Sachin Darbarwar a computer software engineer was born and brought up in Hyderabad. He had expended almost 18 years in New Zealand and Australia prior to reverting to Hyderabad. Sachin says “I spent the wonderful early years in India and somewhere in my mind, I always knew I wanted to come back home. The only question was about what I would do here”.
Though, it took a period for Sachin to start Simply Fresh in Shamirpet, Hyderabad, in 2013 with wife Shweta. As the name indicates, the label intends to deliver nourishing food that does not include chemical substances and insecticides.
Main idea behind Simply Fresh
It was the thought of “Talking to Plants” that attracted Sachin’s concern in the farm-to-fork project. Here, all phases of plant expansion were supervised, the allocation of nutrients was documented and the neighboring atmosphere was monitored.
In pursuit of additional proposals, Sachin started cooperating with botanists, professors and others interested in farming. These signs are how each plant act in response to alterations in the greenhouse’s environment, and how it will react to the nutrients it is provided with.
He says “It was during my work on the project that I realized the potential of using technology in the agriculture space. Having lived and breathed technology for so long in Australia, the idea of using it for something new fascinated me,” he says. “To be able to get better produce by marrying technology to agriculture was the thought with which we started the company in 2013”.
How it all started?
In 2013, Sachin and Shweta started Simply Fresh on about 10 acres. “When we started, it was an experiment and we wanted to see whether we could make a commercial success out of this,” adds Shweta. She expresses around how one of the enticements at retailers in Australia was the wonderfully fresh produce that was made accessible for customers. She explains the fresh supply as ‘inviting’ and thought that the similar value was not offered in India. “The idea was to be able to bring that kind of quality and freshness to the produce being sold here as well,” she says.
Their relationship with agricultural sector
Sachin said, “My grandfather was a farmer, with considerable land holdings. While my father did not go down the same path, I think it was there somewhere in my DNA.” Before the couple set up operations in India, they set up a prototype in Australia and given how well it worked there, they started their first project in India. Starting with cultivating four acres, Sachin says, “We grew almost 150 varieties of vegetables, herbs, plants, and were supplying to supermarkets, hotels, and even various corporates around Hyderabad.”
Shweta says that they caught the concept by cultivating 14 varieties of lettuce, 10 distinct kinds of herbs, tomato, capsicum, peppers, and various microgreens. “We meticulously profiled each plant, from day zero to harvest and understand their nutritional requirements under various climatic conditions,” she added.
Plants consume a total of 12 nutrients, but Sachin says the combination of these nutrients differs at different stages of growth. “In summer, just how we like to stay away from oily and greasy food, even plants have a certain preference for what they like to consume in summer months. Technology helps us understand all this and more,” he says. Further he added “We call our farms as ‘Precision’ farms as we have combined hydroponics with AI Technology for food safety, traceability, and sustainable farming.”
Conclusion
Established in 2013 in Hyderabad by Sachin and Shweta Darbarwar, Simply Fresh is a state-of-the-art farm. The label utilizes technology to gauge the amount of nutrients to each plant in combination with hydroponics, which promises fresh, pesticide-free vegetables.
