Industrialist Anand Mahindra has taken to social platform X to share the story of Naandi Foundation, a non-profit organisation, which is working in organic farming solutions.
In a detailed post on X, Mahindra praised the work of Naandi Foundation and its social enterprise arm, Urban Farms Co., for helping thousands of farmers shift away from chemical-intensive agriculture.
Mahindra said the initiative comes at a time when global fertiliser supply chains are facing disruptions due to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, causing urea prices to surge and phosphate supplies to tighten.
“Sometimes the real breakthrough is not managing the crisis better but outgrowing the dependency that caused it in the first place,” Mahindra wrote.
Highlighting the scale of the effort, he said nearly 2,000 Indian farmers have completed another farming season without using synthetic fertilisers or pesticides. According to him, the farmers have been practising regenerative agriculture since 2019 while maintaining normal crop yields and reducing farming costs.
“What struck me most is that 80–90% of the farmers return every season, not out of loyalty to a movement, but because the economics work,” he said.
Mahindra added that the produce grown under the initiative consistently tests residue-free while delivering yields comparable to conventional farming methods.
The Mahindra Group chairman noted that the same organisation which helped create the Araku Coffee success story in Andhra Pradesh is now attempting to build a nationwide “food grid” of regenerative vegetable farms serving urban India.
He revealed that Urban Farms Co. currently grows more than 50 varieties of vegetables across several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The enterprise reportedly supplies nearly 10,500 tonnes of vegetables annually.
The initiative also works with more than 1,200 partner farmers who, according to Mahindra, are earning sustained profits through regenerative and residue-free farming practices.
The vegetables are currently available in Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Pune, including through quick-commerce platform Blinkit
.
Calling it a “working model built right here in India,” Mahindra suggested that the future of food production may depend less on imported chemical fertilisers and more on healthier soil, scientific farming practices and sustainable farmer economics.
He also praised Urban Farms Co. leaders Vikash, Raheel and Madhur, along with Naandi Foundation founder Manoj Kumar, for helping transform regenerative agriculture into a commercially viable model.
In a detailed post on X, Mahindra praised the work of Naandi Foundation and its social enterprise arm, Urban Farms Co., for helping thousands of farmers shift away from chemical-intensive agriculture.
Mahindra said the initiative comes at a time when global fertiliser supply chains are facing disruptions due to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, causing urea prices to surge and phosphate supplies to tighten.
“Sometimes the real breakthrough is not managing the crisis better but outgrowing the dependency that caused it in the first place,” Mahindra wrote.
Highlighting the scale of the effort, he said nearly 2,000 Indian farmers have completed another farming season without using synthetic fertilisers or pesticides. According to him, the farmers have been practising regenerative agriculture since 2019 while maintaining normal crop yields and reducing farming costs.
“What struck me most is that 80–90% of the farmers return every season, not out of loyalty to a movement, but because the economics work,” he said.
Mahindra added that the produce grown under the initiative consistently tests residue-free while delivering yields comparable to conventional farming methods.
The Mahindra Group chairman noted that the same organisation which helped create the Araku Coffee success story in Andhra Pradesh is now attempting to build a nationwide “food grid” of regenerative vegetable farms serving urban India.
He revealed that Urban Farms Co. currently grows more than 50 varieties of vegetables across several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The enterprise reportedly supplies nearly 10,500 tonnes of vegetables annually.
The initiative also works with more than 1,200 partner farmers who, according to Mahindra, are earning sustained profits through regenerative and residue-free farming practices.
The vegetables are currently available in Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Pune, including through quick-commerce platform Blinkit
.
Calling it a “working model built right here in India,” Mahindra suggested that the future of food production may depend less on imported chemical fertilisers and more on healthier soil, scientific farming practices and sustainable farmer economics.
He also praised Urban Farms Co. leaders Vikash, Raheel and Madhur, along with Naandi Foundation founder Manoj Kumar, for helping transform regenerative agriculture into a commercially viable model.
