Software professionals in agriculture - fantasy or success

[rajk123]

I see so many software professionals talk about moving to agriculture.

Of course we have great information sites like agriinfo and farmnest forum on which there is so much discussion on how to get into farming. There are also many books on technology.

However, the reality is very different and to succeed, you need great patience and an understanding of the village realities. While some software engineers are realistic, many are driven by fantasy and the feeling of having a farm.

How many software pros are successful in agriculture and what is the proportion? Is it advisable to end software career and move fully?

 

[niksnarayana]

There will always be a fear that what to do if I dont earn money. If there is fear, then you wont be able to do any risky business and farming is risky business.
Moving to agriculture should be to change your way of life, earning money is secondary. When you move to farm, your needs change and expenses are drastically reduced. So earning loads of money is not that critical.
If you end your career, then you will treat farming as life or death. Then you will do seriously and possibly succeed. I quit the industry 3 yrs back and havent looked back. Its tough, frustrating at times but those times are very few compared to the pleasure you get in seeing the fruits of your efforts, listening to birds every morning and breathing wonderful fresh air.
My advice, if you have enough money in your account that will ensure that you wont starve for 3 yrs, then take the leap. Food is the only expense, rest all expenses you should be ready to curb.

Good luck.
Nikhil

 

[rajk123]

Thank you Nikhil.

Money is one thing, but my bigger concern is about adjusting to the realities of village life. Things are different from corporate world, slower, political, and culturally very different and can lead to frustration.

While it sounds so rosy to imagine a farm and birds, the reality could be drudgery and hard work.

How did/do you address this reality shock?

 

[rajk123]

My advice, if you have enough money in your account that will ensure that you wont starve for 3 yrs, then take the leap.
Nikhil

That is a lot of money, really!

 

[cyborg_jp]

More Info

I see so many software professionals talk about moving to agriculture.

Of course we have great information sites like agriinfo and farmnest forum on which there is so much discussion on how to get into farming. There are also many books on technology.

However, the reality is very different and to succeed, you need great patience and an understanding of the village realities. While some software engineers are realistic, many are driven by fantasy and the feeling of having a farm.

How many software pros are successful in agriculture and what is the proportion? Is it advisable to end software career and move fully?

It is good that more and more urbanites are considering to move to farming profession.
Before suggesting would like to know what is their actual motivation? Money or peace of mind?
I don't think money is the motivation as they are getting assured monthly pay cheques unlike the farmer who has no assured source of income and prone to several risks both natural and market based.
So, if it is just passion and peace of mind, then why not the aspiring enthusiast take a weekly off and live in a farm and check for himself the pleasures and pains of farming. He can actually take an assignment from the farm owner and try to risk his money and time to get the feel of farm business.
If successful, he can share the profit with the farm owner.
After successful completion of the assignment, he will have the answers to all his questions and can take a better decision.

Pls. note that I am not against farming but before taking the plunge, the skydiver should anticipate all the issues and know how to tackle them before he reaches the ground.

 

[Ashwini]

HI

I agree with you all sir. You need to have on mind money also, if you need to run your family.Yes, by farming you can also get a lot of peace of mind. You can stay away from the stress free life that usually people face in corporate firms. Technically you need to be sound before entering into farming and you should know what you want to cultivate, its market and major pest, diseases the reduce the yield in crop cycle. Many software professionals have entered into farming and burnt hands without having much of technical information.

Its not advisable to suddenly jump into farming, slowly analyse and then once you are completely confident you can quit software job


Regards
ashwini

 

[niksnarayana]

Hi

3 years survival is not a lot of money. Put your expenses at say 20,000 per month multiplied by 36 months = 7,20,000. You would have earned more and kept safe in bank account.

Agriculture requires cost inputs, but profit outputs are variable. So I said you should have enough money to survive the tougher periods, I have seen many enthusiasts close down in just 1 year and return back when they run out of money or get scared to spend savings.

Culture shock, yes it takes a while. But you need to keep open mind, villagers are just like you, they are not from another planet. Very few are bad people. You should stay away from politics. If you have social circle, then I think it will be difficult as your friends / relatives may not be able to share your view point. Be prepared to accept that you may have to adjust your social circle. People will ridicule you, tease you, but it depends on your determination.

Getting into agriculture is a change of lifestyle, so if you are prepared to change the way you lead your current life start to end, then you will not face problems.

Grass is always greener on the other side.

Good luck.

Nikhil

 

[sriag]

successfully farming commercially since three years

I have started commerical farming three years go and following scientific sustainable agriculture...cultivated paddy, maize and currently farming horticulture crops turmeric, yam and Gloriosa. I am an agricultural scientist and passionate about doing commercial farming...if you are passionate about agriculture we can provide you free hands on training on horticultural crops focusing on farming techniques as well as farm accounting and cost cutting. If done right farming is profitable...when a farmer with no education is able to grow crops, software pros should be able to farm..It will take year or two to get into profitable mode but it is possible to get there if you have passion....

I see so many software professionals talk about moving to agriculture.

Of course we have great information sites like agriinfo and farmnest forum on which there is so much discussion on how to get into farming. There are also many books on technology.

However, the reality is very different and to succeed, you need great patience and an understanding of the village realities. While some software engineers are realistic, many are driven by fantasy and the feeling of having a farm.

How many software pros are successful in agriculture and what is the proportion? Is it advisable to end software career and move fully?

 

[rmathews]

does it worth to take the call?

with all uncertainty does it worth to take the call? there may be a social cause but most of the social leaders/servants never buddy to their family.

think,

why should we sacrifice our corporate, luxurious life for an uncertainty?
farming is uncertainty , where income is uncertain and there are hardships
why to take all these? can not we remain in our AC office, luxurious. ... for the passion of agri we can still do terrace gardening or some one suggested lease few land and do . or in KA there is farm where they allow outsiders to come stay and do farming but with some charges..

there is dream and passion about doing farming from net /office, there is NO labour or pain in dreaming. but in real when you travel just 10meter in tractor body will start to pain. when we stand in hot summer for 10mnts, we will be dried up. if you stand 10mnts in rain then will get fewer, if few mosquitoes or insects bite we will sick... in sweating our cloth and body will be dirty..... when we wander for labours we may felt humiliation. am a land lord with money in bank, and you poor chap not listening me ??/ ego raise but nothing can do you have to beg labour ....

there are end real ground issue.

we may feel and think from AC office that took land and stepped in agri farming.

but there should be a strong reason to justify always. are we just do social cause and to become a saint ?? without any strong reason any changes in career, life style or even corporate to farming will be failed within just 6 months then its consequences of de motivation, depression, family troubles all to start.

passion may be limited to self. our spouce and kids may not have that passion. so problems may start.

The golden line is that ONLY WHEN THERE IS PEACE THERE WE CAN DO HARDWORK.

without peace no one can do HARD WORD for results,

Why why why should we leave everything as Sri Budhan done..... think think and make a strong reason....

rgds
mathew

PS Am also in same boat to make major shift in life. still in thought process but seriously in practical steps like land acquisition...etd

 

[kodali84]

Hi Friends,

I am not going to advice any thing much about this. But i need to tell one major thing.

Agriculture now a days is not the easy task as people are thinking. The main reason is that labour cost has gone high & there is a labour problem all over india. People are not willing to work as labours in the farm, but they are willing to work in any areas.

Also the cost of the items have been increased. Also we are having adulterated every where (Seeds, fertilizers..).

Also no proper rains & depleting ground water levels is also the main concern.

These are few points that have to be considered & looked upon before starting or getting in to this field.

Regards
Pavan

 

[Ashwini]

Hi

As Mr.pavan says, difficulty in procuring labour has to be considered before entering into farming.


Regards
Ashwini

 

[rajk123]

Yes, by farming you can also get a lot of peace of mind. You can stay away from the stress free life that usually people face in corporate firms.

Thanks Ashwini. Actually, I am also trying to see if this really gives peace of mind or if there will be different kind of headaches.

3 years survival is not a lot of money. Put your expenses at say 20,000 per month multiplied by 36 months = 7,20,000. You would have earned more and kept safe in bank account.

That is a lot of money, sir!

If successful, he can share the profit with the farm owner.
After successful completion of the assignment, he will have the answers to all his questions and can take a better decision.

Thanks cyborg_p, that seems a good idea. I will see if there are any farmers who are interested to do this.

I have started commerical farming three years go and following scientific sustainable agriculture...cultivated paddy, maize and currently farming horticulture crops turmeric, yam and Gloriosa. I am an agricultural scientist and passionate about doing commercial farming...

Sir, can you share your success rate?

These are few points that have to be considered & looked upon before starting or getting in to this field.

Thanks pavan sir.

with all uncertainty does it worth to take the call? there may be a social cause but most of the social leaders/servants never buddy to their family.
...
PS Am also in same boat to make major shift in life. still in thought process but seriously in practical steps like land acquisition...etd

Sir, I saw your posts and land pics and details in farmnest forum - they look very nice. I did see the comments on farmnest that you had wild animal and water as possible problems. Did you decide on buying?

 

[rmathews]

pawan

dear raj,

yes deal is over now its post deal procedures.. will keep /open a separate thread for fellow members reference.

when we dig in to matter close to our heart, there are solutions emerging .. so it is truly motivating, now am confident that every problem has solution. only thing that we need to dig it out...

best of luck..

but it is ofcource as Mr. Nikhil Johri, Saver farms advised in a thread earlier, we must have good corpus while venture in to agri farm in purchased land. Income is uncertain. do not do farming with calculation we can ear these figure....etc. just identify the SWOT of the land and proceed with farming.. do not look for figures....


rgds
mathew

 

[rajk123]

Thanks for the info. Good luck.

 

[carnay]

Some foundation makes agriculture a reality for software person

Hi all !

we closely watch software professionals' mooring and debate over agriculture as whether it is a viable business or risky.

Why worry? here somefoundation guides these persons in right direction..

Whoever is interested in farming feel free to contact Mr.Chandramohan , the managing trustee of SOMEFOUNDATION..

He is doing a miracle after quitting stressful software job...

Form an Association of like minded software professional ..

Pool your resources ie, money and purchase lands in one common place as a single block and register your lands in your own individual names..

The entire association works like a corporate company with one of its members taking prominent role as CEO and others as Directors with specific role to play..

The Association members take collective decision with CEO at its head..

Decide about the type of crop to be grown..and cropping pattern

Study about marketing linkages...

All of you need not wait for long...for example

greens fetch income in 20 days..

Coriander fetch income in 45 days..

watermelon fetch income in about 60 - 80 days

Brinjal, chillies, capsicum , tomato etc start giving income right from 50 th days after planting till 8-10 months..

Banana , sugarcane give income in a year time...

Papaya is a biennial crop gives income in 12-16 months..there is a hybrid papaya called RED LADY yielding much and fetching much as money income..

ANNAUL moringa, ie, drumstick bear 250 fruits per tree per year..bring much income ...

See there are lot of golden opportunity to learn and earn life thro' profitable commercial agriculture...

Brilliant people never fails in Agriculture...


If you sit in AC and work, really you feel comfortable but it depends on the emotional state of individual concerned. If your mind is critical about something , then the very AC may leave you sweating in time when in disturbed mood
..

Of course when working in the field you may feel tired..but once you get used to live in that environment your body will be accustomed to that condition..

The sweating ..sun rays..all are the result of kind of an excercise which bring all bad things from out of your body and make you more healthy without diabetes, heart attack and other ailment ...preventing you from meeting physician and paying huge sum as fee for consultation and treatment and drugs..

Otherwise when a normal person goes to a hospital for treating his minor ailment, the hospital management starts charging huge sum as fee for urine test, blood test,faecal test, scan, X ray etc..

Once you enter farming and indulge in agriculture activities these things will run away from you...

Further MNCs like wallmart, eBAY etc are entering indian retail market particularly agriculture/ horticulture/animal husbandry business..

We will learn how they become successful in India ...when they are dealing in agriculture produce in retail marketing...

Fresh natural air, colorful birds, pollution free environment is bonus..

For sure success there must be right planning and decision making with those group of individual taking agriculture as business vis-a-vis passion..

For which SOME FOUNDATION guides people in doing profitable commercial agriculture with passion and sentimental attachment..

Here one thing to note is that if an accident happens in road does not mean that driving on road is risky..we need to work diligently towards our goal..


Regards,

carnay

 

[3706]

Dear Carnay,
Very well said.
Appriciate your thoughts and ppl must accept the fact and explore the oppurtunity in this sector.
Sky is the limit.

Ashish Sharma.

 

[rajk123]

Thanks Carnay.

 

[shanmuga06]

The software professional are switch over to agriculture.Its very proud to our nation.But it's quiet nature because the ancestors of the software professional were from agri.family.The agriculture gives peace of mind and mental satisfaction the software professionals and their family.The software professionals are very important roll in the software like making the processor as very small.For example the software professionals are to be done the mobile phone hand set as paper thickness,it should be fitted in the optical wearing glass.But they won't make a single rice or wheat with out soil and nature.So I kindly request all the software professional please enter in the agriculture and give your golden hands to build the nation as strong in all infrastructure.



Thanks

A Sivakumar

 

[rajk123]

Thanks shanmuga06. Are you in the same boat?

 

[gpkreddy]

Don’t do hard work – do – the smart work...

Any work will become hard work when one does not like that work , when you do the work that you like and you are highly passionate about it then you don’t feel hard. You will be constantly looking for a chance to do it. If you like farming and have a appetite to take risk then jump into it. The Joy of success or true success you can experience when you struggle.

Keep in mind friends -> Everything is hard when you are lazy and everything is easy when you are crazy (so stay crazy... and try it out with 5 Acre of land)

The biggest problem with S/W professional's (OR) Corporate culture is they make you part of team and you always have someone OR group to blame when things go wrong. When thing are right you take the pride. To make it simple We(s/w folks) consistently fail to take complete risk / ownership from product Start to Finish , +Marketing , +Sales, +Support which yields the Net profit. Either belong to one particular team OR lead one particular department not all corporate (wearing different hats as CEO). It all boils down to "Why Take Risk?" In Farming you are the CEO (even if you farm one Acre), you have to make every decision from start to end. For starters it will be hard, slowly you will be get used to it and make solid decisions where you will be start seeing every problem as an opportunity.

When you take Risk you may win/lose but when you don’t take Risk you always lose..

So go for it... Happy Farming (Enjoy the Journey & Forget about the destination)