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

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

#151

Post by nylonstrung »

mi100hael wrote: post #8

> All of those things affect the ultimate price of the box, and that’s why we have a range from about $50,000 to $60,000. If you were to a la carte all the different components that we put into this kit, it would end up costing you more than what we’re charging. I seriously doubt that. $50k for what appears to basically be 2 acres of irrigation equipment and a solar-powered raspberry pi is absurd. It also looks like…

The 2 founders literally have no agricultural expertise. One's last job was at a no-name business school accelerator and another worked in an administrative role in the non-profit world. There is a conspicuous absence of any kind of agronomy experience here.

As someone who has some perspective on the conditions of the purported customer for this they are so out of touch it is ridiculous and.

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

#152

Post by xg15 »

jdowner wrote: post #129
nnain wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

One reason why you may want a container is because it is a movable structure. That means that you do not need a building permit. Acquiring a building permit requires at least a class 5 road. This is the case for New Hampshire. I don't know how representative it is though. Also this not uncommon when for larger lots, but I'm not really sure if there are differences from lots as small as 2 acres.

Africa.

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

#153

Post by sweettea »

lukewrites wrote: post #117
CodeSheikh wrote: post #92

$60,000 seems like a lot of amount for starving and underdeveloped areas. I went to their funding page and read more about what's inside the "box" https://republic.co/farm-from-a-box 1: micro-drip irrigation system 2: 3kW solar power 3: Pumping System 4: IOT setup 5: Energy management 6: Basic farm tools As of 2016, average cost of solar power is approximately $3.00 per watt so ~ $9K. I have installed a decent sized…

A little OT, but I'm wanting to put together a drip system in our yard. Any resources you'd recommend/found very helpful? I live in the Pacific Northwest, so am thinking about installing a cistern/rain water collection center, then putting together a drip system for planter beds that we'll be installing. Thank you!

DripWorks has a great catalog and good prices.

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

#154

Post by mi100hael »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #37
mi100hael wrote: post #8

> All of those things affect the ultimate price of the box, and that’s why we have a range from about $50,000 to $60,000. If you were to a la carte all the different components that we put into this kit, it would end up costing you more than what we’re charging. I seriously doubt that. $50k for what appears to basically be 2 acres of irrigation equipment and a solar-powered raspberry pi is absurd. It also looks like…

I was shocked by that too. From what I gleaned from the article, you get a shipping container, some solar panels (and, presumably, batteries), a system on a chip and a drip irrigation system.

It's not even clear you actually get a shipping container, just that everything could fit in one (and how could it not? It's just a bunch of hoses, a pump, and some electronics). The shipping container itself would probably be the most valuable part of the package.

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

#155

Post by sweettea »

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…

3) is underestimated. A typical shipping container is 40 feet long, so I think they ship a 32' not a 24' one. Also, 4' centers are necessary in most parts of the world: 6' will collapse under snow load in half the US. That's $600, not $400. The benches shown are at least another $400. Finally, the most expensive part of a greenhouse is the endwall and the plastic; probably +$500, making it $1500.

(I am a small farmer with a side job in tech.)

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

#156

Post by dagenleg »

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…

So far the criticism seems convincing and grounded in reality. You don't have to be a farmer to evaluate the comments regarding the overly high price for whats inside the container, absence of tractor. I would also trust the comments of the people who claim to have farming experience. Is there something you particularly disagree with?

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

#158

Post by elcritch »

rdudek wrote: post #149
elcritch wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wyoming?! That's our backyard. Drop by our office sometime! [1] Our CEO ran a CSA for a few years here in Wyoming. Places like Wyoming have cheap land, but there are some tricks to doing farming up here. 1: https://brightagrotech.com/

I'm in Colorado and the soil here is terrible trying to start a small garden behind my house. Even with purchased good quality dirt and fertilizer, it's still very very hard solid.

Back in college, I took a soil science class. The professor said the Laramie valley has (used to at least) pretty good soil – fairly light and decent nutrient profile. There was a big western farm boom in the 1910's during a wet period that lasted 10-20 years. I'm not overly familiar with all the soil types in Colorado.

We have one farmer who uses some of our equipment, but he has also had good luck with soil in Fort Collins, CO [1]. He's on a hill though near a lake which might help. He said drainage was important for him.

Vertical farming is a great way to get around issues with soil quality. Especially for winter growing and also reducing the labor associated with planting, weeding, and harvesting. Seriously though, schedule a time to drop by if you're ever up in Laramie. We have a lot of knowledgeable people here who love talking growing! One of my coworkers has also done some good work on the economics or vertical farming (using our equipment mainly, as – well – that's what we know!) [2]. Much of the economics should be comparable on other vertical systems (though, probably less efficient you know ;) ).

Are you a software dev or tech person? Always fun to talk about the combo of farm and tech!

1: http://bayberryfresh.com/ 2: https://youtu.be/u-aFueGWSFU?t=6m1s

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

#159

Post by lisivka »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #132
lisivka wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain "pro-west"? I suspect it means somebody who says "I like West. West will help us", not a liberal mind. Liberal philosophy roughly means freedom and same rights to everyone, including very bad persons, in exchange to strict execution of written laws. So to be truly pro-west, person must advocate same right to everyone, including e.g. gays, and strong independent court for everyone, including e.g. top l…

It's a tricky turn of phrase, as a UK English user I'd use "pro-West" to mean that a government was complicit with Western _governments_ requests. So things like allowing USA to have an airbase. Pro-West is along way off "sharing Western liberal ideals" which appears to be how you interpreted it. As the parent responded many Westerners don't do that.

For you, pro-west means what you are said. For me, if a politic is elected by us, I will expect that "pro-west" will serve us by standards of West, not serve West government requests at expense of us. It's relative term. It's why I'm trying to clarify.

Thank you.

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

#160

Post by Fuzzwah »

narrator wrote: post #150
mi100hael wrote: post #8

> All of those things affect the ultimate price of the box, and that’s why we have a range from about $50,000 to $60,000. If you were to a la carte all the different components that we put into this kit, it would end up costing you more than what we’re charging. I seriously doubt that. $50k for what appears to basically be 2 acres of irrigation equipment and a solar-powered raspberry pi is absurd. It also looks like…

In my experience, Raspberry Pis are nice hobbyist toys but tend to corrupt data on their SD cards at random and generally are unreliable. For 50k you could at least send them a somewhat rugged fanless PC with a SSD raid for added reliability.

Counter point; I have 3 RPis (an original B, a B+, and a 2) and in 4 years have never had any data corruption. I use the 2 every day running OSMC as my media center and the B+ sees very frequent use in a variety of projects.
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