How often have you been a part of a social conversation where someone has very casually remarked “I wish I could give this all up and move to a farm”?
The continuing viability of city life has been increasingly questioned because of the rapidly decreasing quality of essentials like food, air, water, long distances travelled to work and a need for personal space. The aggressive economic growth of the last few decades has come at a price, both in terms of sustainability and our wellbeing making cities, increasingly unliveable.
People have started questioning the quality of their lives and are increasingly expressing an interest to move to remote locations or give it all up and take up farming, to stay connected with nature and find a purpose in life. Concerns like economic viability, access to medical facilities, schools, decent internet connections and the fear of being away from the familiar and workspaces have acted as hurdles.
The few who bought farmland, and over weekends tried to take time out to try their hand at it. While a few succeeded and made it work, most struggled to find a balance, and the farm did not sustain after a couple of initial years of enthusiasm, due to the recurring expenses of hiring and managing manpower, basic inputs and infrastructure which proved to be a financial strain. Even if they managed to harvest produce, it was often not enough in quantity to provide any significant returns or offer any bargaining power in the market.
Besides the economic angle of farming, many professionals also feel a sense of longing towards having a natural space to call their own, in the absence of a village to go back to and lead a more purposeful life, which is often associated with growing one’s own food and building a form of passive income.
One positive outcome of the pandemic was that people got a chance to experience remote working which opened the possibility of adopting this as a long-term solution to finding a work life balance, increasingly supported by organizations. Identifying this need to spend time in nature, have larger homes, participate as a hobby farmer, and have the satisfaction of pursuing some form of sustainable-living, several companies offering managed farmlands in India. While such initiative is very common in the developed world, both as a means of being associated with owning and managing farms, they are slowly gaining traction here.
Some of the advantages of these over the traditional concept of owning and building a farm are that they are professionally managed. Typically, a company or a developer identifies and aggregates the land based on certain parameters, either geographic, lifestyle or functional parameters. They identify what and when to grow, the yield and sale of crops and the distribution of income based on some sort of pre-decided formula or understanding.
Across India, we have seen managed farms based around:
- Tea / coffee plantations, especially around the north east and south India
- Animal husbandary e.g. Emu farms near Mumbai or dairy farms
- Fruit orchards e.g. Mango plantations or grape vineyards
- Mixed farming – Seasonal fruits and vegetables
- Wood – Timber / Sandlewood
- Organic farms
Recently, there has also been a spurt in Permaculture based farms which is a natural method of farming based on regenerative farming practices. While these have mostly been individual efforts, there are a few companies who have been exploring building of permaculture inspired farms.
Suhail Bagdadi is the Marketing & Communications Head of Beforest Lifestyle Solutions. He holds an Advanced Permaculture Design Certificate from Aranya Agricultural Alternatives and runs a 15-acre alphonso mango orchard along the Konkan coast, which he is converting into a food forest.