StartUp Circle: How AgriTech Barton Breeze has brought the hydroponic technology for farming in India?

Barton Breeze: As the consumer preferences get more "organic", there is a need in the AgriTech startups to rise to the occasion. They can leverage technology to create pesticide-free foods and reduce many chemical-borne diseases. Thus, CIOL is in conversation the founder of one such StartUp.

Barton Breeze is a commercial hydroponic farm specialist. It uses technology and modern farming techniques, to create highly productive agri-models for the new-age farmer. Barton Breeze sets up fully-automated hydroponic farms using its in-built technologies to grow clean and pesticide-free vegetables.

1. What is the vision behind Barton Breeze?

Variables like weather, quality of soil and seed, availability of water, skilled labour, etc have always governed agriculture in our country. Plus, in order to feed a human population predicted to reach 10 billion by 2060, we are going to need to grow more food. Historically, increased food production has always been at the expense of the water supply. Agriculture uses 70% of the world’s freshwater. 70% of water contamination comes from agriculture.

Global food production, according to some estimates, will have to double 2005 levels by 2050. It is because of the complex relationship between food and water that Barton Breeze set out to transform global agriculture over ten years ago. We believe that urban India is disconnected with farms, farmers and their agrarian roots. Unless cities take control of their food systems, true sustainability cannot be achieved.

Plus our food has 600% chemicals than desired.

People in India, nowadays to insulate themselves from this daily dose of chemicals (which is a recipe for disaster), people in India have started looking for a viable option of pesticide-free vegetables on their plates. We now believe that it is time to redesign the farming experiences.

At Barton Breeze, we aim to create a healthier, cleaner environment for the present & coming generation by facilitating and growing fresh food technologically at homes, offices & commercial farms. The produce is healthier, fresh and more nutritious and has a longer shelf life which helps in creating a healthier ecosystem. The Hydroponic 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.

2. How does the technology work for farming?

Being first & one of the kind in the segment of agri-tech merged with agri experience, we at Barton Breeze are trying to create & promote ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ and to achieve it, we are working into the whole ecosystem in the form of B-FRESH, B-FARM & B-HOME. Hydroponic helps increase output by 3x.

We have also developed iFarm, a Cloud-based data and farm output AI software. Now all our clients can get all their farm and production details on the Cloud sitting in the comfort of their home or office. Our iFarm Dashboard and IoT uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to measure important indicators that help in food/crop planning and hence help connect in the food security ecosystem.

3. How did you come up with the idea?

In Dubai, after graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, I started working on a pilot project around hydroponics and set up two container farms in Dubai. During this time I thought, a country like India with vast climate changes needs this technology more than anyone else.

Hence, with a mission to bring technology innovation in India’s farming sector, and to give ‘clean food’ to consumers throughout the year, and without being affected by the changing seasons, I started AI-based Hydroponic company in New Delhi.

4. How scalable is your solution? And what are your post-covid plans?

On Scalability:

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. So, Barton Breeze has its own production line in Hydroponic equipment & in-house developed automation system along with a strong knowledge of agriculture techniques.

We, further, help in consultation and setting up vertical farms globally using our line of products. We also 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

Post-Covid:

Post-COVID, Consumers are demanding local and clean food in their grocery stores. In fact, a recent study found that the word “local” is now a better motivator than “organic” in product purchases. During Covid times, we increased our team members, unlike other companies. Simultaneously, the customer queries also increased by 200%.

Barton Breeze is able to grow and deliver delicious baby leafy greens just 20 minutes from New Delhi, with 75 times more productivity than a traditional farm.

5. Tell us about the journey and the team at Barton Breeze.

The journey for any start-up isn’t easy for any team. When we started, people had no idea about this new technology. And whatever talent was available, they had to un-learn. 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, with support from 25 field farms. Earlier, there was a limited supplier base. So, we developed products ourselves and encouraged vendors to develop a few.

Our team now includes experts from deep data science to engineering and from marketing to producing. Our leadership team now comprises of Padma Shri awardee, PhD (Hort.), Fellow (NAAS, NABS, AFST(I), ISVS) Agro-technologist with 20 plus years of experience in Environmental Horticulture, and Hydroponics from the USA, and eCommerce and marketing specialists from 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.

Further, our core team includes Mr Ratnakar Rai with 25 years of rich experience as Agro Technologist and Mr Sudhanva Sundararaman with 20 years’ rich experience in marketing and e-commerce as COO amongst others.

Post-Covid, we have increased team members with an aim to increase our outreach. Currently, we are in 10 states. And Barton Breeze is planning to enter 5 more states in the next couple of months. Our Team size doubled in last one month to handle expansion.

Our Customer queries increased by 200% and there has been increased consumer awareness by 10x post covid.

6. What are the upcoming trends in the agritech space?

Because Barton Breeze uses vertically stacked growing beds, up to 5 levels high, they use less than 1% of the space required by a conventional growing, a precious commodity in densely populated urban areas. Our mission is to build responsible farms, to enable local production at scale and grow safe, delicious and healthy food.

We love to serve the community by offering a top-quality product that is locally grown in nutrient-rich water without pesticides. It is harvested weekly and delivered to sales outlets within a couple of hours. It's called living lettuce because the roots are left intact, which makes it last longer. We think it benefits communities to know exactly where their food comes from and how it's grown

In the future, your vegetable greens will likely come from the building next to you.

7. How do you raise awareness about your product?

Post-Covid, we are Embracing Disruption with Diversity. People in urban areas now understand what Hydroponic is, though this concept still needs more visibility and awareness. Apart from the digital presence, we also do roadshows.

8. What are your future plans?

Funding for $1.5 by the end of this year. Already having a presence in 10 states, the aim is to reach 15 states in a couple of years. We have immediate plans to multiple farms in and around Delhi NCR and in the Middle East. We aim of spreading truly sustainable agriculture around the world.

Funding details

There has been an increase in the interest level from angel investors and venture capitals for Barton Breeze. Our calls from VC has gone up by 150%. Barton Breeze is closing 1.5 million USD within this year.