Will Allen: Urban Farming

Good summary article of Will Allen's commitment and innovations in urban local food in the New York Times Magazine, 5 July 2009. Good summary article of Will Allen's commitment and innovations in urban local food in the New York Times Magazine, 5 July 2009.
Street Farmer
By ELIZABETH ROYTE
Published: July 5, 2009
Can Will Allen make the inner city the next front in the good-food movement?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html

Mama Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

When I first got seriously into photography as a spoiled an only child, my first serious camera was a Canon FT-QL with a 50mm f1.4 lens. It was my eighth grade graduation present. I still have it.


In the meanwhile, Kodak has 86d Kodachrome.

There's a stack of slides circa 1968 with a lot of experimentation using Kodachrome. Long night exposures of backyard flowers using a small aperture and a flashlight, intentional oversaturation, some blurs on purpose.....

I want a drop in 35mm gizmo to allow me the benefit of the old, comfortable optics, but that may be a while. Of course, I might need a caddy to carry the damn thing around.

But, I did find an Adobe plug-in in a quick search at DxO FilmPack that might do the trick with my wee digital camera. All sorts of simulated films (about 50). For Open Source, GIMP offers Silicosaur PhotoFX

Memo: Ephemeralization. All kit is a lathe.

PS: A nice article at Wired on the The Cheap Russian Camera That Could: Lomo Turns 25 also contains some nice tweaks of lens and film effects.

Milli Market Segments for Local Food

Although Eric Sink, managing partner of Champaign, Illinois Source Gear LLC, writes about the software business, his article "Whining by a Barrel of Rocks" applies to ways of thinking about the structure of food "as a business" and the many opportunities for collaboration and economic growth with both large "production agriculture" firms and more narrowly focused specialty/local/boutique businesses.

Mr. Sink writes:

"Now let's suppose we're considering a market opportunity with realistic potential for $3M USD annual revenue. The big vendors can't even consider pursuing a market that small. It's not worth their time. But a $3M annual revenue stream will easily sustain a small company of 15-30 employees. That niche is an opportunity, and somebody is going to build a nice company inside it.

Identifying all the opportunities for software products is like filling a barrel with rocks.

We start by putting in the really big rocks like office suites and desktop operating systems. Soon the barrel is full and will hold no more large rocks.

But smaller rocks can still be added easily. In fact, we have to add a surprising number of small rocks and pebbles before the barrel can be considered full."

More at http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Whining_by_a_Barrel_of_Ro.html

The Need for Broadband Networks in Local Food Systems

Although some "local" farm telecommunications can take place with relatively slow speed private networks (such as those which support remote low data rate sensors for water or nutrients) and basic "telephone" calls, the bulk of the information needed for the Local Food farmers and eaters has trended along with the Internet traffic patterns generally: more and more information comprises richer media: video and audio.

"Digital Divide" has been used to describe the disparity of computer and network access - typically in the context of relative incomes. In other words, poorer people use (or have access to) significantly less computing (and networks) than wealthier people. With respect to Local Food Systems, the Local Food System digital divide breaks along geographic disparities - especially population densities - and the willingness of incumbent network providers (telephone companies and cable companies) to provide access to the "thinner" parts of their service areas.

And these poorly served areas are rural, holding farmers, ranchers, and consumers who cannot reasonably gain access to higher capacity networks. The network potential benefits resemble the effects of Rural Electrification during the 1930s. Illinois citizens - particularly at the south end of the state - are merely one generation removed from kerosene lanterns and battery powered radios.

History Does Not Repeat Itself But It Often Rhymes

Attributed to Mark Twain

Regarding Rural Electrification from http://newdeal.feri.org/tva/tva10.htm

"In 1935 the Rural Electric Administration (REA) was created to bring electricity to rural areas like the Tennessee Valley. In his 1935 article "Electrifying the Countryside," Morris Cooke, the head of the REA, stated that

In addition to paying for the energy he used, the farmer was expected to advance to the power company most or all of the costs of construction. Since utility company ideas as to what constituted sound rural lines have been rather fancy, such costs were prohibitive for most farmers. [ footnote]

Many groups opposed the federal government's involvement in developing and distributing electric power, especially utility companies, who believed that the government was unfairly competing with private enterprise (See the Statement of John Battle ). Some members of Congress who didn't think the government should interfere with the economy, believed that TVA was a dangerous program that would bring the nation a step closer to socialism. Other people thought that farmers simply did not have the skills needed to manage local electric companies.

By 1939 the REA had helped to establish 417 rural electric cooperatives, which served 288,000 households. The actions of the REA encouraged private utilities to electrify the countryside as well. By 1939 rural households with electricity had risen to 25 percent. The enthusiasm that greeted the introduction of electric power can be seen in the remarks of Rose Scearce.

When farmers did receive electric power their purchase of electric appliances helped to increase sales for local merchants. Farmers required more energy than city dwellers, which helped to offset the extra cost involved in bringing power lines to the country."

Small Business Econometric Study / Trends From SBA

Highlights from " An Empirical Approach to Characterize Rural Small Business Growth and Profitability"

• Education was a significant explanatory variablein assessing the growth of rural small businesses.The number of high school graduates increases thenumber of rural small businesses. Moreover, one of the challenges facing rural communities is how to retain a younger, more educated population.

• The amount of “natural amenities” available in an area can impact rural small business growth. This is defined as the attractiveness of a place to live,based on factors such as climate, topography, and proximity to surface water.

• Rural areas have difficulty attracting profitable,high-tech businesses, primarily because of a lack ofboth an educated labor force and necessary infrastructure.

• Rural policy initiatives are geared primarilytoward specific topics or regions, which often proveseffective when there are sufficient resources to helprural small businesses. According to individualsinterviewed on the topic, rural development centersand non-profit organizations are vital components foreconomic development.

• Some explanatory variables were specific to particular states. These range from the number of ruralprimary care physicians per capita in North Carolinato immigration growth in Maine.

Interesting read (for wonks and mortals).