There is countless material out there to describe the wonders of the Machine Farm. The Machine Farm uses 95% less water and, enables the yield of 1 acre of farm to produce on a 320sqf space. It has a 365-days cycle at any location promising stable prices and yield all-year round. Zero use of harmful chemicals and pesticides with minimal labour dependence. It is suitable in remote and harsh climates, and can continue production between -50°&+50°conditions. It is supported by an automation driven platform which drives predictive growth modelling, enabling remote global monitoring and control.
At the back of my mind however, there somehow was something about the whole mechanised and digitised razzmatazz that made me sometimes feel that this was not real farming. What we had was a soul-less mean machine that had no regard for inclement weather, vagaries of pests and resources. It felt too perfect. It lacked a literal and figurative connective tissue to the earth in a way that a traditional farmer always had.
Don’t get me wrong. The science and data are quite apparent. With advanced artificial intelligence (AI), the Machine Farm comes with a built-in precision that constantly self-improves to grow better and better. As the design advanced, so did the company. We have our loyal customers and continue to build on our promises by providing more varieties and produce options. BoomGrow’s produce is cleaner and packed with better flavour and nutrition. We are reimagining farming for the better.
But it still felt too mechanical somehow. What do I tell my children –that traditional agriculture does not work? I had an acute awareness that there was an art to farming that the agronomist on the Machine Farm may never experience.
I grew up in a 2 storey house in the middle of a terrace block. One of those anonymous mass housing estates property developers experimented with in the 80s with rows of identical mirror-image houses that share side walls. The concrete slabs are far removed from any farm. I have almost no experience of planting, farming or tending to animals or that kind of connection with the earth.
What I do have is a deep interest in the disconnect between our sense of who we are and experience of food as curated by behemoth corporations. I now also understand what it means to taste pesticide-free agriculture and embrace a more natural way to live. I am acutely aware that such a way of life is a privilege, only for those who can afford it.
My understanding of food clarifies for me what it is to know a place, truly know a place and its landscape, not just as a spectator but to participate in thinking and learning from the mistakes and losses of the past and develop in a way, a vague sense of what’s coming in the future.
So, this is what I tell my children. That there is something very wrong with the way traditional farming is currently reduced to the realm of chemical agriculture, migrant workers and vast networks of supply chain trucks. That it is really heart breaking that food on the supermarket shelf promises choices but belies an underlying exploitative reality. That although their grandparents had grown up on nourishing food from the land, what my children consider as options is really at the end, access to processed food.
Our sense of disconnect with our food is symptomatic of our apathy towards our relationships. In his seminal essay, The Art of Eating, American philosopher Wendell Berry says to live and belong in a place and to live off a place without destroying it, we must imagine it. Only then do we build responsibility in our land and then do right by it.
Developing technology only solves part of the problem however. There is a deep matter of politics. For food unites us so much and divides us at the same time. Access to good food is a matter of economics, class and history. In tracing BoomGrow’s remarkable journey as a company, I am also keen to gather stories — and tell stories of food in our community, of understanding produce and the recipes that we hold tight.
I am interested in a deeper dive into the country’s present agriculture, navigate some of the hard questions and hopefully its future too. If we as a society don’t prioritise the well-being of our farmers, we lose something very significant. What tech farming companies like BoomGrow can do is to support the interest and enable better techniques and ideas, be generous in our sharing and trigger a thriving ecosystem.
Even that is only part of the equation as we are reliant on consumers and their purchasing powers. What should consumers do? Eat well but eat with care. The people who produce your food, the environmental impact, the additives. Care for this and interrogate it. It’s not about class and political identity. It’s what we stand for as a community.
