Green card holder Mysorean returns to greener pastures

Chida Shivanna’s transition from a software company founder in the United States to the CEO of a dairy farm near here has been remarkable.

“It was always my dream to have a modern dairy farm,” Shivanna, who is among a crop of enterprising Indians who are quitting the comforts and prospective citizenship in the US to relocate to India, told Deccan Herald.

Founder of a software firm in Seattle, Shivanna, had earlier returned to India to start a branch of his company in Mysore city. But today, he has given up a plush home and other attendant comforts taken up the challenge of running Oxygen Acres, an organic farm on the outskirts of the city dedicated to providing high-quality organic milk.

Shivanna’s return also suggests just how much has changed over the years in Karnataka’s second city. Shivanna went to the US nearly 15 years ago to complete his higher education. Subsequently, he started working for a multi-national company. Later, he and four others started their own software firm. A few years ago, he returned to open a branch of his own software firm in the city. Once operations of the firm were on track, he began to work towards developing an organic farm.

Shivanna, who intends to promote employment to locals in rural areas, says the 10-acre land in Mysore was always at the back of his mind even when he lived in the US.

“I visited dairy farms in the US and learnt how they ran them. I had no idea about cattle and learnt everything about maintaining a farm from scratch.” Reminiscing the way he started in 2007, Shivanna said that the land was barren and he had to flatten it and carve out plots. At the same time, he started fencing the area due to “trouble” from the neighbours.

“Initially, the farmers here thought that some guy from America with no idea about farming had come to waste his time. But after seeing our dedication, their attitude changed.” By 2009, he started growing grass for cattle. The farm now has 28 cows and eight calves. He plans to launch the supply of organic milk to the city from August 1.
The USP will be “high-quality organic milk in sealed containers”. He uses re-usable con tainers as Shivanna feels plastic packets would end the whole idea of organic farming.

Buyers can register through the website www.oxygenacres.com. “It’s a pre-paid service,” Shivanna says. People need to pay in advance for a month’s supply of organic milk. He adds that milk will be supplied to areas near Ballal circle, Saraswathipuram, Yadavgiri during morning and to areas surrounding Siddhartha Nagar and JSS Layout in the evening.

Now, eight people work on the farm. Shivanna’s next aim is to install a bio-gas plant to cater to cooking, water-heating and electricity needs of the farm and make it a self-sufficient dairy unit.