After years of working with industry giants, this IIM alumnus chose to be a farmer

Parvathi Menon completed the Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs from IIM Bangalore, worked with top global institutions like Bloomberg Philanthrophies and World Bank Group through her consulting practice Innovation Alchemy Consulting before deciding to take the unconventional route of becoming a farmer.

Breaking grounds in a sector that has been male dominated Parvathi Menon is changing perceptions of an Indian farmer. Divulging more about the business she says, "In agriculture, the ability to do a business and to be willing to work in a rural area can be challenging. So we developed our own approach and became farmers ourselves. I chose to be a farmer instead of an aggregator to be able to demonstrate mid-size horticulture farming as a sustainable enterprise."

Her agricultural setup, Fresh Harvest, started in 2014 and over the last few years has been generating employment among many Indian women who have joined her endeavour as farmers too. In a 10 acre farm in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, Fresh Harvest's methodology includes using five or six acres in a midsized farm for growing horticulture crops like, nellikai, beetroot, lemon, carrot, chillies etc that are in demand in food and medicinal markets. This also includes a greenhouse production of Gerbera flowers.

Menon says her core focus is to prepare mid-sized farms of 8-10 acres for sustainable business enterprises and generating profitable revenue. Menon's approach is typical to that of horticulture, which sits somewhere in between domestic gardening and full-sized field agriculture. "The idea is also to replicate the model in urban areas and encourage people to own mid-sized farms and also turn them into entrepreneurs. We also want to mobilise government programmes and open markets for adequate training about the field," says Menon.