India: This Startup Has Helped Over 400 Homes Grow Food on Your Terrace

“We want to become the largest urban organic farming company in the world, apart from creating greener and more breathable cities for future generations.”

By Angarika Gogoi
Better India
August 16, 2019

Excerpt:

“We launched our concept not as a product but as a service i.e. anybody interested in experimenting with this idea could take our Portable Farming Systems on rent. This attracted many people to experiment. As most of them subsequently decided to purchase the equipment, we scrapped the rental scheme,” says Prateek.

He had a deep and strong conviction that cities must grow their own food. “There is a strong sense of fear that we are eating a bit of cancer everyday in our vegetables, which have been grown using lethal pesticides and effluent water containing carcinogenic heavy metals,” he says.

He discusses several benefits of developing a rooftop farming system. “Covering the rooftops with lush green organic farms not only cools the building but also generates tonnes of fresh oxygen in cities suffocating in their own pollution besides making use of under-utilised urban spaces,” says Prateek.

Along with a profound sense of responsibility to utilise his agricultural education and knowledge, he had a strong desire to convert under-utilised urban spaces like rooftops, plots, gardens, and farmhouses into food-growing urban spaces.

After the idea gained traction, the team of Living Greens focused on offering an A-Plus service experience to clients. “As they [customers] enjoyed growing their vegetables on their rooftops, we encouraged them to spread their ‘joy of farming’ among their friends and on social media. We thus expanded our client base through referrals from happy customers,” says the founder.

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