Mr. Shivendra Singh (MDP 2017), founder Barton Breeze, worked with the Landmark Group in Dubai. After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, he started working on a pilot project around hydroponics and set up two container farms in Dubai. With a mission to bring technology innovation in the farming sector, and to give ‘clean food’ to the customers throughout the year, without being affected by the changing seasons, Mr. Shivendra started AI based Hydroponic company in Gurgaon, Haryana.
A silent revolution is taking place on rooftops across India.
Hundreds of families have converted terraced roof of their houses into micro-farms, where they grow organic vegetables, free from killer chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
It’s not just an urban fad.
Terrace-farming, Vertical farming or Micro farming, has gone beyond an urban fad, in the practice is fast becoming a part of people’s lives in urban and rural areas alike, as the high incidence of cancer and other diseases due to excessive chemicals has sown seeds of the thought for a safe food practice.
We believe that urban India has been disconnected with farms, farmers and their agrarian roots. Unless cities take control of their food systems, true sustainability cannot be achieved.
HYDROPONICS: THE NEW AGE FARMING
So, when we ask what will the farms of the future look like? We should really be asking – what do we want the future to look like? And then answers may begin to emerge.
Climate change and agriculture are inextricably intertwined. Against this backdrop, to insulate themselves from this daily dose of poison, a recipe for disaster, people in major metros like Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore have started looking for a viable option of pesticide-free vegetables on their plates.
At Barton Breeze, we aim to create a healthier, cleaner environment for the present and coming generations – by facilitating and growing fresh food technologically at homes, offices or commercial farms. The produce is healthier, fresh and more nutritious with a longer shelf life which helps in creating a healthier ecosystem. The technology helps in saving valuable water, land and labour resources. Moreover, the controlled growing system enables to produce food with NO use of harmful chemicals and is also 100% residue free.
Going forward, in the near future, we will be able to consume food that we can blindly trust to not harm us in any way.
We love to serve the community by offering a top-quality product that is locally grown in nutrient-rich water without pesticides, harvested weekly and delivered to sales outlets within a couple of hours. It’s called living food because we harvest plant with roots, which enables the live plant to reach your plate.
“We think it benefits the communities to know exactly where their food comes from and how it’s grown”, Shivendra said.
AI BASED HYDROPONIC COMPANY BARTON BREEZE GROWS 28 VARIETIES OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
You have to get the balance of nutrients correct in order for your lettuce to be healthy. If you don’t figure that out, you won’t be successful.
Barton Breeze develops own 35 different types of nutrition formulations in-house.
We scientifically formulate products for all-round nutrition and train our farmers to develop the Nutrition on their own. This ensures that farmers are independent and do not depend on the market for the Nutrition. This has ensured Artificial Intelligence-based Hydroponic market leader Barton Breeze grow 28 varieties of fruits and vegetables.
The water in which the plants are grown contains macro and micro-nutrients that facilitate the growth of the plant. Growing the plants in a vertical format has helped Barton Breeze to grow five times more the normal produce a usual farm would have done otherwise.
ON BARTON USP
We pride ourselves in providing knowledge and the best available products to our customers. Carefully chosen, tested equipment and nutrients ensure our customers have maximum results with their micro greens. We deal in practical, environmentally conscious methods, mastering how to garden Terrace-farming effectively.
“We couple together our unique understanding of evolving technology and cross-industry experience of our diverse and dynamic team members to deliver rapidly deployable and scalable solutions”, Shivendra, CEO, Barton Breeze said.
FARMING AUTOMATION
The company has its own production line in Hydroponic equipment and in-house developed automation system along with a strong knowledge of agriculture techniques. We help in consultation and setting up vertical farms globally using our line of products.
We provide end to end farm management solution and execute projects on turnkey basis, from the development of climate controlled Polyhouse/Polycarbonate house to Aeroponic set up, and training resources on how to run the farm efficiently and impart technology training.
ON TECHNOLOGY – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND IoT (INTERNET OF THINGS)
With our technology data centre, we are able to get inputs from all our farm through a cloud which is then churned by an AI module developed by Barton to increase the efficiency of each farm. To enable this, IoT based devices are used all over the farm to collect data from plants.
IN-HOUSE R&D
Nutrient Film Technique channels, home gardening essentials, and consumables like plant nutrition along with a various blend of growing media are some of the hydroponic products developed in-house.
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY OF FARMERS
Barton Breeze combines sustainable technology and modern farming techniques, to create highly productive models for the new-age farmer.
Our new-age farmers will have complete control over what they grow, and how they grow it, and can finally provide a clean, nutritious and traceable choice to their customers.
BARTON BREEZE GROWTH STORY
Founded in 2015 in Dubai (UAE) with a mission to bring technology innovation in the farming sector, started with one indoor farm in Dubai and within space of just 3 years we have expanded our footprints into 3 countries with more than 100,000 Sq Ft of Hydroponic farm, producing more than 500,000 kilos of food every year.
With a CAGR of 300 percent in 2018, the company has generated Rs 1.8 crore in revenue since 2017 and in the financial year 2019 (based on the expansion plans), we are targeting a revenue of Rs 10 crore at a CAGR of 800 percent.
However, “Getting skilled operators was impossible, and we had to train and build our own ground staff team. We are now a team of six core members, supported by 14 field farms. The supplier base was limited, so we developed products ourselves and encouraged vendors to develop a few”. However, the journey wasn’t as easy for the team.
Our team now includes experts from deep data science to engineering; and from marketing to produce.
Our leadership team now comprises of Padma Shri awardee, Ph.D. (Hort.), Fellow (NAAS, NABS, AFST(I), ISVS, Agro-technologist with 20 plus years of experience in Environmental Horticulture & Hydroponics from USA, eCommerce and marketing specialists who is ex-Flipkart, American Express and NASSCOM; Automation expert & operations specialist from Food and Retail Industry; and Project Management team with Corporate Finance and Investment Banking experience.
Some of Barton Breeze’s key clientele include Hero Steel, True Leaf, Milkbasket, Naffaq, and JVL. The startup has also developed a low-cost ‘Home Growing Kit’ to enable consumers to grow their food with minimal time and investment.
Presently, Barton Breeze operates eight farms in India, two farms in Dubai, and does consultation in Qatar.
As for future, Barton Breeze wants to build automated terrace farms on residential towers and commercial buildings. This will allow consumers to directly have access to clean and fresh food, free from pesticide and harmful chemicals.
