For anyone starting a business, there is usually a moment that pushes them. It could be money, freedom, or wanting to be their own boss. However for Pradeep Kumar, it was something else, his mother’s health. Today, he runs a chemical-free farm in Tamil Nadu
Pradeep now runs a natural farm called Food Forest in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. He grows vegetables using only traditional seeds and no chemicals. What started on just a 2-cent land has now expanded to around 40 cents. The farm has hundreds of crops that includes tomatoes, brinjals, millets, bananas and nearly 800 native seed varieties.
He also hosts a seed festival every year where thousands of people come to see and learn about these crops.He sells everything directly to customers. There is no website, no middlemen. He sells through WhatsApp.
Over the last few years, he has served more than 10,000 customers. Seeds are sent across India, and vegetables are sold within Tamil Nadu. Seeds cost around Rs 30 per packet, bringing in about Rs 3 lakh a year. Vegetables add another Rs 2 lakh. To avoid waste, extra produce is turned into pickles, puree, and dried vegetables.
It didn’t start as a business. In the beginning, he wasn’t trying to build a business. He just wanted to grow clean food for his family. After his first harvest, he didn’t even sell it. For more than a year, he used what he grew at home and slowly improved his land.
His first crop changed everything
He started small, growing native okra on a tiny patch. Normally, one plant gives 10–30 okras. His plants gave around 120. From that small space, he ended up growing hundreds of kilos.
That is when his family, who were unsure before, started believing in him. “The joy I felt when I harvested my first native red okra was something I had never experienced in my five years of corporate work,” he says.
The land was almost dead when he began
When he returned to his village, the soil was in bad condition because of years of chemical farming. For one to two years, almost nothing grew. It was frustrating, but he did not stop. Instead of focusing on crops, he focused on fixing the soil.
He used a mix of seeds, let plants grow, and then put them back into the soil. Slowly, things started changing. Birds came back. Earthworms returned. The soil became softer and healthier.
He started with just Rs 12,000.By the time he fully began farming, he had very little money. Only Rs 12,000 in savings. He did not take loans. He did not buy machines. With just Rs 2,000–3,000, he set up a small keyhole garden and started working manually. Money was tight, and there was no steady income.
He prepared himself before quitting his job
Before leaving his corporate job, he spent two years learning. He watched videos, read, and travelled to meet farmers. He also trained under experts and attended sessions to understand natural farming better. He changed his lifestyle too switching to simple food, fasting, and cutting down on daily comforts.
“After watching Nammalvar’s speeches, I understood what was happening to our bodies. I resolved right then, I would only use traditional, native seeds, and zero chemicals would ever enter my farm. I dared to live even on zero money,” he told Startup pedia.
The real turning point was a health scare
Back when he was working as an engineer, life looked stable. He had a good job, earned around Rs 5 lakh a year, and worked on projects across different states. He did not drink, worked out regularly, and stayed disciplined.
Still, things went wrong. His mother had a major surgery, which used up all his savings. Soon after, he got severe kidney stones while travelling for work. The pain was so bad that he had to be tied to a hospital bed during treatment.
“I was a teetotaler, I worked out at the gym, and I was fit. Yet, I still developed kidney stones. That was when I realised that the root problem was the food on our plates. It is essentially a slow poison, killing human organs from the inside,” he told Startup pedia. That is when he started questioning everything.
From engineer to farmer
Pradeep was a mechanical engineering graduate and the first person from his community to work outside Tamil Nadu. He started his career in 2014 at L&T and later worked at Terex. But by 2019, he decided to leave everything and return to his village.
The journey was not easy
People did not understand his decision. Some even made fun of him. “Initially, people used to make fun of me, saying I was just making excuses and wasn’t interested in studying or working. The first two years were a massive mental and financial struggle,” he told Startup pedia. There was no income, the work was physically demanding, and results took time.
Pradeep believes you do not need big land or big money to start. “Start on a very small piece of land and gain knowledge first. Agriculture is highly location-specific; what works for me on my land might not work elsewhere. Once you understand your own soil, success will naturally follow,” he told Startup pedia