Farm & Agronomy
Where the raw material comes from, and how it is controlled.
01
Where we grow
Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr district, western Uttar Pradesh, ~70 km from Delhi; sandy-loam soils; the cluster spans Bulandshahr, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hathras and Aligarh; the largest English carrot cluster in India (~5,000 acres, ~100,000 MT a year).
02
Seed & varieties
Nantes-type English carrot; more than 200 varieties trialled since the early 2000s for shelf life, low foliage disease pressure and yield; imported hybrid seed from a European seed house; variety trials continue every season.
03
Good Agricultural Practices
Laser land levelling; raised-bed sowing; precision pneumatic seed drill (seed rate cut from 3 kg to 700 g per acre); calcium programme for root strength; scientifically timed fertiliser and crop-protection applications per a standardised package of practices in place since 2014, designed to meet Maximum Residue Level requirements; SOPs for land preparation, sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest, with farmer training.
04
Crop protection & MRL programme
Scientifically recommended doses, timing and process for fertiliser and crop protection under the standardised package of practices since 2014, with SOPs and farmer training; an approved-input list issued to every contract farmer; pre-harvest intervals controlled plot by plot; spray records held per plot.
05
Harvest scheduling
Early-morning and evening harvest to prevent field dehydration; mechanised harvester (100 t/day) reduces the harvest window and labour by 3×. Harvest peak February–March; roots move to the cold store within hours of lifting [COPY TBC — D-11].
06
Cold storage of raw material
20,000 MT owned specialised carrot cold storage (0–2 °C, >95 % RH) on ~11 acres, plus 15,000 MT leased; ~90 % of the crop stored and released over a ten-month cycle; carrots available 11 months a year; a further 10,000 MT specialised cold store is under construction.
07
Contract farming model
Three farming models — direct lease farming by Sunshine, zero-investment contract farming (inputs and interest-free credit, pre-agreed price, 100 % buyback, Sunshine carries crop and price risk) and a farmer-engagement model that finances high-performing farmers to lease more land; farmer income ~2.5× traditional crops; "trust-based contract farming".
08
Plot-to-factory-gate traceability
Every lot number resolves, in Sunshine's in-house software, to the farmer and plot ID, the sowing and harvest dates, the plot's inputs and spray records, the cold-store chamber and the IQF run; consumer-facing QR traceability planned.
09
Zero-waste stream
Foliage and top-and-tail to dairy and piggery feed; processing-grade roots to IQF; remainder to pulping; nothing dumped.
10
See it for yourself
Download the Farm & Agronomy profile (PDF) — DOC-08, to be produced