The hyper-local farm delivering freshly-harvested,

leafy greens right to your doorstep

A vertical-farming startup cultivating organic, healthy greens in space-crunched Mumbai. Watch the journey of Herbivore Farms in the video below:

Mumbai Couple Grows Organic Produce through Hydroponics on

Commercial Level

25 April, 2019  

By: Dr. Sangeeta Soi

A Mumbai based couple - Oshua Lewis and Sakina Rajkotwala decided to take the leap after a visit to Auroville in Puducherry in 2017 where they got inspired by Krishna Mckenzie, a native of England, who’s “honouring Mother Nature through local food.” 

They named it as Herbivore Farms, Mumbai’s first hyperlocal, hydroponic farm. Today, the farm grows 2,500 plants, and sells fresh, organic vegetables to customers across Mumbai. 

 As told to Mumbai Foodie, the couple said, “Herbivore Farms is Mumbai’s first hyperlocal farm located in Andheri East. We grow super-healthy varieties of leafy green vegetables like Swiss chard, kale, rocket, and lettuce using hydroponic methods of cultivation.” 

The farm is actually made at a place which was earlier used as a warehouse in an old industrial estate. It is spread over 1,000 sq ft, and houses over 2,500 kinds of plants in a temperature-controlled indoor setting.  

 According to the couple, the hydroponic method they use to grow their vegetables sets their produce apart. They also stated that there is no real-time solution to all the questions that they had in hydroponic farming so the trial and error methods usually works.   

The irrigation system used here is re-circulating type which uses 80 percent lesser water to grow the produce. Other than this no pesticides are used in order to keep the environment sterile and safe completely.  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 the couple to grow five times more the normal produce their farm would have otherwise done. 

The couple also makes sure that they can deliver their products through home delivery, maintaining freshness, nutrition, and flavour.  

They also reported that in spite of the higher cost of boxes the fresh organic produce are always in demand among customers. 

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