Although i personally make sure that the produce I sell is clean and full of taste, there could still be a reason for you to be not fully satisfied! I can replace your order with the same or another product, or we can provide a full refund. Whichever is the case, please do write back to me @ honest.farmer.mail@gmail.com with your feedback.

I manage two farms. My ancestral farm is at Mustafabad (Distt. Kapurthala) where i converted 4 acres to organic in 2016. It is a 3 hours drive for Chandigarh. Click on this link to view this location. https://goo.gl/maps/BuYWmCz9hnVPJGJQA.

My second farm is at Village Rohti Basta Singh (Near Nabha), which is an hour and a half drive from Chandigarh. Both the farms are certified as Organic

You must have heard about ZBNF (Zero Budget Natural Farming), Bio-dynamic farming, Natural farming or Permaculture etc. There is NO single or structured model which can be applied as it is on a patch of land. I believe that, in order to grow food as it was supposed to be grown, we must build a local model which will work for that region and for that farmer! Having said that, there are some basic principles of natural farming i follow. Most importantly, focusing on the soil health (and not on the plant health). How you build a healthy soil? depends on what is available to you locally. I primarily rely upon crop rotation and cover crop residue bio-mass to build a healthy soil. Get in touch with me @ honest.farmer.mail@gmail.com and let us meet to discuss the details if you are interested?

Genetic diversity is fundamental to the survival of every species and the ecosystem. Nature thrives on diversity. A jungle has hundreds of plants growing in a mutually beneficial relationship. This diverse DNA keeps us healthy. Natural mutations in plants give rise to new varieties which adapt to a region’s climate and contribute to the health of that ecosystem. Sadly, humans keep destroying this diversity in order to grow food which satisfy their own selfish needs! Crop scientists have given us ‘Hybrid’ seeds created in a lab. Tomatoes are created for longer shelf life, Gourds are created in equal size to make them easier to pack, rice is created for fragrance etc. This Mono-cropping has devastated ecosystems across the world.

When you compare a hybrid moong with the variety i grow, you will find that the hybrid one has uniform grain size and color. My desi moong will have variations! Some grains will be darker in colour, while other will be bigger in size etc. When i use these same seeds to grow the next generation, i will again get more natural variations, and the cycle continues.

A million dollar question! No easy answer. It depends on what crop you are growing and how you are managing it (sowing harvesting etc.). For example, the pulses i grow do not require in inter-culture (no labour cost), sowing can be done by broadcasting (no tractor Diesel cost). Harvesting will be done by hand by a team of 5-6 people over 3-4 days (daily labour cost of Rs350 / day / per person). After the pods are harvested, they must be threshed to take the seeds out. Then the produce is cleaned by hand (again labour cost). All this will eventually be rolled up into my cost price. For Rice or wheat it will be an entirely different set of costs. Also remember, i do not grow crops for a better yield, i grow for taste and nutrition values.

A common cost factor is the labour i employe to do inter-culture, harvest and cleaning. As this is a small operation, mechanising these is not an option for me. I also firmly believe that the money should always go in the hands of a person, rather than to the bank account of a machine manufacturer. Here is an interesting outcome of all this, when my yield increases and my input costs remain the same, my eventual retail price will decrease! As i am now able to grow more using same inputs! 😊

Remember, when you use Graintastic, you are also helping me to maintain nature’s diversity and to keep a patch of land poison free for generations to come. Isn’t all that worth it?