Farmer-Built No-Welding Root Washer for Small Farmers

View the project final report

• 2014 annual report

Commodities

• Vegetables: beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, turnips

Practices

• Education and Training: farmer to farmer
• Energy: energy conservation/efficiency
• Production Systems: general crop production

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Typically rare or expensive, a root washer for vegetable farmers will be constructed, documented, and plans open-sourced via in-person field days and on the web in text and video at FarmHack.net   DESCRIPTION OF FARM OR RANCH AND PROJECT COORDINATOR BACKGROUND Grant Schultz, VersaLand Farm VersaLand Farm is a 145 acre diverse farm consisting of 2 acres of vegetable crops, 8 acres of small fruits, 35 acres of forest farming, and 100 acres of pasture and hay. A mix of rolling hills and flat prairie soils, topography and crop diversity are significant.   Jean Donohue, Hue Hill Farm Hue Hill Farm is a 35-member CSA and market farm. The farm is 40 total acres, with 2.5 acres in intensive vegetable production and the balance pollinator habitat, pasture, and timber.   Royce Schintler, Fox Hill Farm Fox Hill Farm is an 80 acre family farm one mile from Iowa City. 1 acre of vegetables in active vegetable production will grow to 3 over the next year.   PROBLEM/SOLUTION Vegetable farmers in the Midwest, especially beginning farmers, are often undercapitalized. Being financially incapable of purchasing modern equipment that provides harvest and processing efficiency only exacerbates the gap in profitability between small and large producers. This grant proposal aims to solve this problem.   Sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology go hand-in-hand. Every farmer at any scale should have access to the best tools and techniques available. The open-source movement in software has helped development and operational costs become accessible to all. We are adopting similar methodology to opensource designs and construction techniques for tools that farmers need.   A commercially-built barrel style root washer can cost a farmer $2,500-3,500. Our prototype root washer can be built for $500 or less when using common or recycled components. Through this grant, we will produce plans and video tutorials, allowing any farmer to confidently create a high-grade root washer at low cost.   Timeline Outreach Awareness – Young Farmers Conference MOSES Mount Horeb, WI April 5, 2014 Root Washer TEST Build Day 1 day   May 1, 2014 Root Washer Plans PDF – Post to Farm Hack   June 14 2014 Root Washer Build – Field Day MOSES           1 day  July 1 2014 Root Washer Build – Field Day Practical Farmers        1 day  July 1 2014 Begin Video Editing     7 days  July 2 2014 Root Washer Build Video Edit Complete – post to Farm Hack August 1 2014 Outreach The information produced in “Farmer-built No-Welding Root Washer for Small Farmers” will be shared via multiple channels: Web: plans and videos distributed FarmHack.net: 40,000-and-counting unique annual visitors in 2013, 1,000 registered farmers, 80+ tools shared   National Young Farmers Coalition: 8,000+ email listserv Greenhorns: 16,000 email listserv VersaLand.com: farm blog + YouTube channel: 1,000 uniques/month SARE outreach Field Days: in-person live builds MOSES field day: 40+ participants Practical Farmers of Iowa field day: 25+ participants   PREVIOUS RESEARCH Previous SARE grants occupying the same spirit of “Self-built Tools and Equipment for Small Farmers” include Nigel Tudor’s “Farmer Built Spelt Dehuller” and “Farmer Built Compost Turner” and Ron Khosla’s “Allis G Electric Conversion”.   The innovative work unique to this project relates to “lowest barriers of entry possible”: 1) No welding required. No advanced fabrication skills necessary. 2) Video build documentation. Farmers will be able to “see” the construction process regardless of their location in the world.   Other resources: The applicants unique relationship with the FarmHack.net user community brings additional access to media, distribution, and technical resources for production of open-source farmer-built tools and equipment.   EVALUATION Evaluation Criteria:   Environmental: Does the construction and use of these tools create more or less material use than a commercial model? Does the embedded energy differ from a commercially-sourced model of equipment? Ongoing maintenance costs?   Economic: How does farmer-built equipment compare in financial capital costs to commercially purchased equipment? In ease-of-use? Is labor economy increased or decreased by using machinery over hand-methods?   Social: Does farmer-built machinery build social fabric and community resilience in the same manner as a barnraising? Are skills shared among neighbors in ways they otherwise may not be?   Data Collection: A standardized evaluation survey will be created for distribution and return at all outreach events, in addition to an identical web-distributed survey. All data will be compiled and openly shared for a transparent feedback loop.

Introduction:

Introduction

Design, prototyping, refinement, plans and documentation, and field day demonstrations of a No-Welding Root Washer were all completed in 2014.

The innovative work unique to this project relates to "lowest barriers of entry possible":

1) No welding required. No advanced fabrication skills necessary.

2) Build documentation. Farmers will be able to "see" the construction process regardless of their location in the world.

During summer 2014, several low-cost root washers were constructed, CAD plans created, photos and videos shared, and the entire body of work shared with the public via a series of Field Days and posting to FarmHack.net.  See: http://farmhack.net/tools/root-washer