Diversity by Design 2023 March 18th
hosted by Dr. Kelly Bronson of Ottawa University
Small Scale Farming and Digital Technologies
the worskshop was information and it is a day discussion of the actuatl technologies use by small scale farmers. These narrow down to 10 acres small farms which are selling direct to consumers. While we may not have huge government contract, we are feeding the 100 mile diet within our community, thus the importance of local farmers are highlighted in this group.
we have small scale garlic growers, greenhouse growers, herbs, and CSA ( community supported agriculture) delivering weekly vegetables to consumers.
we are looking at simple technologies - such as electronic spreadsheet to modern applications and invoicing systems, that help farmers manage the farm as a business.
What we find out that we are not alone in our struggles of keeping up records of our planting schedules, harvest schedules, delivery to customer, accounting and banking records.
There are applications out there, that are way too big for our operations and farmers are making creative solutions to keep up with the basic farm operations.
most of the financial systems are not set up for smaller operations, thus is limits funding available especially to start up farmers which are less than 5 years old.
what we learned from this session is that growing pains apply to farming small scale, just like we have to wait for 5 years for our fruit trees to bear.
patience is your best friends
mother nature may have mercy on our farming vocation...
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