A conversation with David Brunmayr, co-founder of Organic Tools, where they believe the future of agriculture is small-scale, and make the machinery and tools to make that vision a reality. We discuss the enormous advantages of smaller-scale and diversified farming, that make much more ecological sense. It can be energy-positive compared to the enormous energy required to grow food on the current large, industrialised extractive mono land.
So, what is the catch? Hands and usually backbreaking work. Smaller-scale, diversified farms used to rely on a lot of labour, with villages coming together for the harvest. This is no longer possible in many places, so the natural question is: what are the machinery and tools needed to have smaller-scale, diversified farms thrive and not burn out and break their lower backs? Huge, multimillion-dollar combine harvesters and tractors are not going to work.
Some research shows that 13 units of energy, mostly fossil fuels, are needed to get 1 unit of food energy out. A smaller scale can be more economical; look at the success stories in market gardening. Some take home more than $100,000 per hectare, and yes, it can also produce more food per hectare or acre, so we can feed the world.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION ON:
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IS SMALL-SCALE. NOW LET’S BUILD THE TOOLS FOR IT
David shares his vision for a future where small-scale farming is energy positive and supports local communities and ecosystems.
”How could we not scale? But to create this movement and strengthen this small-scale farming, regenerative, diversified, human-scale, and energy-positive. I mean, a huge issue will be energy in the future. And I’m thinking about this a lot, as our agriculture and food systems need around 10 joules of input to create one joule of output, and I’m sure that market gardening food systems, which are regional and energy-positive, will give you more output from the input you use through work and taking care.” David Brunmayr
”Market gardening is so successful because pioneers like Richard Perkins, and also many others in the movement and new people, offer kind of a blueprint where you can start easily and learn on the go, but maybe shorten the learning curve, you learn more easily, and you can stay on the shoulders of giants who did it already. And so, this would also be an opportunity to create the equipment with these systems, workflows, and structures in mind in order for people to be able to implement this very easily. So, the idea is to make really good equipment and great tools where people can integrate this workflow, which has a high promise to be successful, also for this kind of market garden structure’.’ David Brunmayr
BIG AG IS LONELY
David highlights the emotional impact of the Fruitcat, a fruit harvesting machine that collects fruit and nuts quickly and carefully,. on customers, who appreciate its user- friendly design and the ability to continue their work despite physical limitations.
”There was one man, 70 or 80 years old, with a bad leg, and he was so happy to have a machine now, because he can still continue the thing he loves and to take care of the orchard and produce cider. It was really touching to see this love for machinery, people appreciate it a lot, not just how it functions, but also how it looks, and how it feels to harvest, it’s really fun. We have a lot of families, and now the kids are beating who is allowed to drive with the machine, and before nobody wanted to harvest the fruits, because it sucks, of course, I also did it and still have trauma.” David Brunmayr
GROW BETTER, NOT BIGGER
They plan to introduce a new product, the Track Dragon, which will be electric and designed for small-scale farming.
”A big part is community; you have not just one person working on this farm, but maybe two or three, and still, this challenge of a lot of manual work needs to really be optimised with smart workflows. And if you don’t, or if you are not able to integrate these workflows, it can be challenging to persist in the long term. And we also see a lot of people—I don’t know the numbers exactly—but a lot of people who need to close after a few years because it’s just too much.” David Brunmayr
”You have these walk-behind tractors, but they didn’t really change in the last 100 years a lot, and you have all these implements, and it’s also quite hard to work with them. So, I talked with two market gardeners and two women, and they said they just don’t like to work with them. It’s loud. It’s noisy. They need a lot of effort to steer it. The user experience is not so great. And we know that we can make a good user experience because we did it with the Fruitcat, the harvester. And so, our approach is to make a model work behind tractor, electric, with an amazing user experience, which is also possible as it’s electric, and we can build it electric, having all the interfaces and the smart steering.” David Brunmayr
MARKET GARDENING IS SO INTERESTING FROM AN ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
David and his team developed a modular tool concept, aiming to create a versatile machine that can be used for various tasks in market gardening.
”Market gardening is this approach to bio-intensive production on a small scale, mainly of vegetables, which sell very well on the market. Another part of the business model is to sell it directly to consumers. So, it can be a box scheme; it can be direct at the farmers market or CSA, whatever. And so, these market gardens are a really great example of how much you can produce on one acre of land. How many people can live off one hectare. And also, how much revenue you can make. There are these examples of 100,000 euros per hectare, and I met people who earn more and people who earn less.” David Brunmayr
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and David also talked about:
- EROI of big ag vs small ag
- Challenges and Solutions in Small-Scale Farming
- The Track Dragon and Its Potential
LINKS:
- Organic Tools Website
- Energy blindness with Nate Haygens – The Great Simplification
- Richard Perkins
- Market Garden
- Jean–Martin Fortier
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Matteo Mazzola – Walking the land of Iside Farm with a regenerative farmer
- Matteo Mazzola, the potential and opportunity of regenerative agriculture in Italy
- Farmers’ Philosophy series! Koen van Seijen in conversation with Anne van Leeuwen, regenerative farmer and co-owner of Bodemzicht Farm
- Felipe Pasini – Walking the land of Amadeco Syntropic Farm with a regenerative farmer
- Felipe Pasini – Trees bring water so when in doubt plant more trees and complexify
- Farmers’ Philosophy series! Koen van Seijen in conversation with Dayana Andrade, farmer at Amadeco and author of Life in Syntropy
——————————————
Feedback, comments, suggestions? Reach me via Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, in the comments below or through Get in Touch on this website.
Join the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P
The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.