Produced ~1000 quintals of glyphosate-free / 2,4-D-free wheat this year in India. Thought selling it would be easy because everyone talks about “chemical free food” online… reality is completely different.

Biggest challenge isn’t production. It’s logistics and retail distribution.

Most retail buyers only want 2–3 quintals at a time, but transporting small quantities across states becomes expensive and complicated very fast. Local mandi buyers don’t care about the difference and pay almost the same as regular wheat.

We avoided pre-harvest glyphosate and 2,4-D sprays completely, maintained separate handling, and focused on cleaner grain quality — but finding serious buyers is much harder than growing the crop.

Anyone here dealing with direct-to-consumer grain sales or niche agriculture products?
How are you solving:
- small order transport
- trust/certification issues
- retail packaging
- repeat customers
- interstate delivery costs

Feels like farmers can produce premium food, but the supply chain is built only for bulk commodity trading.

My first post on Reddit. Used got to edit it out.

I’m looking for guidance from this community on what kind of business I can realistically start with a capital of ₹2 crore.

I recently returned to India after spending about 5 years in Europe. Before moving abroad, I was running a small manufacturing unit.

I still own the industrial gala, but I’ve liquidated the machinery.At this point, I’m not inclined to get back into manufacturing.

While in Europe, I worked in the construction space, supervising high-end interior renovation and remodeling projects across both residential and commercial segments. I do have an interest in continuing in this field; however, I’m not particularly strong in marketing, and in my experience, dealing with Indian clients can often involve delays and challenges in payments.

For the past year, I’ve been actively educating myself about agriculture—especially high-efficiency, tech-enabled farming. I’m currently inclined toward acquiring a few acres of land and setting up a polyhouse-based farming operation. I’ve already spoken with a few companies and visited sites to understand how these setups work on the ground.
Apart from polyhouse farming, I’ve also considered:
Starting a pizza buffet-style café,
Buying or build g a resort in Konkan or Rajasthan.

I’d really appreciate honest, practical input from this community—both on the viability of these ideas and any alternative business suggestions that might align better with my background, capital, and risk appetite.
Thank you for your time and insights.

I run an agro-input trading business in India related to pesticides, fertilizers, seeds, etc. Over the last few years, we accumulated around 86,000 IndiaMART leads from inquiries across multiple product categories.

The interesting part is that this is a recurring industry — unlike one-time purchases, many customers (especially dealers/distributors/agri retailers) buy repeatedly every season. So I feel the real value is not in “closing old leads,” but in building long-term B2B relationships from this historical data.

The problem is:

• the lead data is huge,
• many leads are mixed between retail and wholesale,
• inquiries range from a few days old to 3 years old,
• and email is mostly ineffective in this industry compared to WhatsApp/calls.

My background is a bit technical as well, so I’m comfortable with:

• data cleaning,
• automation,
• scraping,
• lead scoring,
• workflow building,
• spreadsheets/scripts,
• and creating internal tools if needed.

Right now I’m trying to figure out the best system/process for:

1. Filtering high-quality B2B leads from a massive historical dataset
2. Building a repeatable WhatsApp/call outreach workflow without becoming spammy
3. Managing follow-ups and relationship tracking at scale
4. Identifying which types of agro buyers are most valuable long-term
5. Structuring a CRM/pipeline for a traditional trading business
6. Reactivating old leads seasonally in a smart way
7. Turning inquiry data into an actual dealer/distributor network
8. Actually converting good leads into paying long-term customers when advance payment is usually required in this industry

One challenge I personally face is communication/sales confidence. I’m 24, trying to grow my family business, and while I’m comfortable with systems/data/automation, I’m still improving on negotiation, relationship-building and converting conversations into actual business — especially when asking new buyers for advance payment.

I’d especially love advice from people who have experience in:

• commodity/agri/industrial trading,
• distributor networks,
• B2B sales operations,
• CRM systems,
• WhatsApp-driven sales,
• trust-building in advance-payment businesses,
• or lead database monetization/reactivation.

If you had 86k old B2B-ish leads in a recurring industry, how would you approach:

• identifying the best buyers,
• building trust quickly,
• converting them into repeat customers,
• and scaling the process without needing a huge sales team?

Starting Columns

Rest of the columns with data

This is how the extrcated leads data looks like,

We are building business to reduce the excessive use of fertilizers. We have the product which can hold the fertilizers and water in soil for more duration, reducing fertilizer and water usage.

Indian farmers often earn only 20–30% of the final value of their crops because of middlemen. At the same time, hotels, restaurants, caterers, and event buyers are paying inflated prices for the exact same produce.

Both sides lose.

Post-harvest waste alone costs Indian farmers more than ₹92,000 crore every year.

So I started building KisanSaathi — a free AI-powered web + Android platform designed to directly connect farmers with bulk buyers.

The Problem

Today’s supply chain is broken for both sides:

• Farmers usually don’t know the best time or place to sell.
• Prices change daily and most farmers have little bargaining power.
• Produce often spoils before reaching buyers.
• Hotels and restaurants still depend on multiple middlemen and inconsistent suppliers.
• Small farmers rarely get direct access to bulk buyers.

The result:
Farmers earn less, buyers pay more, and food gets wasted in between.

The Solution

KisanSaathi tries to simplify the entire process using AI + WhatsApp-first onboarding.

The goal is to make selling crops as easy as sending a WhatsApp message.

Farmers can:

• Join through WhatsApp without downloading an app initially
• Upload crop photos
• Speak in Hindi or regional languages
• Get instant AI help with pricing, freshness, and quality grading
• Receive direct orders from hotels/restaurants nearby

Buyers can:

• Compare produce quality and pricing
• Place bulk orders quickly
• Source from multiple nearby farmers
• Reduce procurement costs and delays

The platform acts like a smart bridge between farmers and bulk buyers instead of another middleman.

How It Works

1. Farmer joins through WhatsApp No technical setup required initially.
2. Upload crop photo AI analyzes quality, freshness, and market pricing.
3. Nearby buyers get notified Hotels, caterers, and restaurants can compare and order instantly.
4. Logistics + payment handling Delivery tracking and UPI escrow help reduce fraud risk.

AI Features Planned

1. AI Quality Grading

Farmer uploads a photo → AI grades produce as A/B/C quality and detects visible defects.

2. Spoilage Prediction

The system tells farmers things like:

>

using crop image + weather + storage conditions.

3. Smart Pricing

AI suggests pricing using:

• live mandi rates
• local demand
• seasonal trends
• nearby buyer activity

4. Smart Order Splitting

Example:
A hotel needs 200 kg tomatoes.

Instead of relying on one supplier, AI distributes the order across nearby farmers based on:

• freshness
• distance
• quantity available

5. Voice-Based Listing

Farmer speaks in Hindi or regional language → AI creates the product listing automatically.

6. Secure Payments

UPI escrow system:
Buyer payment is released only after confirmed delivery.

The Goal

• Increase farmer earnings
• Reduce buyer costs
• Reduce food wastage
• Keep the platform completely free for farmers

What I Honestly Need Feedback On

I’m still pre-MVP with no live users yet, and I’d rather get hard feedback now than after building for months.

So I genuinely want to ask:

1. Which AI feature here actually solves a real farmer problem — and which ones sound cool but unnecessary?
2. Will hotels/restaurants trust AI-based quality grading, or will they always want manual inspection?
3. How do platforms like this stop buyers and farmers from exchanging numbers and bypassing the platform later?
4. Am I overbuilding before validation? Should I launch with just 1–2 core features first?
5. Would farmers realistically use this regularly, especially in smaller towns/villages?

->I’m open to criticism and would genuinely appreciate honest feedback — even if the conclusion is that parts of this idea won’t work. Thanks for reading this far.
I know agriculture is a complex space, and I’m probably underestimating many challenges. That’s exactly why I’m posting before building too much.

Even harsh criticism is genuinely valuable here — I’d rather learn now than waste months building the wrong thing.

Thank you 🙏

Anyone here running or planning any:

1. food processing unit

2. cold storage

3. rice mill

4. dairy project

5)warehouse

6. spice processing

7. agro export

8. poultry/feed plant

9. or any agri based manufacturing setup?

We recently got a scheme open for Agri & Food Processing funding.

Possible facilities: • Term Loan

• Working Capital / CC

• BG / LC

• Machinery Funding

• Export Finance

Funding range starts from small MSME level and can go up to large ticket sizes as well depending on project/profile.

If anyone is already in discussion with banks but wants to explore better structuring/options, you can comment or DM with:

#business type

#location

#turnover

#project cost

#existing banking

Will try to guide properly if the case fits 👍

Would like a general opinion on this. Someone I know who owns a poultry farm has been struggling with acquiring labour to such an extent that I've stepped in to help so that the birds don't die due to starvation and heat stress. Does anyone know why there is a labour shortage?

I am looking to start a farming business and am searching for some land in Maharashtra. It does not need to be close to a city or town. What is the per acre cost if your respective village or town ?

Hi
Can someone please tell me the cost of building a small 2500 MT cold storage in Agra/khandauli belt? Excluding land cost.

I really need just an idea from someone in this field

Thank you

Hey everyone,

I come from a farmer family and we have some land near Delhi NCR. I want to start something different from traditional farming and I’m interested in contract farming or growing crops based on market demand.

I want to know:

Which crops/products are in high demand?

What can be grown on small land with good profit?

How can I find buyers before farming?

Do restaurants, grocery stores, or companies buy directly from farmers?

Also, if anyone is interested in getting something grown on demand or wants direct farming supply near Delhi NCR, feel free to comment or message me.

Would really appreciate suggestions and advice from experienced people. Thanks!

My father is very skilled in agriculture. He's doing for last 25+ years. I have seen him getting profit out of it when all the villagers were in lose. He knows plants and soil very well. In the last 7-9 years, he also worked in pisiculture (fisheries).

But I've never got involved in agriculture (as my parents wanted not to do). Now I want to get myself involved into any kind of farming under the umbrella of my father. But he sees no improvement in agricuture, especially because he is not knowledgable about the advancementment of agritech. ANother reason is, he never did business out of agriculture; he worked very well. I don't want his knowledge go waste.

Hence, suggest how can my father takes his believe in farming or modernday agriculture. Nowadays, there's several govt and nongovt organizations teaching and exploring agritech for farmers. How can I make him involved there? He is not fluent in English.

Any suggestion of institution or course for him would help us. Preferably in Bengal. Anywhere else will also be okay.

Any idea about agricultural land rates in Nitre Village, Chamarajanagar? Thinking of investing here. Any opinion on the location?

A lot of people think import-export is mainly about:

• Finding buyers
• Finding suppliers
• Getting good pricing

But in reality, most deals don’t fail there.

They fail after both sides agree.

From what I’ve seen, the common breakdowns are:

• Documentation mismatches (especially across countries)
• Logistics not aligned with loading timelines
• Quality expectations not clearly locked before dispatch
• Payment confusion during execution
• No single point of coordination

On paper, the deal is “done.”

In execution, everything starts falling apart.