Monday’s meeting was the first time we saw each other since since The Future of Farm last Thursday (which was incredible and worthy of it’s own blog post, coming sooner than later). As you can imagine we had quite a bit to talk about. To focus our energies, Dr. DiSalvo asked us 4 questions, which we answered using pen and paper. As it turns out, we all have pretty similar answers…so if I left anything out, growBot team, feel free to add it.

Question 1: What did we learn from the Future of Farm?

So many things here. That robotics != sensing in the minds of many. That product robots are often associated with corporate wrongness (with reason). That farmers like to share and be a part of the natural process, and they don’t want to be replaced by a machine. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Question 2: What did we learn about bringing together robotics/sensing with local/small-scale farming?

The fear of corporate takeover is a valid one, not to mention there’s a clear power dynamic between the industrial world and small-scale farmers – anyone who’s seen Food, Inc. knows just what I’m talking about. If we’re going to be working to bring these communities together, these fears and power issues must be addressed. All parties must be on a level playing field.

Question 3: How do we communicate these ideas to engineers?

Other people in the group had a much easier time with this than I did. My grandpa is an engineer, and I immediately envisioned a flowchart…about as far-removed from any natural process as one can get. How do we translate something as contingent and evolving as working with the earth into squares and arrows? Maybe we don’t. Maybe we just become the translators. Translating is good. Identifying specific language disparities between communities is also good.

Question 4: What codesigned services and products could we make with engineers and small-scale local farmers?

Soil testers, social networks, hacking workshops and more came up as the answer to this question. We’ll see what we come up with … or more accurately, what the farmers come up with. For now, we’re left with today’s ideas:

Next up: GA Organics 2010! Some of us are leaving today to set up. If you’re in Athens, GA , this weekend, come on by!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 3:45 pm and is filed under "Farming of the Future", Day in the Life, Research Log. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.