Our Story
Why we built this site
In 2014, Madhu Chandan — Founder & CTO of Verifaya Corporation in San Jose, USA — walked away from Silicon Valley and started farming on 1 acre of land in Mandya district. He had no farming experience. The land was degraded from decades of chemical inputs. The neighbours thought he was making a mistake.
He started the way most organic farmers do — reading everything, visiting farms, making mistakes, and slowly learning that the most important thing on a farm is not the crop. It is the soil. Feed the soil, and the soil feeds everything else.
Organic Mandya began with one farm and has since grown into a collective of 12,000+ farmers across Karnataka. Beyond selling chemical-free produce and training farmers, it has come to represent a larger movement in Indian organic farming — one that has been studied at Harvard Business School and even inspired the Telugu blockbuster movie Maharshi.
But most of what we know has never been written down in one place. That is what this site is. Not a marketing page. A living knowledge base — built for the farmer who is just starting, the professional thinking about making the switch, and everyone in between.
The Case for Organic
What changes when a farm goes organic
₹0–5K
Input cost per acre/season on a fully transitioned organic farm (vs ₹8K–15K conventional)
3–5 yrs
Time to full soil recovery after stopping chemical inputs — then yields match or beat conventional
300–500 cr
Beneficial microorganisms per gram of desi cow dung — the engine behind zero-budget farming
20–30%
Premium organic produce commands over conventional at direct sales — more with a brand
Organic farming is not charity. It is the only farming system where input costs fall every year, soil quality improves every season, and the farmer builds a brand — not just a commodity. The chemical treadmill runs in reverse: you buy more inputs to get the same yield. Organic runs the other way.
What's Here
~660 pages. All free. No login required.
Learn
12 pillar guides — soil, pests, composting, certification, business, and more
Methods
74 how-to guides — water systems, soil health, seeds, climate, and organic inputs
Farmland
12 guides on buying, leasing, and assessing land in India and the US
Farm Setup
24 guides — fencing, raised beds, land reclamation, boundary trees, and farm flowers
Safety
8 guides — snakebite, heat stroke, wild animals, toxic plants, bio-input handling
Crops
61 crop guides — vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses, spices, and cash crops
India Hub
State guides, ZBNF, certification, government schemes, and organic markets
US Hub
USDA NOP, state guides, cover crops, CSA, grants, and farm business
Business
20 guides on branding, WhatsApp marketing, pricing, packaging, export, and D2C for organic farmers
Income Models
15 guides on P&L, direct selling, export, value addition, and farm income diversification
Certification
NPOP, PGS-India, EU equivalence, USDA NOP, FSSAI Jaivik Bharat — step-by-step guides
Blog
Seasonal calendars, farmer stories, market insights, and practical tips
Glossary
50+ organic farming terms in English, Hindi & Kannada — jeevamrutha, ZBNF, NPOP and more
Tools
AI crop planner, calculators, planting calendars
Ready to start?
Begin with our flagship guide — what organic farming is, how it works, and why it is the most rational choice for any farmer who wants to still be farming in 20 years.