other resources to boost productivity. We also focus on a clean and high-quality product for the consumers", says Avinash BR, Co-Founder.
Branching out with deeper roots.
In order to honour it’s existing contracts with its network of managed farms during the COVID-19 lockdown, Clover seized the opportunity to sell directly to end consumers. The team received heartening feedback on the quality and variety of produce, which in turn encouraged the four founders to explore establishing a consumer brand specialising in fruits and vegetables.
Therein lay the genesis of Deep Rooted.Co, which holds the collective vision of team to build a demand backed supply chain of fruits and vegetables that will deliver equal value to farmers and consumers alike.
"With consumers valuing high-quality produce, we witnessed a steep demand in choices of perishables from urban consumers residing in residential societies during lockdowns. This has resulted in doubling our portfolio of products as compared to pre-COVID. We envisage building India’s first fresh produce supply chain adapted to the challenge of climate change", Avinash BR, Co-Founder.
Over the next 6-12 months, the brand aims to grow their network of farmers in both Hyderabad and Bengaluru and are excited by the renewed promise of delivering fresh, uncontaminated, and sustainably grown fruits and vegetables to countless homes.
