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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

#241

Post by kbart »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #124
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…

If your village received one of these it seems to me the smart thing to do would be to sell it immediately and use the cash to invest in cattle, tools, better huts, and things like that.

I don't think it would easy to find somebody stupid enough to buy it.

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

#242

Post by silencio »

ctdonath wrote: post #69
chrissnell wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lot of investment for someone getting their feet wet. I've been growing food for my family at home for the last four years and while I don't have two acres to farm, I can tell you that equipment has been the least of my problems. Learning to grow food has been a gradual process for me, learning what works for my soil and my climate. I can't imagine trying to start with a Conex full of equipment and two acres…

Not everyone has the luxury or desire for a "gradual process", but may have at least a sensible starting fund and the motivation to make it work. Sometimes the window of opportunity is small, and diving in fast is important (say, realize you have to grow your own food and spring is progressing - if you don't plant ASAP you're not getting to harvest). I've long considered a similar "in a [shipping container] box" for…

Speaking as a restaurant owner, the constraint with setting up and running a restaurant is rarely with equipment. I can pretty much just order exactly what I want from Costco/Sysco/US Foods/local restaurant suppliers complete with design consultations and same-day delivery and installation - the limit is the hit that my wallet can take. What would a shipping container change for the audience that most likely has access to much of the same that I do? (Read: pretty much anywhere in first world countries, the difference is likely just a couple more days tacked on for delivery. Beyond that you're probably gonna hit the money wall very quickly - as if it wasn't difficult enough for me to fund restaurant upgrades, forcing me to rely on business credit lines.)

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

#243

Post by instakill »

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.

"need a building permit"

This is Africa, dude.

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

#244

Post by dvh »

irrational wrote: post #203
lukewrites wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I drip irrigated my entire yard (only about a quarter of an acre, so, quite small). I just used the drip irrigation stuff at home depot. Its fairly inexpensive and once you start working with it you figure out pretty quickly how it all the parts work together. I just looked at the companies website to figure out what I needed to get started.

Doesn't limescale eventually kill drip irrigation system?

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

#245

Post by fauria »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #162
narrator wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Better yet, get them a big stack of these: https://fieldnotesbrand.com/products/expedition They are pocket sized, "plastic paper" water and dirt proof field notebooks. And a stack of pencils to go with them. Because really, someone running a two-acre farm in some developing country has enough time to make manual adjustments to the irrigation system, manual notes of minutiae etc. They will be manually going through th…

Nice product! This kind of waterproof notebooks are also used for technical scuba diving: http://eshop.daretodive.eu/produkt/wetnotes-complete-black-/

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

#246

Post by LeanderK »

roymurdock wrote: post #231
mulmen wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ava…

To go one level deeper than the unpredictable weather and poor economics of the small-time farm, I think much of the "problem" of subsistence farming is cultural/societal and there's not much the rural farmers or the NGOs/charities can do to help other than one-off projects like the cassava grater that address specific, painful parts of the process, such as manual grating, but not the entire subsistence farming proce…

> Yet despite hugely religious populations, both of these countries experience high levels of corruption, which I think isn't worse than the corruption that occurs in the US, it's just more visible.

Can you explain yourself more? In your opinion: Is the US succeeding despite the corruption or is it the difference in the type of corruption that is holding Ghana back?

Also thank you for your comment, very interesting and refreshing!

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

#247

Post by edblarney »

NetMonkey wrote: post #58
mkaziz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's an NGO/EDU/Gov scam?

It probably takes many different forms, but the ones I know about go something like this: 1) Government identifies some area that needs focus, usually so they can say they're doing something. 2) A fund is created with whatever the government thinks is enough to sound like they're doing something. 3) Request for proposals on how to spend the money within said area is sent out. 4) Interested parties figure out how to g…

You don't need to be so cynical.

In every one of those steps, people usually have good intentions.

But the same thing happens anyhow.

There is money, managed by people who don't know how to create value.

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

#249

Post by randomdata »

adrienne wrote: post #212
wott wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed with you list. Corn can be interesting to feed chickens, though. (I mean maize when I say corn, do you guys mean maize or wheat?) BTW, you can grow beans in the corn, it grows over it. I would add a bit of barley/oat but that's more work than the rest.

Americans pretty universally mean maize when they say 'corn', fwiw.

And usually they mean dent corn specifically. Sweet corn, popcorn, etc. are typically said by their more detailed classification.

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

#250

Post by randomdata »

johnhenry wrote: post #116

I think the problem here is going to be with the agricultural industry. If major industry leaders perceive these as a threat to their operations, it's likely that they will lobby congress to either regulate these our of existence, or somehow just make them flat out illegal.

I had less capital tied up in my >100 acre farm for many years than this small box costs. I'm not quite sure who is going to buy it at all, let alone it reaching a point of it becoming some kind of threat.
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