Reflections from The Fifth Agripreneurs Retreat

You can follow the series here: The Seed- > The Second Retreat - > The Third Retreat - > The Fourth Retreat

To do something for the fifth time is to discover the power of infinite game. You no longer just play the game. You discover the play that plays the game. You pay attention to the microclimate that can foster and hinder the game. You discover what it takes to flow.

The Fifth Agripreneurs Retreat was a blast. It unfolded with so much lightness and depth, passion and life. We explored as much life as entrepreneurship. I discovered that forty is perhaps the ideal number to discover the power of a community while sitting inside a circle.

There is something deeply therapeutic about sitting in a circle. You drop your identities, hierarchies, role hats and learn to speak as a human. The space suddenly becomes sacred.

During the final concluding session of Agripreneurs retreat, I felt deeply reassured when Senthil Kumar shared that this retreat space has become a temple space where burdens and deepest aspirations were shared and held.

In native American cultures, healing rituals happen with the community. In many ways, that has been the deepest aspiration: Can we make this space sacred where healing could unfold and deep bonds of trust are forged that can dream of a better agrarian futures?

“It reminded me that collaboration, not competition, is what will truly move Indian agriculture forward.” - Archana (Reflections)

A large part of the magic that unfolds in Agripreneurs retreats is because of this. We try to listen to everyone present in the room. And when we listen without any agenda, something incredible happens. One of the ancillary benefits of yoga for me has been cultivating the practice of listening.

In the yoga sangha where I practice and learn yoga, we practice listening as a life transforming skill.

At first, you start listening to the words that are spoken. Slowly, if you practice listening deeper, you start listening to deeper feelings that those words were carrying underneath the soil. Slowly, if you practice listening further deeper, you start listening to unarticulated emotions and anxieties that are underneath five inches deeper in the soil.

When I look at the reflections we are receiving from the agripreneur participants (Ananth, Archana, Aruneswar), I am thrilled to see that we are building a community that is much more than work and deeply acknowledges the humanness underlying the entrepreneurial roles we play.

We had veteran agripreneurs share their regrets about not spending enough time with their family and children while young agripreneurs shared their anxiety about not finding suitable life partners who can understand agriculture.

“This retreat seems like a necessity for me the way i see it. you see, we live work in our bubbles:- in our geographies, focused in our problem statements, immersed in the daily grind that is entrepreneurship. the load is heavy, lonesome, especially for those with no cofounders, in rural spaces, in the elements, in the variables, trying to master, control as the entrepreneur brain does... what many times may not be.” - Ananth (Reflections)

Much like the previous agripreneur retreat, we had a deep, powerful session about the ethical dilemmas faced by the agripreneurs. We explored the following:

1. When does one quit one’s entrepreneurial journey? Is there a right period to test out how long one must stay playing the entrepreneurial game?

2. We explored “Middle Class Decency” faced by Indian Agripreneurs when money owed becomes a question of deep, personal stakes and we fail to distinguish between the organization and the individual.

3. Should I take external funding or not? What are the underlying pulls and pushes?

4. Should I take money from parents if they are willing to sponsor my entrepreneurial experiments?

5. The vexing difficulty of managing waste (especially in the context of plastic mulches) and the efforts it takes to bring sustainability onto the ground and set standards that enforces sustainability on the ground amidst competition that cares no hoot?

6. What are the trade-offs are we willing to make in personal life to be focused as an entrepreneur?

7. Should entrepreneur have kids? What is the price founders pay when families, including children of founders move to rural India?

8. Should labour be treated as urban workforce or family or be subsumed under larger feudal contexts? Is it really manpower when there are so many women who work in fields today?

9. The necessity of selling chemicals for profitability despite higher ideals.

10. Rewiring gender equations while recruiting for supervisor roles and how it disrupts traditional patriarchal equations.

Besides these deeply personal domains, we did explore a lot around the markets and the frenetic pace of activities unfolding in the world of Indian Agriculture.

We had invited a few guests to deliver special master classes and the forty agripreneurs who congregated from places as far as Bhubaneswar and Haryana, besides all the major agri hubs.

Sreeram Raavi and Abhilash Thirupathy gave special sessions on their fascinating double and triple agritech journeys. Abhilash shared his experiments in building digital dealership with Mahindra. Sreeram shared how he approached his life and entrepreneurship. We had a special guest session on rewilding Nilgiris, regenerative banana cultivation and the economic potential behind the value chains of Kongunaadu region. We covered in depth sessions on the question of talent, hiring from engineering colleges, fund raise, organic farming and D2C models.

Friends from the agri-input value chain shared how the two-tier supply chain has deeply shifted post GST era, with shifts moving towards corporate distributorship models amidst vaporizing margins in the trade channel.

During the concluding session, we asked for their commitments to the community and we received heartwarming responses. Kumar T shared his commitment to uplift the talent ecosystem in Indian Agriculture. Many founders shared their strengths they are willing to share with the larger ecosystem going forward.

Unlike the previous retreat, this one happened with less effort. There was effort. But, it was lesser when compared to the previous.

What we could have done better?

We did a terrible job when it comes to gender parity. We had lots of men and 1 women who joined us this time. I did apologize to the lonely women founder at the retreat. Of course, we need more women agripreneurs to begin with. It is deeply challenging to be a women agritech founder in India. During the marketing of the event, we did highlight testimonials from women founders like Rishita Changede who joined us in earlier retreats. We will do better next time and ensure that more women join in next time.

Deep gratitude for Santhosh Murthi for taking the mantle as host with the able support of Pavalan .A.A and Vasanth Murugesan.

What next?

After I complete few immediate deliverables that have been in the oven for a while, I want to get the land reforms conference going before I come back to another edition of Agripreneur Retreat. I talked about the need to shift land reforms narrative in India earlier here.

We have received requests to do agripreneur retreats in Punjab, Bihar, Nagpur and Deoria. Let’s see:)

There are lots to do with the power of an ecosystem. It is now starting to feel easier to go after moonshot projects. Time now to dream bigger and chase goals that seem too daunting.

If you resonated with this, consider supporting this journey, among other things…through paid subscriptions for Agribusiness Matters, if it’s not too taxing for you.

So, what do you think?

How happy are you with today’s edition? I would love to get your candid feedback. Your feedback will be anonymous. Two questions. 1 Minute. Thanks.🙏

💗 If you like “Agribusiness Matters”, please click on Like at the bottom and share it with your friend.