Some 800 small, grape farmers in Nashik joined hands in 2010 to form a company called Sahyadri Farms. Owned and managed entirely by farmers, it is now a Rs 800 crore company. It is the largest Indian exporter of grapes. Sahyadri makes almost half all the Kissan tomato ketchup sold by the FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever.  Today many of the farmers who founded the company are millionaires. We spoke to Vilas Shinde, the founder and chairman of Sahyadri Farms over a couple of days at its impressive 110 acre campus in a village called Mohadi near Nashik. Shinde spoke about his incredible personal journey from being a debt trapped farmer to a successful entrepreneur. And about Sahyadri’s inspiring story that has made small farmers rich, Shinde is clear that India’s farmers must collectivise and think of themselves as entrepreneurs, or quit farming altogether. Listen in!

Read our story on Sahyadri Farms