FOOD NEWS
How Two Brothers Turned a Pandemic Pivot Into a Multi-Crore Mushroom Farming Business
After returning to India from studies abroad during the pandemic, two Agra-based brothers launched a successful organic farming venture that now generates an annual turnover of approximately Rs 7.5 crore.
When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted global travel and education in 2020, Ayush and Rishabh Gupta found themselves back home in Agra, facing an uncertain future. Ayush had been pursuing a BBA in London, while Rishabh was studying in Dubai. Rather than waiting for international borders to reopen, the brothers chose to pivot toward a long-held family interest in agriculture, ultimately building a thriving farming enterprise that now reports an annual turnover of roughly Rs 7.5 crore.
The transition from students to entrepreneurs was rooted in their family's history. Their father and grandfather had long maintained an interest in farming, and their father had previously attempted polyhouse cultivation. With his encouragement, the brothers leveraged personal savings and secured a loan to establish their own polyhouse facility in Agra. They also benefited from a 40% government subsidy to help launch the project, which initially focused on growing English cucumbers before diversifying into a broader range of produce.
Scaling Organic Production and Market Reach
The brothers eventually expanded into mushroom cultivation, a field where Ayush already possessed some foundational knowledge from a previous small-scale venture in Delhi involving the packaging and distribution of mushrooms. By 2022, this initiative had evolved into a full-scale commercial operation under the names A3R Mushroom Farms and Gupta Organic Farms. Today, the business utilizes approximately two acres for mushroom production and an additional acre for vegetables, including potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers.The scale of their operation has grown significantly, with the farm now producing around 40 tonnes of mushrooms and 45 tonnes of vegetables on a monthly basis. The brothers emphasize a commitment to organic farming practices, specifically noting that they avoid the use of chemical fertilizers across their crops. To maintain efficiency and minimize waste, they also supply mushrooms that do not meet their primary retail quality standards to food processing companies. Their produce is currently distributed to both commercial clients and individual customers across Agra and Delhi.
