Idea 293 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Farm-machinery hire pools, so that a two-acre farmer can afford a harvester for a day
The mechanism, from the book
The smallholder sells raw to a collector at the gate and the collector sells to a packer who puts his own name on it. Denmark's farmers got rich the day they owned the creamery.
Every idea in cluster 14 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Survey the small farmers of one village about which machine they need most at harvest, what they pay now to hire it, and how long they wait. Then find an owner of that machine willing to rent it through you for a fee per acre. Take bookings for the coming harvest with a small deposit. Deposits from enough farmers to fill the machine's days are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A two-acre farmer who cannot afford a harvester but loses grain every day the harvest is late, and pays for a day's hire.
- What leaves today
- Small farms harvest by hand or wait for a machine, and the grain lost to delay is value that never reaches the market.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
Denmark's co-operative dairies and the binding contract that held them
More from cluster 14
- 271A farmers' co-operative dairy in the hill country selling cheese and yoghurt under its own brand
- 272Buffalo-milk mozzarella and ghee for the hotels and for export
- 273Fruit and vegetable drying: mango, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit and okra as premium snacks and soup mixes for Europe and the Gulf
- 274Frozen tropical fruit pulp for the smoothie chains of the world
- 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at ten times the commodity price
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearable
Idea 293 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.