Driven by a passion for transforming climate-stressed agriculture into climate-smart agriculture, Priyanshu Jain founded Agri Joy at their farm in Dehradun (India) in 2019. "We realized that controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is the way forward and it can pave the way to feed the already increasing global population and can relax some stress over already misused natural resources. We have been inspired by companies such as AmHydro and Red Sea Farms," he says. A year later, in 2020, Agri Joy was incorporated, and now, after an iterative process, the company is active in more than 14 states across India.
Source: Agri Joy
Overcoming challenges
This journey has not always been easy, Priyanshu points out: "During the early stages of Agri Joy, it was particularly challenging to not have proper contracts with our vendors or customers, which led to severe financial losses. Over time, we worked on this weakness and started having watertight contracts. In addition, when we started, people could not imagine that plants could be grown without soil. We had to demonstrate the whole process and put extra effort into creating awareness. Being a start-up, we realized that we had nothing to lose and so we said yes to every possible opportunity. This gave us a huge boost and made us a first mover in many regions. This also helped to spread hydroponics to regions where it was never thought of, such as the Andaman Islands or the Northeast. Rather than a challenge, we consider setting up multiple farms as an opportunity to spread the word of Agri Joy."
He adds: "The biggest challenge, I would say, is to effectively run those farms. To do so, we have developed a plug-and-play model. That is, we develop farms on a turnkey basis, and subsequently, we provide a well-trained agronomist to our growers whom they can deploy at their farms to effectively operate the facilities. We centrally manage all our agronomists and take note of all the progress in those farms. Moreover, we utilize SAAS software to manage farms and to articulate data. In this way, we ensure what we call 'more than optimal yields'. Further, all our processes and SOPs can be replicated in different regions at the same time. In other words, we brought uniformity to our growing processes, management processes, and go-to-market strategies."
Source: Agri Joy
Accessible, sustainable, and tailor-made technologies
The founder of Agri Joy elaborates on Agri Joy's role in transforming climate-stressed farming practices into climate-smart ones. "Next-generation agricultural practices cannot be restricted to affluent people or organizations, and hence, we are continuously working to make these technologies wider available. To achieve this, it should be cost-effective in setting up and highly efficient in the operational part. Only then it becomes a solution that has the potential to have a large reach and impact. Hence, at Agri Joy, our role is to make technologies in agriculture sustainable, scalable, and accessible to the masses."
He continues, "The tech part is very simple, we use automation to manage parameters like temperature, humidity, VPD, irrigation, and fertigation to grow plants in all climates. When it comes to methodology, we believe that any solution that we provide should be tailored to the climate, the region, and the overall conditions surrounding the farm. We offer solutions that cater to the grower's needs and market potential while remaining cost-effective. For example, we use rice husk as a hydroponic media. Things like coco coir and rice husk have always been waste products, and hence, utilizing them in hydroponics could be a game changer in reducing operational costs. When it comes to sustainability, the biggest example is our farm in the Andaman Islands which completely runs on rainwater. Ensuring sustainable farming while providing better yields to local communities is our way to contribute to the circular economy."
Source: Agri Joy
Serving market demand in India and beyond
According to Priyanshu, the market demand for Agri Joy's products is growing. "India, particularly, is now the biggest population across the world, and the consumption of fruits and vegetables is poised to increase in the coming years. Traditional agricultural practices are already under stress due to very rapid climate change patterns. Take, for example, the Himalayas, which have been snowless this year; this is nothing short of a disaster. The magnitude of such drastic climate changes is widely reflected in the overall agricultural output. Controlled agriculture has to be the way forward as supply is highly unpredictable while demand is increasing," he explains.
He also points out that Agri Joy's products fit with market trends: "For instance, crops like bell peppers or seedless cucumbers in India were not available in tier 2-3 cities just five years back. And now, it is widely available with almost every other vegetable vendor, and this is significant. This trend is also in synchronization with the fact that after COVID, people have become health conscious and are now more aware of what they are consuming." However, the start-up is looking beyond the Indian market. It expects to expand to the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. "We shall soon have a couple of farms in these regions. Countries in these regions have food security as their top priority and if we bring a solution that is cost-effective while also providing multi-fold yields, we think we can fill in the gap."
Source: Agri Joy
Venture opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs
Priyanshu concludes by providing some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to venture into the agriculture or agri-tech space.
"Agriculture is one of the most fundamental domains that directly impacts humankind. And when agriculture is stressed, what could be a bigger opportunity for entrepreneurs to venture into?" He illustrates, "There are many aspects in the whole agricultural value chain that can be positively impacted by next-generation solutions brought to the table by new ventures and entrepreneurs. After COVID, countries have realized that they have to become self-sustainable and sufficient in food production. Entrepreneurs must create awareness and spread their technologies and solutions to farmers. For entrepreneurs, it may take some extra effort to reach out to the grower community, as this community is not very accessible and lacks exposure."
For more information:
Agri Joy
www.agrijoy.in