I have troubles in computing the BOM (Bill Of Materials) of such a thing.
1) a container
2) a tin shed leaning on it on one side
3) a small plastic? nursery/seeding house on the other side
4) a 3 Kwh solar plant (including batteries, etc.)
5) a bunch of pumps (and I presume pipes) for drip irrigation
6) web connectivity
7) possibly a bunch of hand farming tools
do not sum up to costs that justify the US$ 50,000/60,000 sell price, maybe I am missing something very relevant?
And - though admittedly I am not an agriculture expert - the 150 people feeding out of 1 hectare sounds like an extremely tall story to me, I would think more at around 10/15 people per acre (in a proper, fertile piece of land with good climate).
I was trying to do the math here too. Here's what I came up with.
1) Shipping Container - ~$2,000
2) Tin Shed - Maybe another ~$1,000
3) Hoop Greenhouse - ~$400 [1]
4) 3Kwh Solar Plant with Batteries - ~$8,500 [2]
5) 2 Acre Drip Irrigation System - ~$3,000 [3]
6) WiFi Access - $1,000 (I have no idea what hardware/capabilities they're delivering here, but it seems like that's a safe number)
7) A Bunch of Hand Farming Tools - $1,000 (Another guesstimate)
8) A 1,000 gallon water storage tank - ~$700 [4]
So that takes us to about $17,600. Let's add another $5,000 for preparation, packaging, research and educational materials. Let's add another $5,000 for stuff that's more expensive than my guesstimates, and remove nothing for the article's claimed efficiencies that makes this so much more cost-effective than buying a la carte.
That still only puts us at $28,000, so either there's something I'm totally missing here, or this is total BS.
3) is underestimated. A typical shipping container is 40 feet long, so I think they ship a 32' not a 24' one. Also, 4' centers are necessary in most parts of the world: 6' will collapse under snow load in half the US. That's $600, not $400. The benches shown are at least another $400. Finally, the most expensive part of a greenhouse is the endwall and the plastic; probably +$500, making it $1500.
>That still only puts us at $28,000, so either there's something I'm totally missing here, or this is total BS.
Excellent, I roughly computed 26,000 US$ (actually 25,000 Euros), I was lower on the connectivity and on the solar plant and missed the water tank, but I will gladly accept a 10% increase, let's call it rounding.
Still we are around 100% margin, which should mean that the "manual" and "lessons" must be overpriced.
where are you getting WWT containers for $2k? Last one I was involved in was about $8k for WWT + shipping and picking, which was about another $2k with some minimal site prep (pea gravel and railroad ties). Prices were slightly lower to buy them in Seattle instead of the closest port, but the lower purchase price was offset by the much larger shipping costs
Interesting. An 8x45 WWT is indeed ~$2k on that site, and CWO is only marginally more. Thanks. Guess I should have looked for prices in SLC - $6k would pay for a lot of shipping
Don't forget the refrigeration system, which can easily cost $10-20k if they are getting a walk in one like the ones used by restaurants.
And they are doing this in San Francisco, which would greatly up the costs of everything vs doing it pretty much anywhere else. If they aren't careful with shipping everything to them that can easily eat $5k or more (a shipping container can cost more to move than the cost of the container itself).
I cannot find any mention of it:
"Every unit comes equipped with a renewable power system, internet connectivity, basic farm tools, micro-drip irrigation system and water pump that can be adapted to fit either a groundwell or municipal water supply.
Every Farm from a Box unit can be customized with optional components including sensors, water purification units, and even remote monitioring technology."
And it would IMHO have merited an icon in the picture here:
"A new thing that we’re deploying now is an internal cold storage system to make sure that we’re able to keep the crops fresher, longer, post harvest, before the crops actually get to market."
I have 4 acres. The last thing I need to grow vegetables is a weather station, wifi and a storage container. For $50K I'd want a backhoe/tractor - that would allow me to do some real work.
Also, where'd would I get the water for that water tank?
I think there is a thread above this one that nails the discrepancy: the target market here isn't poor Ethiopian villages. Rather, the target market is NGOs and governments who have funding to buy overpriced but cool stuff that looks like it will Make A Difference.
So you make something that's ostensibly targeted at poor rural villagers, and sell it to some deep-pocketed do-gooder entity at a huge markup.
1) a container
2) a tin shed leaning on it on one side
3) a small plastic? nursery/seeding house on the other side
4) a 3 Kwh solar plant (including batteries, etc.)
5) a bunch of pumps (and I presume pipes) for drip irrigation
6) web connectivity
7) possibly a bunch of hand farming tools
do not sum up to costs that justify the US$ 50,000/60,000 sell price, maybe I am missing something very relevant?
And - though admittedly I am not an agriculture expert - the 150 people feeding out of 1 hectare sounds like an extremely tall story to me, I would think more at around 10/15 people per acre (in a proper, fertile piece of land with good climate).