FarmSay this March: More Questions
Plus some thesis.
Welcome to the March lookback edition, a slightly longer, maybe deeper dive into my slow-burn efforts with FarmSay.
March was high on learning, laying a foundation for the months ahead.
Navaramba by GKVK (3rd–13th)
March started with a startup pre-incubation programme — GKVK’s Navaramba — running from 3rd to 13th. The kind of event that doesn’t give you one clean takeaway but leaves you with a lot to sit with. The talk that stayed with me stemmed from one session in particular: how Indian agriculture is today, and how small cohorts of agripreneurs will meaningfully address that, if at all. A decade down, are we quietly moving towards corporate farming? There is enough economics literature advocating for farmers to exit marginal farming and move towards higher-value economic activity. I don’t have a counter to that. What I keep asking myself is: will that transition happen at the pace and scale economists envision? And at what cost to the consumer, or to state capacity that still leans on subsidies and freebies?
The other thread that stayed with me: there is funding flowing towards agri start-ups, but procedural hurdles are many. For a farmer navigating nature’s vagaries, fluctuating prices, and sometimes zero earnings, being asked to pivot to high-value crops and tech — with all the compliance and insurance complexity — is a tall ask.
What Navaramba clarified for FarmSay: Do I go mile wide and inch deep, or the other way around? That question is still open, but at least it is now more sharply framed. The point I am trying to find is where spreadsheets and PPTs meet farmer realities and farm systems. Educated folks, maybe those displaced by AI, may move into agri with the same “can do” attitude they were incentivized to have in the corporate world. FarmSay’s innings, I think, is locked somewhere at that point of confluence.
Takshashila GCPP Weekend (27th–29th)
The weekend workshop with the Takshashila Institution’s GCPP programme landed in an already hectic month. Day job was demanding, family time was squeezed (new academic year for the twins, which helped a little), and fitting in policy homework made it feel like a lot. But something clicked during the GMO research.
While working on policy alternatives, our team found that soil-less or CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) was the second strongest area of alignment. Four other teams were focused on GM mustard and other crops still navigating India’s regulatory and legal landscape. Livestock feed via CEA felt different: a lower-resistance path, a broader conversation, and closer to what I think FarmSay’s eventual thesis is. Not the glamorous export-ready fruits and vegetables, but serving the complementary, closer demographic of livestock farmers.
If I had to frame a realistic win from this line of thinking: a pilot growing soil-less feed for a stall-fed operation or a farm closer to home. That’s the direction April points.
Home Systems: NFT, Dutch Bucket, Aeroponics, Microgreens
March was a debugging month on the terrace.
The Ayozari NFT has been the most stable: a steady stream of spinach, short learning curve, proving its reliability. Dutch Bucket seedlings are showing robust early growth, but I’m still observing.
Aeroponics is where things got interesting. Seeds germinated well, early growth looked promising — then yellowing leaves showed up in the last week. Likely a nutrient imbalance; the fix is to pump out the tank and refill. Still working through it. The hardware itself feels fairly polished, but the interlocking pieces don’t snap into place like a Swiss lock, which may be causing uneven irrigation. I’m also figuring out root exposure when transferring cocopeat pellets to net cups.
A new aeroponics tower from Homeponics arrived this month and is still in the box. Longevity and spare availability are questions I’ll watch as both systems settle in.
One honest admission: I haven’t been measuring EC and pH as regularly as I should. NFT has been forgiving; aeroponics and Dutch bucket less so. The bigger learning I am still working towards is finding the delta between seed vigor and the environmental factors that are actually in my control. No pests though, which is something.
In one line: NFT is in proving-stability mode; aeroponics and Dutch bucket are in debugging mode; microgreens are about building muscle.
Microgreens deserve a separate mention. This is where the journey started — Ashakiran and I getting trained back in December ‘25. Many failed batches since. Started 4 trays each on March 30th and 31st. The goal for April isn’t yield, it’s consistency.
Bees
Two bee boxes came home on the 12th. This has been on my wishlist since December 2025, and the honest reason for starting now is to validate my own consistency. Can I manage them reasonably well over 12 months? What are the pitfalls I encounter as an individual?
March was largely about letting them settle. I have not obsessively opened the hives or kept close tabs. I don’t even have a photograph of the hive yet. My relationship with them in March, if I had to use one word: calm.
The practical change to my routine has been minor: checking that our pets don’t disturb them, and making sure their water bowl is filled. That’s about it for now.
I have also been learning about equipment and suppliers, mostly to understand what a more serious setup could look like down the line. Two worth bookmarking: Futuristic Beehive and Farmmily. More on these as I explore.
If measured by visible outcomes, March looks modest. But the foundation being laid, across policy thinking, home systems, and the bees, feels like the kind of work that compounds quietly. Momentum, I am realizing, is less about dramatic progress and more about not stopping.
April has a clear agenda: microgreens consistency, a deeper dive into CEA for livestock feed, and letting the aeroponics debugging play out.
If there is something from this month you want me to dig into, drop a comment or hit reply.
Catch up on previous lookbacks:
FarmSay this Feb: Making It Real
As always: ideas, experiments, and opinions are mine. AI helped with the edit.