Everyone loves the phrase “direct from farm.”

It sounds clean. Ethical. Almost revolutionary.

Say it in a conference room and heads nod.

Say it to a consumer and trust rises.

Say it to an investor and margins appear to magically improve.

But say it to someone who has actually tried buying from farms — and you’ll often get a long pause, followed by a sigh.

Because direct-from-farm procurement is not a shortcut.

It is a longer, harder road that only looks simpler from far away.

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The fantasy version

The fantasy goes something like this:

A buyer visits a village.

Farmers are happy.

Produce is fresh.

Prices are fair.

Middlemen vanish.

Everyone wins.

In this version, tomatoes travel from field to consumer like well-behaved children.

Milk flows smoothly from cow to carton.

Goats patiently wait to be weighed honestly.

And nobody argues about quality, quantity, or payment.

This version exists mainly in PowerPoint decks.

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The lived version

Now let’s look at the lived version.

It’s mid-July, near ________________________________________, just outside Jaipur.

Ramesh has brought 18 crates of bhindi. The crop is decent — not great, not terrible.

It rained two days ago. Some pods are tender, some slightly overgrown.

The buyer had verbally indicated interest yesterday.

No written confirmation. No fixed rate. Just a casual “le aana, dekh lenge.”

Ramesh arrives at 6 a.m.

The buyer’s team reaches at 9.

By then:

• the sun is up,

• moisture has changed,

• and Ramesh’s bargaining power has quietly evaporated.

Now quality is re-evaluated.

Rates are renegotiated.

Two crates are rejected.

Payment is promised “by evening.”

Nothing illegal has happened.

Nothing immoral was intended.

Yet Ramesh goes home uneasy — unsure whether this new “direct buyer” is better than the mandi he thought he was escaping.

This is where the myth cracks.

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Removing the middleman doesn’t remove complexity

The biggest misunderstanding is this:

People think middlemen create complexity.

In reality, complexity already exists — middlemen merely manage it (sometimes badly, sometimes efficiently).

When you remove the middleman, you don’t remove:

• price volatility

• quality variation

• distress selling

• transport risk

• payment anxiety

• power imbalance

You inherit all of it.

Direct procurement is not about less work.

It is about taking responsibility for work someone else was doing — often invisibly.

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Different crops, same myth

The myth survives because people assume problems are crop-specific.

They’re not.

• Vegetables spoil fast, so rejection hurts immediately.

• Milk flows daily, so payment delays hurt cumulatively.

• Flowers lose value overnight, so timing is everything.

• Goats and sheep are alive, so stress, feeding, and weight disputes creep in silently.

Different outputs.

Same underlying tensions.

At heart, procurement is not about crops.

It is about people under pressure making decisions with imperfect information.

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Why enthusiasm is not a governance model

Many well-meaning initiatives fail here.

A startup launches with noble intent.

An NGO designs a farmer-first program.

A company announces “ethical sourcing.”

For a few months, goodwill carries the system.

Then:

• volumes rise,

• staff changes,

• cash tightens,

• and one bad incident triggers a chain reaction.

Without governance:

• rules are invented on the spot,

• exceptions become habits,

• and trust erodes quietly.

Most failures are not loud.

They are slow leaks.

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So what is this doctrine about?

This book is not about:

• eliminating traders,

• promising premium prices,

• or romanticising farmers.

It is about something less glamorous and more powerful:

Designing procurement systems that remain fair even on bad days.

Days when:

• prices crash,

• trucks break down,

• quality disappoints,

• or money is short.

If a system works only when everything goes right, it is not a system.

It is a coincidence.

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A simple test

Before we go further, here is a simple test for any “direct-from-farm” idea:

If this system scales to 100 farmers, will it still feel fair on the worst day of the season?

If the answer is uncertain — governance is missing.

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What comes next

The chapters ahead will not give you:

• formulas,

• templates,

• or universal rates.

They will give you:

• decision logic,

• behavioural insight,

• uncomfortable examples,

• and practical guardrails.

Not theory.

Not ideology.

Just lived procurement reality — written honestly.