Why ‘Farming as a Service’ is attracting big bucks

The FaaS model is the beginning of change where agriculture can be viewed positively and can be a profitable business for all.The Ola and Uber cab services disrupted the public transportation system.

Their vision is to make farming a profitable and a sustainable occupation by providing the services required by the farmer in real time to ensure a good crop yield in the harvest season.

IT veteran and tech investor Mohandas Pai, says that investment in FaaS “makes good business sense” as “data and patterns” show that “big middleman margins” are “ripe for disruption.”

Adopting the FaaS model, startups such as Oxen Farm Solution has eliminated the labour crunch in this space through mechanisation, and has made farm equipment available at an affordable price.
India’s largest tractor maker company launched Trringo to rent out farm equipment to farmers across India. With Trringo, the company aims to raise the level of mechanisation in farming through the power of technology and a strong franchise network, enabling farmers easy access to tractors at an affordable price.

John Deere partnered with EM3 Agri Services to provide technical support to EM3’s tractor and harvester fleets. Through e-Choupal, ITC procures produce directly from farmers and they are currently looking to expand to become an agri-aggregator as well.

Abhilash Thirupathy, Co-founder of Gold Farm, says, “In the last two to three years, the consumer internet-based ventures have gone into Series D-F funding stage. The sector has gone into a consolidation phase. Then there was a fintech boom; and after that people started looking at the next new opportunities. And this is where food security and agriculture came in. With enabling government policies and outlook, the impact investors started to view this sector more positively.”