Re: [libreplanet-discuss] OpenAg: Open Agriculture Initiative

[Aaron E-J]

The agricultural technologies we need to see open sourced are the
combine and other large agricultural devices.  The current combines are
extremely proprietary and users of them need to sign agreements to only
have them serviced by the company that made them (and shell out some
hefty dough in the process).  The implements cost hundreds of thousands
at a minimum.  It is something that a many large scale farmers are
already actively working on.  I think if MIT partnered with them, we
could see some real innovation that would be a game change in the industry.

In terms of solving world hunger – this is not a technological problem
but a socio-political one.  We can produce many times the necessary
nutrients to sustain life using century's old technology plus crop
diversification.  Not that innovation in agriculture is a bad thing, but
let's not lose sight of the fact that the reason millions of people are
starving is because of politics and lack of educational and financial
resources.

Aaron E-J
Other Realm LLC
http://otherrealm.org
http://theotherrealm.org (Blog)

On 2017-05-11 2:55 AM, Daniel Pocock wrote:
> Thanks for sharing this on the LibrePlanet list, I'm also subscribed
> here too.  I started a topic[1] on the OpenAg forum suggesting that
> LibrePlanet 2018 (and some other events) might be really good places to
> promote their work with people who will take a hands-on attitude to
> building these devices and sharing the philosophy in their local
> communities.
>
> Would anybody want to extend a more formal invitation for them to speak
> or exhibit at LibrePlanet or any other events?
>
> Could anybody suggest any other events where this would fit and post the
> links on the forum topic[1]?
>
> As well as the TED talk, Caleb Harper recently did a talk about this at
> Red Hat Summit, did anybody attend that last week?
>
> Regards,
>
> Daniel
>
> 1.
> http://forum.openag.media.mit.edu/t/collaboration-with-other-communities-especially-free-open-source/1801
>
>
>
> On 10/05/17 23:29, willi uebelherr wrote:
>> Open Agriculture Initiative
>> https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/open-agriculture-openag/overview/
>>
>> Wiki Open Agriculture Initiative
>> http://wiki.openag.media.mit.edu/
>>
>> GitHub Open Agriculture Initiative
>> https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative
>>
>> Dear friends,
>>
>> this is a initiative from people from MIT/Boston. It is new for me and
>> i received this information on the FSF (Free Software Foundation)
>> Europe mail list.
>>
>> It seems it is a combination of client computers, servers and
>> datacenters. But how they work i don't know in this time. Also it is
>> not clear for me, is that a good way.
>>
>> many greetings, willi
>>
>>
>> QueridAs amigAs,
>>
>> esta es una iniciativa de gente del MIT/Boston. Es nuevo para mí y he
>> recibido esta información en la lista de correo FSF (Free Software
>> Foundation) Europa.
>>
>> Parece que es una combinación de equipos cliente, servidores y centros
>> de datos. Pero cómo funcionan no sé en este tiempo. También no está
>> claro para mí, es que una buena manera.
>>
>> con muchas saludos, willi
>>
>>
>> -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
>> Betreff: Open Agriculture / Free (as in Freedom) Food
>> Datum:   Wed, 10 May 2017 17:54:14 +0200
>> Von:     Daniel Pocock <daniel@pocock.pro>
>> An:      FSFE Discussion <discussion@fsfeurope.org>
>>
>> If you are not comfortable putting non-free software in your computer,
>> have you ever thought about the non-free nature of the food you put in
>> your body?
>>
>> A group at MIT's Media Lab have started the Open Agriculture (OpenAg)
>> initiative and there was a TED talk (video[1]) about it in Geneva that
>> makes it really clear what they are doing and why.
>>
>> The documentary Food, Inc[2] also helps understand what is at stake.
>>
>> Has anybody else looked at this or any similar projects already?
>>
>> A group has been formed[3] in Zurich to try and build one or more of the
>> food computers collaboratively.  A venue is to be announced shortly.  I
>> already raised this on the Zurich mailing list, but would anybody else
>> want to come to Zurich to participate, be part of this remotely or
>> replicate the idea in their own location?
>>
>> One challenge for us in Zurich is to try and find an efficient way of
>> ordering all the parts, the list[4] includes over 100 items from about
>> various suppliers.  Making up orders would be rather tedious, so
>> grouping the orders together could help lower the hurdle for people to
>> get started.
>>
>> One significant opportunity with this initiative is the outreach to
>> other groups with environment, sustainability, urban agriculture and
>> culinary interests.  OpenAg provides a way to developed a shared
>> philosophy about what free really means and how free software is part of
>> the solution to social problems like food security.
>>
>> Regards, Daniel
>>
>> 1.
>> https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_grow_your_food_in_the_future
>> 2. http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/
>> 3. https://www.meetup.com/openag-zh/events/239207170/
>> 4. https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative/openag_pfc2/tree/master/BOM
>>
>>
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