tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6857562007373347342026-10-17T16:53:51.805+05:30Engineering a simple life!                                       <hr><b><i>Savera Farms : Chronicles of an Agri-preneur </i></b> <br><b><i>info@saverafarms.com</i></b>                                                   Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-8758495677657305812017-06-14T13:41:00.000+05:302020-01-25T22:30:00.264+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com83tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-34276022174722287652017-02-07T09:54:00.000+05:302020-01-25T22:24:05.135+05:30

Agri subsidies were started with the intention of helping out the farmer financially. However, in today's day and age, these subsidies are putting a phenomenal strain on the existing infrastructure we have in our country. Additionally, people forget the value of a resource when it comes by free. Personally, I am not a big fan of subsidies like free power for precisely the reasons elaborated in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-9579966112390141592016-07-29T09:17:00.000+05:302020-01-25T22:19:33.742+05:30

Some of you had mailed me regarding the efficacy of the Shadenet over SST. Algae formation was a major problem we were experiencing in our tank, especially during the peak of summer. The situation became quite critical last year - Pictures before shadenet Using some local ingenuity, we started working towards a potential solution that could at least control the problem, if not eliminate it -

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-38421738806258456432016-05-11T09:20:00.000+05:302020-01-25T22:18:14.929+05:30

We are happy to announce that we completed 1 year of goat ops last week. It has been an incredible journey so far, with a lot of lessons learned along the way.&nbsp; In the next few weeks, we will elaborate more on our learnings with commentary on practice vs theory of goat operations. In the meanwhile, we have about 40 Tellacherry goats, ranging from 6 months to 1.5 years for sale. Kindly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-58418207623371292752016-02-13T13:43:00.000+05:302020-01-25T22:16:41.022+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-57100017147629695132015-11-01T09:10:00.000+05:302020-01-18T11:19:58.645+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-85867854868822414742015-02-26T13:11:00.000+05:302015-02-26T13:12:49.435+05:30

First flowering was noticed in Mid December with the decreasing rains. We saw decent flowering in the month of January as temperatures increased. It too another 2-3 weeks when pea sized fruits were noticed on some of the trees. Typically, it takes about 120 - 130 days from fruit setting for the fruits to mature for harvest. With the current trends, we should be ready for harvest sometime in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-49698287091924715792015-01-11T12:58:00.000+05:302015-01-11T12:58:25.190+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-22256619536306710842014-12-20T17:07:00.001+05:302014-12-20T17:07:22.536+05:30

Last year, if you recall, we marketed over 10 tons of fresh mangoes directly from farms. Produce was cleaned, ripened, graded and packed and sold directly to consumers and corporates. After a phenomenal success, we are planning to increase our capacity to 30 tons for 2015 season. We are also exploring the option of a small cold storage to enable extended shelf life. With the receding rains,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-12917747955496263532014-11-28T12:23:00.000+05:302014-12-01T13:43:06.347+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-39522413096238706682014-11-15T12:34:00.000+05:302014-12-01T13:45:50.230+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-56631559058105663062014-06-02T13:44:00.000+05:302014-12-02T22:58:06.148+05:30

Although this summer has not been the hottest, yet the summer effect was felt due to its dryness. June was a dry month with no rains at all. We have started keeping rain records from last monsoon and almost every month we have experienced light showers or drizzle from last August through May. Fortunately, our underground reservoirs are in good health with static levels at 15 - 25 ft. After

Savera Farmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373832222675452995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-69205610632543375842014-05-26T01:46:00.000+05:302014-12-02T22:57:42.474+05:30

Last August, we started recording rainfall at the Savera Farms. Although the monsoon has been truant for the last 2 years, nonetheless our records should be a good indicator of rainfall trends in the years to come. For those who are unaware, much of Tamil Nadu and this part of the country receives the Winter monsoons starting in November In August 2013, we had 6 occurrences, primarily light

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-18240812147092049542014-05-19T09:37:00.000+05:302014-09-26T01:48:25.667+05:30

It is that time of the year when Moringa saplings should be planted. Good quality seedlings germinated from farm harvested PAVM seeds are available for sale. Any cultivators looking to setup or expand their plantations may contact us for seedlings. Buyers can request a visit to our Moringa acreages and seek cultivation guidance / clarifications from our farm supervisors. Please reach out at

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-12003080326952841702014-05-05T21:18:00.000+05:302014-09-26T01:47:58.531+05:30

Here are a few tid-bits of market info that seem interesting enough to share. Feel free to post your interesting reads below. In Delhi, two revolutionary ideas were showcased at an agricultural conclave which attracted attention from World Bank and were duly awarded for the groud breaking innovations. One, called Veg Sav, will substantially reduce post-harvest loss of vegetables by using

Savera Farmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373832222675452995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-59292291841768271242014-04-25T00:16:00.000+05:302014-07-29T21:22:35.963+05:30

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--> Over the years, several users have inquired about pros and cons of drip irrigation. Though there is abundance of published information from an academic and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-45343995318455487662014-04-18T23:51:00.000+05:302014-07-29T21:22:23.184+05:30

Last month, we did a water analysis for all our bores. While most of the parameters were normal, Chloride toxicity was significant in a few borewells. Typically, an acceptable reading is of 10 meQ/L or lesser but we recorded upto 12-13 meQ/L in a few water samples. Given the soluble nature of chloride, it is not adsorbed or held back by soils. Therefore it moves readily with the soil-water, is

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-51391013513353534302014-04-11T09:29:00.000+05:302014-07-29T00:22:16.604+05:30

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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-21348395849441941402014-04-04T09:19:00.000+05:302014-07-02T09:20:35.270+05:30

We have been mulling over the idea of planting a couple of acres of Pomegranate as a pilot this year. Just wanted to touch base with the blog followers if they or somebody else they know is knowledgeable about cultivation aspects of the crop. There has been a sudden increase in cultivation, awareness and consumption in the last few years and may be it is a good time to jump into the '

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-86941309027382733752014-03-21T04:39:00.000+05:302014-07-02T09:14:16.013+05:30

We recently came across a rare interview with a major food marketing and processing firm. It is not often when a well known food brand leader engages the Indian media to share their vision and goals. Parsing between the marketing nuances, we thought Nestle's Worldwide Executive Director Mr Nandanand Kishore, had some interesting observations about food and nutrition trends. First, the

Savera Farmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373832222675452995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-83549745359677571292014-03-14T22:49:00.000+05:302014-07-02T09:14:03.297+05:30

This year marked the first year of Moringa Leaf production at commercial volumes at Savera Farms. During our pilot phases, we attempted various post-harvesting techniques like Air Drying. While Air Drying is recommended by some, we found it to be generally inefficient. Moisture levels were uneven and direct / indirect exposure to the sun resulted in discoloration of dry leaves. In the herbal

Savera Farmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373832222675452995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-25951393148793677762014-03-07T22:11:00.000+05:302014-07-02T09:13:48.015+05:30

At Savera Farms, we have now been raising our Goat herd to close to a year now. Apart from capital intensive expenses like the shed, it soon became clear that most of our resources will be spent on procuring and preparing the daily feed. This experience seems to be universal to most animal husbandry practices, including dairy and meat production. It is estimated that no less than 70 per cent

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-58901730184996640842014-02-28T08:26:00.000+05:302014-07-02T09:13:19.237+05:30

Those of you who have seen the 1992 military classic 'A Few Good Men' would remember my favorite quote from this movie - You can't handle the truth! The truth of our reality is that we are looking for motivated and qualified team members and it has been hard to find them. This is also part of the reason why we have been absent for the last few months from Blog-sphere. Last few months have

Savera Farmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373832222675452995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-49692243107979142412014-02-23T03:20:00.001+05:302014-02-28T01:35:14.786+05:30

Massaging my mommy Savera Farms got into Animal husbandry last July with a couple of dozen Tellacherry and Kanni goats. So far we have had a good run with as many births and a couple more bulk purchases. In a few months, our herd was over 100 strong. Entry into animal husbandry was a strategic decision to minimize the risk from our land crops (Mango &amp; Moringa) and capture the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685756200737334734.post-87166761018270754142014-02-13T09:03:00.000+05:302014-02-13T23:10:07.820+05:30

Late last year, Savera Farms made a conscious decision to attempt Maize and Bajra grain cultivation. Our focus was to supplement and lower the unit cost of our current goat fodder. While our seed propagation was field dispersal, we did ensure that it is done along our drip lines for maximum germination. Since sowing, it took about 40-50 days for the flowering to start. Although our initial plan

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4