Let’s start a farm!

Intended users

This tool is intended to be used by Indiana farmers starting a new farm! As the older generation of farmers are handing off their land to the new generation, many are currently new to the farming life. Whether the new farmers are trying to escape city life, live a more down to earth lifestyle, or have recently bought farm land on a whim, I want to help these families begin their new farms!

Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for

As an Indiana resident, I know first hand how hard it can be for farmers (especially those new to farm life) to optimize their farm land and land use. I want to help these new farmers who have recently inherited or purchase a farm decide how to best utilize their land based on a few factors. When starting a farm, you need to decide how much of it you are going to allocate to crops, and how much of it will be for animal use. I will run a generative design study to show the user how much profit, water usage, and net carbon the farm would generate for the different variations in land usage.

Inputs

• % of land dedicated to corn
• % of land dedicated to soybeans
• % of land dedicated to animals

Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement

First I will model the farm in dynamo, visually showing the break up of the farm in corn, soybeans, and animals per 100 slots. This can be then scaled up easily by the farmer to the size of his/her land. Next, based on the % of land dedicated to each component, I will calculate the water needed, animal feed needed, total cost expected (including fixed costs such as insurance and maintenance), net carbon production, and expected profit. Based on these results, the farmer can see the relationship of these variables and make a decision on how much of his/her land he/she would like to dedicate to each component.

Outputs

• Profit - Maximize
• Water needed - Minimize
• Net Carbon - Minimize