Our project would be on the design of a hi-tech organic farm that can be implemented even on a small scale. Minimizing the size necessary for economic viability will be one of the objectives of our project, so that we can implement the design even for small land-owners. The farm will be targeted towards a certain region over which environmental conditions do not vary significantly.
Key factors to be looked at are:
1. Appropriate crops for that soil, climate and market demand
2. Crop rotation and diversity to ensure fertility and nutrient replenishment: complete schedule of crop planting in 5-year cycle
3. Water sources - rainfall, irrigation, underground water
4. Efficient and precise use of inputs: water, soil, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers
5. Maximum use of sustainable technology to reduce costs/increase productivity
6. Look into feasibility of greenhouse technologies used in China on Indian farms
7. Economic viability in terms of pure financial costs as well as when considering environmental costs (will govt subsidize the latter - something along line of RECs?)
8. Using downward integration through small-scale technology to increase appropriability to farmers (along the lines of Decentralized Cotton Yarn initiative)
1. Appropriate crops for that soil, climate and market demand
2. Crop rotation and diversity to ensure fertility and nutrient replenishment: complete schedule of crop planting in 5-year cycle
3. Water sources - rainfall, irrigation, underground water
4. Efficient and precise use of inputs: water, soil, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers
5. Maximum use of sustainable technology to reduce costs/increase productivity
6. Look into feasibility of greenhouse technologies used in China on Indian farms
7. Economic viability in terms of pure financial costs as well as when considering environmental costs (will govt subsidize the latter - something along line of RECs?)
8. Using downward integration through small-scale technology to increase appropriability to farmers (along the lines of Decentralized Cotton Yarn initiative)
Seems to cover all bases! You may like to study Israel organic farms which also operate under the constraints of space/precision agriculture/high technology.
ReplyDeleteYou can also do a study on available channels of promotion, sales & distribution given your vision to make small scale farms viable
ReplyDeleteYou might want to incorporate the effect of government policies and subsidies in your model. Since your farm would be targeted at a specific region, policies in that region would be detrimental to the workings of your model.
ReplyDeleteKudos for coming up with such a brilliant idea!