Soil testing is widely accepted as a basic input for modern agriculture. In India, it is embedded in policy frameworks, agronomic advisories, and sustainability narratives. Yet its use on farms remains uneven. Testing is often infrequent, results arrive late, and recommendations are not always acted upon. This gap is less a contradiction than a reflection of how agricultural services function at scale in a country where farming is decentralised, landholdings are small, and production decisions are shaped by timing, cost, and risk.
This disconnect is where Mumbai-based Neoperk, an agritech startup focused on soil testing, would later find its starting point, not through policy design but through engineering friction. Farmers invest heavily in fertilisers, seeds, irrigation, and labour, but the condition of the soil that anchors these choices is often assessed infrequently, interpreted unevenly, and acted upon with limited confidence.
Agrotech Space spoke with Neoperk’s core team, founder Satyendra Gupta and sustainability lead Vaishnavi N to understand how the company’s technology and market approach have evolved on the ground.
Neoperk began in 2018-19, when engineering student Satyendra Gupta and his team at DJ Sanghvi College set out to build something for the India Innovation Challenge Design Contest. Looking for a real-world problem, they landed on the Soil Health Card Scheme ambitious on paper, but hamstrung by delays, inaccessible labs, and reports farmers struggled to use.
In 2019, Neoperk was incorporated. But the real turning point came later, when the team none of whom came from agricultural families began spending months in Maharashtra’s villages during 2020-21. There, they encountered the practical realities national schemes often overlook, smallholders testing soil infrequently, samples travelling long distances, slow lab turnarounds, and reports too technical to act on.
“We just decided to focus on one stage at a time, solve the problems one by one, and eventually we won the competition,” Gupta recalls.
He approached the effort as a technical exercise, focused on hands-on problem-solving and the process of taking an idea from concept to implementation. Agriculture entered the picture not as a personal calling but as a system that appeared technologically under-served relative to its importance. The Soil Health Card Scheme presented itself as a large, government-backed initiative with clear technical gaps.
This persistent mismatch between institutional ambition and field-level usability has remained largely unresolved. Soil testing is widely accepted as necessary, yet rarely trusted as actionable. It is within this space that Neoperk began to take shape, not as a reaction to policy failure, but as an engineering response to how soil intelligence actually moves, or fails to move, across Indian agriculture.
One of the conditions attached to the funding was incorporation. Neoperk was incorporated in 2019, before its founders had a full understanding of the agricultural landscape they were entering.
Early incorporation did not bring immediate clarity. None of the founders came from farming families, and Gupta’s upbringing in Mumbai offered little exposure to crop cycles or farm economics. Recognising this limitation, the team chose not to rush product development, instead, they prioritised learning directly from farmers.
From Spectroscopy to Field Practice
At the core of the Neoperk’s work is what it calls dry spectroscopy, a technology originally designed for analysing solid and powdered materials. The same approach underpins its soil testing platform, where it currently focuses on chemical properties.
From a technical standpoint, chemical-free soil diagnostics were not new. Dry spectroscopy had already been explored in other geographies. In the United States, soil probes are inserted directly into fields for continuous monitoring. In the Netherlands, handheld scanners analyse soil samples quickly without chemical reagents. Neoperk’s NeoSoil system places particular emphasis on soil nutrient analysis, macro and micro parameters, essential for getting optimal crop yields. Using its NeoSoil solution powered by proprietary AI/ML models, the device estimates NPK (Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K)) as well as micronutrient levels through near-infrared spectral sensing rather than wet chemistry, enabling faster, local results.
When a soil sample is scanned, the device captures a spectral signature across specific wavelength bands that correlate with nitrogen-bearing compounds and organic matter. These signals are not interpreted directly, they are processed through machine-learning (ML) models trained on paired spectral data and laboratory reference values to estimate available nitrogen levels.
Between 2020 and 2021, Neoperk worked closely with farmers across Maharashtra. The choice of geography was driven by proximity and language rather than market strategy, but it proved decisive. Extended engagement during this period revealed patterns that short pilots could not. Farmers did not dismiss soil testing as irrelevant, nor did they resist technology outright.
A mentoring interaction at IIM Bangalore reinforced this shift in thinking.
“A mentor asked us how many farmers we had spoken to before building the solution. The answer was none, and that question changed how we looked at the problem,” Gupta says.
The difficulty lay in execution, samples took time to reach laboratories, turnaround times were unpredictable, and results often arrived after fertiliser application had already taken place. Repeated interactions surfaced a critical insight, soil testing in India is infrequent by design. Government guidelines recommend testing irrigated land once a year and dryland farms once every three years. For farmers cultivating less than one hectare, this usually means testing one or two samples per cycle.The implication was unavoidable. Designing a personal soil testing device, regardless of accuracy or cost, would not align with how soil testing is actually used.
Also read: INTERVIEW | Rishabh Sopta on Building Investor Backed, Tech Driven Horticulture Platform
From soil, the technology naturally extends to plant health. Using the same spectroscopy platform, with machine-learning models retrained for different use cases, the company has begun analysing plant tissue to assess nutrient and chemical parameters. The solution, branded as NeoPlant, includes grape petiole testing in collaboration with Sahyadri Farms, while work with institutions such as KVK Narayangaon has opened pathways into tomato and sugarcane analysis across major cultivation belts.
The third frontier is food quality. Framed as a continuous nutrition journey, the company views nutrition as beginning in the soil, moving through the plant, and finally manifesting in the harvested product. This perspective has guided work on chilli and turmeric powders, where the platform measures capsaicin and curcumin levels. Developed as Vamiqa NeoSpice (VNS), the solution is being jointly built with Dr Satya Murthy, former ITC Research scientist and Director at Vamiqa Labs. These efforts are being advanced selectively, with an emphasis on partnerships that combine deep domain, market, and on-ground expertise with the company’s technology capabilities.
Gupta frames soil testing as ‘stage zero’ of farming, far removed from the point where farmers actually earn income. That gap, he says, explains why soil testing remains a hard sell, even when its value is understood. Rising input costs have helped, but adoption accelerates only when testing is tied to a buyer.
His encounter with platforms such as Arya.ag reinforced that view. Under contract farming, soil testing shifts from recommendation to requirement. Buyers demanding sustainably grown produce are also willing to carry the cost of technology, making adoption viable. No single startup, Gupta admits, can deliver everything a farmer needs, collaboration is often discussed but rarely executed.
Building Credibility Within System Constraints
As Neoperk expanded, credibility became a parallel challenge. Soil testing in India is often questioned due to inconsistent results across laboratories and methodologies. Introducing a chemical-free spectral method added another layer of scepticism. Many institutions were accustomed to wet chemistry and viewed alternative approaches cautiously.
Regulatory pathways offered limited clarity. Agriculture is a state subject, while soil research and standards are shaped by central ministries and autonomous institutions.
Public policy has long recognised soil as foundational to agricultural productivity. The Soil Health Card Scheme was introduced to institutionalise soil testing across the country, with the intent of translating laboratory analysis into fertiliser guidance that could improve efficiency and reduce long-term degradation.
Indian farmers test soil rarely not because they undervalue it, but because policy, landholding size, and economics do not support frequent testing. Neoperk’s response was to rethink delivery rather than measurement, they moved away from the idea of an in-field, farmer-owned device. Instead, the team developed a shared infrastructure model aligned with collective testing behaviour, farmers collect soil samples and bring them to a central location within the village or farming cluster.
“If a farmer only needs to test soil once a year, there is no reason for them to own a device. The solution has to work at the village level, not at the field level,” Gupta states.
Samples are processed in batches, allowing scale efficiencies without requiring individual ownership. This approach treats soil testing as a service rather than a product. Neoperk’s NeoSoil uses dry spectroscopy to analyse powdered soil without chemical reagents or water. Each test takes only a few minutes, when deployed at a hub, the system can process hundreds of samples in a short window, enabling results to be returned within 24 hours. The efficiency of this model lies less in speed and more in timing. Soil data becomes useful only when it arrives before fertiliser decisions are made.
Also read: INTERVIEW | Milan Sharma on How Intello Labs is Using AI to Bring Trust to Food Supply Chain
Machine learning plays a defined role within Neoperk’s system, but it is not positioned as a headline capability. A spectral device produces a waveform that compresses multiple nutrient signatures into a single signal, making human interpretation impractical.
ML models trained on paired spectral and laboratory reference data translate these signals into measurable soil parameters. Beyond this translation layer, Neoperk avoids algorithm-driven advisory. This restraint reflects operational learning rather than technological conservatism, over-automation without complete datasets risks undermining trust.
Sustainability and Economic Sense
Asked whether climate and sustainability concerns can realistically become priorities for Indian farmers, given their immediate focus on yield, market access, and survival, Vaishnavi N, who works on sustainability initiatives at Neoperk, offers a direct answer rooted in economics rather than ideology. For most farmers, she stated that without a clear incentive, sustainability stays abstract for most farmers, adoption ultimately hinges on incentives.
New practices or technologies gain traction only when farmers can clearly see a financial upside. Trust follows profitability, not the other way around. Without visible gains whether through higher incomes, reduced risk, or assured markets sustainability narratives remain distant from everyday decision-making on the farm.
“Farmers want immediate results. If they don’t see value quickly, it’s very hard for a practice to stick,” Vaishnavi N notes.
She points to historical parallels, the Green Revolution itself remains contested, credited by some for boosting food security, criticised by others for degrading soil and water systems. That ambiguity, she suggests, is inherent to agricultural innovation. Technologies whether chemical, biological, or digital cannot be declared good or bad in isolation, their impact only becomes clear through widespread, real-world experimentation. From her perspective, today’s climate-oriented technologies are still in that experimental phase.
Reaching the end farmer requires years of groundwork, field trials, and trust-building. Some solutions will deliver incentives and scale, others will not. But avoiding experimentation altogether is not an option. In practice, she believes, large-scale climate adoption will not emerge from moral pressure or long-term global goals. It will come when policy frameworks, markets, or value chains reward sustainable practices in tangible ways making them economically rational for smallholders navigating short production cycles and thin margins.
Validation Helps, Markets Decide
Neoperk sought validation from the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, an ICAR institute with experience in soil spectral analysis. Scientific validation provided technical legitimacy, but administrative ambiguity persisted. Over time, Gupta observed that formal approval alone was not decisive. Customer feedback began to shape deployment models, reporting formats, and operational workflows. Unlike traditional laboratories, Neoperk adapted its systems quickly.
“At this stage, our customers teach us more than anyone else. Every project shows us what works and what doesn’t,” Gupta notes.
Neoperk’s early years coincided with one of the most turbulent policy moments in Indian agriculture, the introduction and subsequent rollback of the farm laws. Asked whether the episode created a trust deficit within the farming community, or whether the reforms might have eased market access for agritech startups, the founder’s response is rooted firmly in field experience rather than policy theory.
At the time, Neoperk was working largely in Maharashtra. During visits to Akola, Gupta recalls speaking with soybean farmers about the farm laws and finding little engagement. For many, minimum support prices were already unreliable and procurement inconsistent, making national reforms feel distant from day-to-day farming realities. In his view, the intensity of the debate was driven more by politics than by changes in on-ground practice.
Where farmers were more engaged was around contract farming. Gupta is broadly supportive of the model, particularly for crops such as onion and tomato, where price volatility is high and pre-agreed pricing can offer stability. However, trust remains the central constraint.
Farmers may exit contracts when open-market prices spike, while relying on buyers during downturns, making formal agreements hard to sustain. In practice, he notes, informal or ‘oral’ arrangements are already common, with both sides understanding the value chain. The unresolved challenge is how to institutionalise that trust without relying solely on regulation.
Neoperk Within Farm Decision Cycles
Neoperk’s experience underscores a recurring pattern in Indian agriculture, ideas gain traction not through policy debates or moral framing, but through alignment with everyday economics. Whether the discussion is about soil testing, sustainability, or market reforms, adoption depends less on intent than on whether a practice fits into farmers’ timelines, risk profiles, and income logic.
Field exposure shaped that understanding early. Conversations in Maharashtra revealed how distant national debates can feel when procurement is unreliable and prices fluctuate. What matters more to farmers is predictability, trust, and the ability to make decisions that reduce downside risk. Models such as contract farming hold promise, but only where incentives are balanced and trust is mutual, something that today often exists informally rather than through formal structures.
For Neoperk, this has meant building quietly, responding to how systems actually function rather than how they are meant to function. The company’s trajectory reflects a broader truth about agritech in India, progress is rarely linear, rarely ideological, and almost always negotiated at the ground level.
As Gupta puts it, “If something doesn’t work for the farmer on the ground, it doesn’t matter how well it works on paper.”
Vaishnavi N echoes that logic when it comes to sustainability, saying, “Farmers don’t adopt practices because they are sustainable. They adopt them when they see a clear economic benefit.”
In that space between principle and practice, startups like Neoperk continue to test what is viable, one decision cycle at a time.