His watch is a Tissot, His cologne, Hugo Boss. His shoes, Crockett & Jones. His clothes, Armani, and his car, a BMW. The sartorial stereotype of a globetrotting tycoon more at home on New York’s Fifth Avenue than Quadiwali village on the fringes of Jalandhar, the suave and urbane Jang Bahadur Singh Sangha, 36, doesn’t quite fit the usual image of a Punjabi Farmer.

Don’t get fooled by his high-flier looks, he warns. He is very much a son of the soil, firmly rooted to the land where his family has sown one of the most successful farming stories since the Green Revolution of the 1960's. As the cultivator of a mammoth 5200 Acres, Jang Bahadur Singh runs probably  the largest farmering operation in the country. Not only that, he also happens to be the biggest individual potato-seed producer not just in India, but perhaps the world with an annual yield of 55,000 tonnes, his farms account for about 10 percent of the country;s total potato seed production – a feat that earned his father, Hardev Singh Sangha, the epithet of ‘ Potato King ‘ and Quadianwali village its claim to fame.

The Sanghas are the pioneers of rent-and-till farming on a scale that no farmer has so far matched in Punjab. In a state where 85 percent land holdings have an average size of less than five acres, the Sanghas run a huge empire sprawled over 15 farm centres in four districts. The only other family that comes even close is that of the Kapoors, also Jalandhar-based potato growers, who cultivate some 2000 acres. In fact, when Jang Bahadur visited a potato growers’ conference at Idaho, US, the largest of potato-seed growers there – who cultivate no more than 1500 acres – were stunned by the size of hi operations.

With a fleet of 145 tractors and a chain of cold stores, managing scattered farm operations is a task that puts the Sanghas’ farming instinct and business acumen to recurring tests. At any given time, they cultivate the lands of roughly 400 farmers in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawashahar and Ludhiana districts – sizeable chunk belongs to NRIS who wary of land – grabbers, prefer to lease their holdings out to the Sanghas instead of entrusting them to their kin. Potato forms the mainstay ( roughly 60 percent ) of their multi-crore returns from three-crop farming.

For the past three decades, the Sanghas and potatoes have been synonymous in Punjab. Together with his elder brother Harminder, Jang Bahadur has been nurturing the rootstock of success that was assiduously cultivated by their father. Uprooted by Partition, but armed with a degree in agriculture, the senior Sangha made a modest beginning with just two acres of land. Over the years and established a countrywide market for his ‘S’ brand of potato seeds. However, his key investment, says his wife Gurdev Kaur, was in his children’s education. He sent both his sons to Lawerence School in Sanawar. The younger son, Jand Bahadur, after graduating from Punjab Agricultural University, went on to Cornell for a master’s degree in plant pathology.

His return in 1994 proved to be a turning point in their operations. That was the time when the Sanghas broke away from the conventional, and often risky, way of seed multiplication. Ploughing back the expertise he had acquired in the US, Jang Bahadur set up a tissue-culture lab and disease – certification facility – both crucial quality-enhancing input for the high-investment potato crop.

In the last decade, the Sanghas have added 1600 acres, but the real breakthrough has been in terms of production and quality that have gone up by 15 percent. The key to successful potato seed production, says Jang Bahadur, is fewer multiplication and virus-freedom in the initial stages. “That is why I now focus more on augmenting brand value that acreage.” He says, adding. “Our aim is to make global quality standards our calling card.”

For the past two years now, he has been eyeing the international market especially in SAARC nations. “The idea is to diversity not in terms of crops but markets,” he says. Last month, he flew to Pakistan on an exploratory trip, anticipating the opening of Wagah as a trading port soon. His farms are already growing Dutch-variety potato seed that has a huge market in Pakistan. “ A Punjabi farmer is an instinctive risk-taker.” Says Jang Bahadur, adding that it was this trait that helped his family tide over the five-year slump that rocked the potato seed market till ’02. “Since potatoes run in our blood, the bad patch.” He says.

Never one to miss any potato conference any-where in the words, he has it keeps him plugged in to the cutting edge of research. “He is the face of the New-Age farmer.” Says K.S. Aulukh, vice-chancellor of Punjab Agriculture University, of his former student. “Earthy and enterprising, he leads the crop of agro-tycoons which has redefined the business of farming with a corporate approach.: he adds.

The Sanghas’ success story has revolutionized farming in Doaba, spurring more than 250 farmers to replicate their model, though on a smaller scale. And Jang Bahadur’s lifestyle has set the trend for many a rich young farmer to work hard and play harder. “He is the brand ambassador of our farming operations,” chuckles Harminder, Clearly, Jang Bahadur represents the Gen-Next of farmers who are relishing the taste of success in big-ticket farming and bigger spending.