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Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#101

Post by emodendroket »

GrinningFool wrote: post #65
witty_username wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without profits investors and shareholders won't invest. Indeed, you could consider investors and shareholders in a similar manner to workers and lenders; investors provide money and in exchange the company gives them profits.

> Indeed, you could consider investors and shareholders in a similar manner to workers and lenders; investors provide money and in exchange the company gives them profits. To clarify: Investors provide money once and in exchange the company gives them (or whomever they transfer the stock to) profits forever . Is there any model which allows a structure for stocks to expire after a reasonable period (10-20 years but i…

I guess the model for that is an interest-bearing loan.

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#102

Post by nnain »

nnain wrote: post #34

Does it pack a tractor in? Who's gonna till the soil? Very click-baity. I can pack in all the required farming equipment needed for a 2 acre land in under $20,000 in India (including a good tractor!). And I get to chose what I want. $50,000-$60,000 is a STEEP price tag to suggest to African farmers I assume! And then there would be a maintenance costs. These are just two of the field tested equipments that work (with…

Also farms usually have a store room attached to keep the equipment. It's also cool in there cause it's made in a traditional way - thatched roof, wood, mud, thick walls etc. So it makes for a nice resting place when it's hot.

Why would anyone want to lose a piece of their farm land to keep a container and also pay for it!

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#103

Post by Twirrim »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #29
dghughes wrote: post #15

>...and even individuals who want to start a farm. As a person who lives in a farming area this seems like putting a computer and a box of red bull in a box and labeling it "computer programmer kit". I'm not a farmer but things like crop rotation, regulations, WHIMIS (pesticides/herbicides), dangers such as the PTO on the tractor and other farm dangers all needed training. You see at least once per year some farm han…

The equipment needed depends a lot on the soil. There is no one size fits all solution, especially if you're optimizing for crop yield.

Which is why they mention in the article that they've built it to be modularisable, so it'll be adjusted for whatever is appropriate for your area.

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#104

Post by RyJones »

atourgates wrote: post #42
jaclaz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have troubles in computing the BOM (Bill Of Materials) of such a thing. 1) a container 2) a tin shed leaning on it on one side 3) a small plastic? nursery/seeding house on the other side 4) a 3 Kwh solar plant (including batteries, etc.) 5) a bunch of pumps (and I presume pipes) for drip irrigation 6) web connectivity 7) possibly a bunch of hand farming tools do not sum up to costs that justify the US$ 50,000/60,00…

I was trying to do the math here too. Here's what I came up with. 1) Shipping Container - ~$2,000 2) Tin Shed - Maybe another ~$1,000 3) Hoop Greenhouse - ~$400 [1] 4) 3Kwh Solar Plant with Batteries - ~$8,500 [2] 5) 2 Acre Drip Irrigation System - ~$3,000 [3] 6) WiFi Access - $1,000 (I have no idea what hardware/capabilities they're delivering here, but it seems like that's a safe number) 7) A Bunch of Hand Farming…

where are you getting WWT containers for $2k? Last one I was involved in was about $8k for WWT + shipping and picking, which was about another $2k with some minimal site prep (pea gravel and railroad ties). Prices were slightly lower to buy them in Seattle instead of the closest port, but the lower purchase price was offset by the much larger shipping costs

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#105

Post by forgetsusername »

daveguy wrote: post #25
orasis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profits are the things that allow valuable products to scale. Its odd to me that Venezuela thought that getting rid of profits for producers would help society.

Non-profit doesn't mean the company can't make a profit on what it sells or even pay employees a fair salary. It does mean that profits go back into the company, rather than having profits siphoned off by investors and shareholders. Non-profit is pro-reinvestment and therefore pro-scaleup.

>It does mean that profits go back into the company, rather than having profits siphoned off by investors and shareholders.

Why is money going back into the company "good", but investors get the negative connotation of "siphoning" money? What is with the disdain for the people who own the company making money from it?

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#106

Post by orasis »

kelvin0 wrote: post #71

There really are different 'cliques' on HN, depending on which subject is posted. And this one seems to be the 'not so positive' clique. If framework is bench marked, or if people create a great CSS suite and animations, you get (mostly) constructive criticism. A company is actually doing something about bigger issues which could positively affect the lives of many people in a sustainable way ... and we get this. I'm…

There are quite a few of us here with some farm experience that simply don't think this product ads up. Its like posting an article about a $50k Linux distro aimed at coffee shops.

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#107

Post by Twirrim »

jaclaz wrote: post #95
extrapickles wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the refrigeration system, which can easily cost $10-20k if they are getting a walk in one like the ones used by restaurants. And they are doing this in San Francisco, which would greatly up the costs of everything vs doing it pretty much anywhere else. If they aren't careful with shipping everything to them that can easily eat $5k or more (a shipping container can cost more to move than the cost of the c…

>Don't forget the refrigeration system ... WHICH refrigeration system? I cannot find any mention of it: "Every unit comes equipped with a renewable power system, internet connectivity, basic farm tools, micro-drip irrigation system and water pump that can be adapted to fit either a groundwell or municipal water supply. Every Farm from a Box unit can be customized with optional components including sensors, water puri…

"A new thing that we’re deploying now is an internal cold storage system to make sure that we’re able to keep the crops fresher, longer, post harvest, before the crops actually get to market."

Re: Startup Puts Everything You Need for a Two-Acre Farm in a Shipping Container

#108

Post by toyfarmer »

I live on a 2 acre hobby farm. Here are some obvious pieces missing from the box:

Tractor Backhoe Rototiller Auger Fencing

First necessity: water. Where will you get it from? They include a pump. That's nice. How will you dig the hole to get down to the water in order to pump it?

How will you dig the holes for your fence posts? Yes you can use a manual post-hole digger. That's what I did. I don't recommend it. Does the box include posts and wire?

How will you compost? I have several animals that generate a lot of manure. The easiest way to turn it is with a rototiller--preferrably connected to the PTO on the tractor because the manure pile is very large. It would take a day to turn it with a walk-behind tiller. It would take one day a week to collect the new manure by hand without a box scraper on a tractor.

Ever have to bury livestock? You need a deep hole. Anything too shallow attracts predators. I've buried a few by hand. I don't recommend it.

So, a little 25 hp tractor with a 3-pt PTO and accessories including auger, tiller, box scraper, backhoe, and front-end bucket is almost mandatory unless you have a lot of free labor. And this is supposed to be sustainable off-grid, so that needs to be electric. See the Global Village Construction Set (http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/).

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