500,000,000 Rice farmers worldwide need high-quality, effective tools for transplanting, weeding and harvesting their crops. Earth Links is continuing our collecting and evaluating of well-tested equipment designs that we began in 2014. We share these tools with NGOs as photos, PDFs, videos and and CAD files. These tools will also be part of our upcoming Open Source Tool Library that will help to meet the needs of small farmers around the world.
As partners in a new grant from Cornell University there will be the opportunity to have key components printed with 3D printers from CAD files that will be shared with researchers and farmers in the field for their evaluation, suggested modifications and then retesting. These improved equipment designs can then be shared widely with existing networks as well as be very valuable additions to our upcoming tool library.
Inexpensive farm tools fabricated from good, simple, field-tested designs can make a life changing difference to farmers worldwide.
- Equipment that encourages deep roots, soil health, minimal soil disturbance and water conservation creates a Climate-smart Agriculture and promotes soil conservation.
- Small, efficient engines can be added to equipment to allow farmers to respond to labor shortages and increase their income and food security.
- Women-friendly versions of tools with lighter weight materials and smaller sizes will increase productivity and decrease serious injuries.
- CAD software allows tools to be resized and modified for local conditions as well as helps to select the best materials and the accurate reproduction of equipment.
Our Open-Source Library of Tools will help small rice farmers in many countries in their move to food security and sustainability. These equipment designs have been created over hundreds of thousands of hours by farmers as well as by agricultural engineers, equipment manufacturers and researchers. When possible, these tools are best fabricated at the local level by blacksmiths and metal workers so that money remains in the community and the tools can be quickly repaired, tested, modified and improved. Well tested tool designs, when made freely available, become vital elements in the successful introduction and use of agroecology techniques such as The System of Rice intensification (SRI), The System of Crop Intensification (SCI) and Conservation Agriculture (CA).
This is important work; Rice cultivation is the largest occupation in the world. A well-managed acre of SRI rice and effective tools can produce over 5,000 pounds of food, while adapting to and mitigating climate change as well as using far less chemical inputs, water and seed than traditional farming techniques.
