GRAIN BIK E S emily vogler tools to help diversify local agricultural production Tools shape the way we shape the land — for example, as the size of tractors has increased over the past century, so has large scale transformation of agricultural landscapes. Large farms now dominate crop production in the United States; technology has been a major driver of these landscape changes as large tractors reduce labour by allowing a single operator to manage more acres. Unlike vegetable production where each vegetable must be harvested individually, grain can be treated as a bulk product, which lends itself to mechanisation. The invention of the combine at the end of the nineteenth century revolutionised grain production. Before this, farmers reaped (cut the grain), threshed (separated the grain from the stalk) and winnowed (separated the grain from the chaff) separately. The combine does all three harvesting operations in one simplified process, saving time and labour. Current grain production in the United States, dominated by large scale industrial farms in the north, central and south plains, is entirely dependent on large combines that can harvest up to 150 acres per day, weigh over thirty thousand pounds, and can cost a half million dollars. In addition to shifts in technology, government policies and the economy have favoured the consolidation and growth of large farms over the past half century.1 Some of the negative ecological, economic, health and social effects of this approach include aquifers drying up, food security dependent on global politics, waterways polluted by large scale input of chemicals and fertilisers, topsoil lost, rural farming communities emptied out. Increasingly it is recognised that resilient regional food systems benefit from a distributed model of local food production with a range of farm sizes, diverse crops and a mix of agricultural approaches. 2 This is especially true in New England which has a highly fragmented land use pattern; cities and towns are close to one another and the interstitial landscape is a mix of low-density residential sprawl mixed in with fields, wetlands and forests. To create a resilient regional food system, food production needs to be thought of as a mosaic that extends across the urban-rural gradient, a mosaic made up of large parcels in rural landscapes with greater potential for largescale production, mid-size parcels in suburban landscapes, and small parcels in urban landscapes. Grain production may offer a unique opportunity in this transformation. Unlike vegetable production which requires significant labour and has a less orderly aesthetic, the lawn and grain field share similar landscape aesthetics; like the lawn, a grain field can provide open views and an uncluttered ‘field condition’. The grain field can help shift perceptions and introduce people to inhabiting a productive landscape. Local landscaping crews normally hired by homeowners can be retrained to service the grain field, with a trailer of small-scale tools. As society works towards long-term shifts in priorities, preferences and policies that will be needed to create this diversified landscape mosaic, there also is the need to develop new tools to support farmers working at these new scales of production. Small-scale farmers might have the equipment to plant grains but not the equipment to harvest and process them for market. Small-scale farmers interested in experimenting with growing grains are either stuck between large-scale expensive combines or time consuming hand processing.
36 on site review 39: Tools
To support small-scale grain production, we developed three microscale machines for threshing, winnowing and de-hulling seeds. They are made from simple locally available materials (wood, screen, bicycle parts and fasteners from the hardware store), and made with simple tools (a Skilsaw, a drill, stapler, angle grinder, bicycle tools and either wire feed or oxy-acetylene welders). 3 These micro-machines are highly adaptable, allowing them to be used for several different crops, from grains to beans. One of the primary objectives in developing these tools was to create an open source set of plans and a free supporting video online.4 Farmers around the world interested in growing grains at a small scale can bring the plan set to a local fabricator who can use the instructions to make the tools. These local shops become a part of the landscape mosaic, developing and fabricating tools that shape a new approach to shaping the land, based on the support of a local food economy that prioritises diversity, resilience and innovation.
