Still learning, still teaching.
New Farmer is a small practice based in Goa. We coach new and aspiring organic farmers setting up their own farms, run workshops for everyone else exploring the path, and write about Indian agriculture in public. Started in 2011.
The story.
In 2011, we started growing food on a small plot in Taleigao, near Panjim. The reason was simple and selfish: the food available in Goa's local markets wasn't particularly trustworthy, and we wanted to eat better. What began as a kitchen-garden experiment became an obsession, then a discipline, then a career.
We learned by doing, mostly from mistakes.
Over the years, Yogi Farms expanded from that first plot to larger farms in Taleigao and Santacruz. Later, we renamed ourselves New Farmer — the work had shifted to helping other new farmers.
Today, New Farmer is a mix of teaching, coaching, farming, and writing — all inform each other.
Who we are.
New Farmer is led by Karan Manral, who runs the coaching, workshops, and writing. The early years were done alongside partner Yogita Mehra, whose work continues in related areas.
When we say "we" on this site, we mean New Farmer as a practice. Karan also informally mentors farmers who reach out with questions along the way.
How we think about farming.
A short statement of the principles that guide our work is being written. Coming soon.
The farms.
A chronological sketch of the farms New Farmer has grown across. Every method we teach on this site has been tested on at least one of these beds first.
Almeida Farm · Taleigao · 2011
A ~1,000 square-metre plot in Taleigao. Our first season of organic experiments and the beginning of what became the New Farmer practice.
Pinto Farm · Santacruz · 2012 onwards
Roughly a hectare in Santacruz. Larger scale, different land, different questions.
Gomes Farm · Taleigao · 2013
About 1.25 acres back in Taleigao.
The OWC 2017 work.
In November 2017, India hosted the 19th Organic World Congress in Greater Noida — for the first time in the Congress's history, the event was built around farmers presenting their own work. Around 700 farmer presentations made up the Farmers' Track.
We were part of the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) team assigned to Farmers' PowerPoint Presentation Processing. Within that team, Karan and Yogita worked closely with farmers on all the presentations — turning raw field experience, across languages and formats, into clean decks that could hold up in front of a global audience. More than 100 of those presentations came through their hands.
Farmers' PowerPoint Presentation Processing
Karan Manral · Yogita Mehra · Ana Mesquita · Savio D'Souza · Shamika Mone · Binita Shah.
We're in the process of cataloguing those presentations here as an open archive — real farms, real methods, real problems, with attribution intact to the farmers who presented them.
Written, spoken with, worked with.
A partial list of publications and programmes we've written for or worked with:
- The Morning Context — From Fork to Farm, a 12-part monthly column on Indian agriculture (2021–22)
- Medium — long-form essays on organic farming, peri-urban agriculture, and food security
- Farmizen — mentor on the 12-Week Organic Farming Bootcamp
- OFAI — part of the team that processed farmer presentations for Organic World Congress 2017