This land remembers
what it is.
In 2019, we inherited 28 acres of chemically exhausted farmland in Sonipat. We didn't start by adding something to the soil. We started by stopping what was hurting it.
Six years. Zero synthetic inputs. A soil microbiome restored from the ground up.
Three decades of chemicals.
Six years to undo them.
The land ANAAD farms today had been under conventional cultivation since the 1980s — compacted by machinery, dependent on synthetic nitrogen, stripped of its biological diversity. The restoration did not begin with a new input. It began with a decision to stop applying synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides — all of them, at once, permanently.
We stopped the chemicals. We stopped the hybrids. We stopped treating the soil like something crops merely grow in and started treating it as a living organism with its own intelligence. In its place came Desi cow manure, fermented bio-cultures, cover crops, and patience.
The soil did not recover overnight. In Year 1, yields dropped. In Year 2, first signs of biological life returned — earthworms appeared in the topsoil for the first time in years. By Year 4, pesticide residue tests returned zero — and have not changed since.
What ICBN farming actually means on 28 acres.
Indigenous Cow-Based Natural Farming is not a certification body or a label you can buy. It is a way of farming where soil fertility is built entirely from biological cycles rather than synthetic inputs. Every preparation we use comes from the farm itself — from our own Desi cows, our own fermentation, our own fields. Nothing is purchased from an input supplier.
No synthetics. Not once. Not ever.
We have never applied synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, or pesticides to our land. Not because it is inconvenient — because it is incompatible with the biology we are building. Soil fertility is constructed through biological cycles alone.
The Desi cow is not a symbol. She is the farm.
Everything the farm needs, the Desi cow provides. Her dung and urine become the base of every biological preparation we make — Jeevamrit, Panchagavya, Beejamrit. These aren't inputs we order from a supplier. We brew them on the farm every fortnight, in active batches, and apply them to the soil while the microbes are still living and abundant.
No hybrid seeds. No proprietary genetics. No compromises.
Every seed sown here is a saved, open-pollinated heirloom variety. We maintain our own seed bank and exchange with a network of traditional farmers. When you eat ANAAD grain, you eat a variety that has no patent attached to it. These varieties are selected for flavour and resilience, not shelf-life or uniformity. That difference shows up in the flour.
We feed the soil before we ask anything of it.
Between each grain crop, we sow nitrogen-fixing legumes — dhaincha, sunhemp, sesbania — and incorporate them into the soil while still green. This eliminates urea entirely and builds organic matter season after season.
Shallow. Single pass. Protect what's below the surface.
Deep ploughing destroys the fungal mycelium network that forms the backbone of healthy soil. We plough shallow and once per season — protecting the biological architecture that took six years to rebuild.
Monsoon-fed. Microbe-retained. Chemical-free.
ICBN soil has absorbed organic matter for six consecutive years. Water retention in our fields has improved significantly since 2019 — our observations suggest approximately 40% better moisture retention after rainfall compared to our first season — meaning we need less irrigation, produce less runoff, and place less pressure on the Haryana water table.
Every morning starts here.
By the time the sun is fully up, the Jeevamrit batch for the week is already fermenting. Dung, urine, jaggery, pulse flour, and a fistful of this field's own topsoil — stirred, covered, left to work.
The cows have been fed and moved. The fields that are close to sowing have been walked. The preparations from last week's batch are being applied before the heat builds.
This is what ICBN farming looks like in practice. Not a philosophy. A routine. The same routine, season after season, since 2019.
The soil that was grey and compact when we arrived is now dark, loose, and home to more living organisms than we can count. That didn't happen from a single decision. It happened from this routine, repeated across six years and twelve growing cycles.
Our herd of 12. The farm's true engine.
Gir and Sahiwal cows have sustained Indian agriculture for over four thousand years. Not because of sentiment. Because the biology works.
| Preparation | What We Do | What Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Panchagavya | Every 15 days during the growing season, we spray it directly on the crop. | Plants show stronger stem structure and fill grain more evenly through to harvest. |
| Jeevamrit | We brew it fresh on the farm every fortnight — dung, urine, jaggery, pulse flour, and soil — and apply it across every field while the culture is active. | The soil darkens and loosens over successive seasons. Worm activity increases visibly. |
| Beejamrit | Before every sowing, seeds soak in it overnight. | Germination rates improve and early root growth is stronger without any synthetic seed treatment. |
Taste the difference that living soil makes.
Every bag of ANAAD flour carries six seasons of soil restoration inside it. Order from the Heirloom Pantry, or secure your year-round supply through a Commitment subscription.