The MyFarm Project is a Real-Life Farmville
Michael Hines — May 7, 2011 — Social Good
References: my-farm.org.uk & neatorama
Farmville fiends now have the chance to live out their wildest dreams in reality with MyFarm. This revolutionary project uses crowdsourced input to run a real-world farm.
The MyFarm project is asking for 10,000 online farmers, each paying a one-time fee of $50, to make all of the decisions on the Wimpole Estate, a historic British farm that currently attracts more than 250,000 visitors a year. The project will let MyFarm members discuss and vote on how the farm is run, from choosing which livestock to raise to what machines to plow the fields with. The project is being implemented to help educate the British people on where their food comes from and exactly how it's made.
Like all good British things, I expect that the MyFarm Project will soon be brought across the pond and modified for an American audience. Be on the lookout for the MyFactoryFarm Project in the next year or two.
The MyFarm project is asking for 10,000 online farmers, each paying a one-time fee of $50, to make all of the decisions on the Wimpole Estate, a historic British farm that currently attracts more than 250,000 visitors a year. The project will let MyFarm members discuss and vote on how the farm is run, from choosing which livestock to raise to what machines to plow the fields with. The project is being implemented to help educate the British people on where their food comes from and exactly how it's made.
Like all good British things, I expect that the MyFarm Project will soon be brought across the pond and modified for an American audience. Be on the lookout for the MyFactoryFarm Project in the next year or two.
Trend Themes
1. Crowdsourced Farms - Create digital platforms for people interested in farming to come together and make communal decisions with real-world farming projects.
2. Gamification of Farms - Translate the elements of the wildly popular Farmville game for Facebook into real-world farming projects and educational initiatives that attract and educate people on farming and agricultural practices.
3. Consumer Involvement in Agriculture - Invite consumers of food products to become more involved in the food supply chain from field to table, making decisions on what livestock to raise and how to create products in order to educate and engage them.
Industry Implications
1. Agriculture - The agricultural sector now has more opportunities to engage and educate consumers with new, digitally-enabled, and innovative techniques.
2. E-commerce - E-commerce platforms can reach a much larger customer base by creating new digital platforms that allow consumers to invest in products and become more involved in the production and distribution of food products.
3. Marketing and Advertising - Marketers and advertisers can use new techniques to educate and engage consumers, finding new audiences by creating more informative, transparent, and engaging supply chains and campaigns around more ethical farming practices.
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