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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

#191

Post by mythrwy »

orasis wrote: post #85
terda12 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the parts were very optimized price/performance wise, would it still be a good idea? I would imagine that each place has a specific biome that is suitable for specific crops, each person has a different amount of acrerage, etc.

You're right that situations are individual - but actually the water distribution side of things can be fairly generic. But note that drip tape is incompatible with tractor-based agriculture and will only be used with perennial or labor intensive annual crops.

Drip tape sometimes is used in tractor based agriculture. They have a reel mount that lays the tape (usually when plastic is applied to the bed).

Then they throw the tape away at the end of the season.

Commercial strawberry growers use this quite often.

But yes, to your point, high dollar crops.

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

#192

Post by new_hackers »

tiglionabbit wrote: post #181
Animats wrote: post #133

It comes with WiFi, but not a tractor. Or even some small powered push-type tiller. Do they assume the farmer has an ox or a pair of mules? For $50K, they should at least throw in a decent garden tractor with a 3-point hitch and some basic attachments. Priorities. For comparison, see this article in Modern Farmer.[1] This guy has revenue of about $100K per acre and has books and tools on how to replicate his farming…

You don't need a tractor. Tilling the land will kill off beneficial organisms like earthworms. A better strategy would be to cover the land in tarps until the existing plant life dies, then add 6 inches of compost to areas you're going to sow plants. This takes a lot of waiting for the plants to die and a lot of money for the compost, but it should produce better results in the long run.

Maybe not to till the land every year (agreed about your comment of the beneficial organisms), but to do miscellaneous tasks, they are incredibly handy. For instance, in my area, the land is famous for "growing rocks". If you had an acre or two you were going to do any long term farming, the first thing to do is clear all the fist to breadbox size rocks. This is sooooo much easier with a tractor and pull behind trailer, or front end loader. Digging holes, moving dirt, and carting finished produce are also things that a small tractor is very useful for. Is it absolutely necessary? No, but unless farming is the full time occupation, it is very nice for a small 1-2 person operation to have.

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

#193

Post by mulmen »

roymurdock wrote: post #164
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…

I worked on a project to create affordable, electric vegetable graters for rural farmers in Ghana [1]. For comparison, the price point of our grater was $150USD and was still seen as too expensive by a substantial portion of our customers, some of whom opted to purchase the graters on an installment basis (3 x $50 every 6 months as our group traveled to Ghana bi-annually). The main problems our rural customers faced…

Based on what you have said here I feel like technology such as iPhones and IoT networks is not what these people need. Would it help to provide some kind of farming manual with instructions on how to build and maintain farm equipment, how to create a co-op to sell locally, etc? Has it been done? What about providing a printing press to publish pricing data on a daily/weekly basis to try and make that information available to more people? These seem like problems that must have existed in the US in the last 100-150 years, what did we do?

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

#194

Post by wott »

codeddesign wrote: post #140

So...we have a director in business and another in marketing that live in San Francisco who thought it would be a good idea to sell farmers a bunch of junk they don't need...or is there market American's who extra money to throw around? I don't get the need... 1. Most people in undeveloped countries know how to farm, but just lack specific necessities. 2. Unless you have knowledge of these electronic components, how…

> they are attempting to create a business where there is no need.

As 99% of startups :-)

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

#195

Post by planteen »

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.

Where do you live in Colorado? I've had good luck gardening in both Boulder and Denver.

High altitude gardening (e.g., in the mountains) is difficult, but that is more due to the short growing season than the soil.

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

#196

Post by tiglionabbit »

new_hackers wrote: post #192
tiglionabbit wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a tractor. Tilling the land will kill off beneficial organisms like earthworms. A better strategy would be to cover the land in tarps until the existing plant life dies, then add 6 inches of compost to areas you're going to sow plants. This takes a lot of waiting for the plants to die and a lot of money for the compost, but it should produce better results in the long run.

Maybe not to till the land every year (agreed about your comment of the beneficial organisms), but to do miscellaneous tasks, they are incredibly handy. For instance, in my area, the land is famous for "growing rocks". If you had an acre or two you were going to do any long term farming, the first thing to do is clear all the fist to breadbox size rocks. This is sooooo much easier with a tractor and pull behind trail…

But clearing the field in the most fun part of starting a new game of Harvest Moon! (:P)

Yeah I can imagine at least having a truck to cart away all those rocks would be pretty handy. But once you're established you won't have to do it again, right? Could just rent it when you need it.

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

#197

Post by syphilis2 »

ucaetano wrote: post #184

Why would you put it in a container? Containers are very hard to transport, you can't just throw it on the back of an ox cart, or pack mules. You need specialized - and expensive - transportation, as well as a special crane to unload it. Not to mention that you kill the local suppliers of agricultural equipment. And the price tag? Agricultural land is VERY cheap. You can buy an acre of the most expensive prime Corn B…

Not to diminish your larger point, but your figures for expensive farm land in the cornbelt appears outdated to me. Farmland in southern Indiana (corn/soybeans/wheat) is selling above $10k per acre, with some specific plots around $15k (though this is not strictly because of farming potential so much as location and natural resources). There have been some great increases in value the past few years.

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

#198

Post by ucaetano »

syphilis2 wrote: post #197
ucaetano wrote: post #184

Why would you put it in a container? Containers are very hard to transport, you can't just throw it on the back of an ox cart, or pack mules. You need specialized - and expensive - transportation, as well as a special crane to unload it. Not to mention that you kill the local suppliers of agricultural equipment. And the price tag? Agricultural land is VERY cheap. You can buy an acre of the most expensive prime Corn B…

Not to diminish your larger point, but your figures for expensive farm land in the cornbelt appears outdated to me. Farmland in southern Indiana (corn/soybeans/wheat) is selling above $10k per acre, with some specific plots around $15k (though this is not strictly because of farming potential so much as location and natural resources). There have been some great increases in value the past few years.

Thanks for the info, I added a note!

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

#199

Post by Pica_soO »

roymurdock wrote: post #164
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…

I worked on a project to create affordable, electric vegetable graters for rural farmers in Ghana [1]. For comparison, the price point of our grater was $150USD and was still seen as too expensive by a substantial portion of our customers, some of whom opted to purchase the graters on an installment basis (3 x $50 every 6 months as our group traveled to Ghana bi-annually). The main problems our rural customers faced…

As i read it the longterm water supply is the main problem? Is there a way to cheaply build synthetic cysterns, that can be fixed with existing such as clay? I thought about freeze/heat fracturing?

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

#200

Post by vorotato »

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.

I think that's a very expensive computer for $50,000
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