Proof of Concept - water management

mohanurs · April 29, 2017

Firstly a big thank you for accepting my membership and its great to know about this forum focused on tomato growing and discuss the nuances of it.

Let me introduce myself... Was working as cybersecurity lead in one of the largest financial institutions, quit and plunged into full time farming profession in 2012.

What made me do this? An experiment to build a self sustainable ecosystem, completely offgrid, with acute focus on water management. So I had this old farm handed over by my father, once a very rich biodiverse farm witha perennial creek, with literally wild animals living in the farm! This is how it was when I used to visit thr farm on summer vacations in the 70s and 80s. We used not venture into some areas as there were too many poisonous snakes and leeches.

2012 to 2016 - Series of severe draught since 2005, to an extent of just one 10mm rain 2016, the creek completely dried up, most of the trees all dead and gone, spiky bushy shrubs replacing the flora, all the fauna literally wiped out except for some wild bores, rodents and some snakes! Deep borewells to suck high TDS salty water for survival.

In 2017 Jan, setup my first greenhouse to grow vegetables using precision agriculture methods with a goal to use less than 10% of water when compared to traditional farming. I call this a proof of concept (PoC) and my first crops are 4 varities of tomato and 2 varities of salad cucumber.

Sown on March 15th, the cucumbers r already yielding and the tomatoes are about a foot high.

I am looking forward actively participating in this forum and exchange best practices for the benefit of all. My contributions shall be in all matters related to the farm and agriculture if allowed.

Thanks once again for accepting my membership and my best wishes to one and all.

Warm regards
MohanUrs

April 29, 2017	#1
mohanurs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Bangalore, India Posts: 22	Proof of Concept - water management Firstly a big thank you for accepting my membership and its great to know about this forum focused on tomato growing and discuss the nuances of it. Let me introduce myself... Was working as cybersecurity lead in one of the largest financial institutions, quit and plunged into full time farming profession in 2012. What made me do this? An experiment to build a self sustainable ecosystem, completely offgrid, with acute focus on water management. So I had this old farm handed over by my father, once a very rich biodiverse farm witha perennial creek, with literally wild animals living in the farm! This is how it was when I used to visit thr farm on summer vacations in the 70s and 80s. We used not venture into some areas as there were too many poisonous snakes and leeches. 2012 to 2016 - Series of severe draught since 2005, to an extent of just one 10mm rain 2016, the creek completely dried up, most of the trees all dead and gone, spiky bushy shrubs replacing the flora, all the fauna literally wiped out except for some wild bores, rodents and some snakes! Deep borewells to suck high TDS salty water for survival. In 2017 Jan, setup my first greenhouse to grow vegetables using precision agriculture methods with a goal to use less than 10% of water when compared to traditional farming. I call this a proof of concept (PoC) and my first crops are 4 varities of tomato and 2 varities of salad cucumber. Sown on March 15th, the cucumbers r already yielding and the tomatoes are about a foot high. I am looking forward actively participating in this forum and exchange best practices for the benefit of all. My contributions shall be in all matters related to the farm and agriculture if allowed. Thanks once again for accepting my membership and my best wishes to one and all. Warm regards MohanUrs