See our Farm Robot!

Published about 10 hours ago • 1 min read

Last Friday, Dave and I welcomed something new to Bethany Farm.

A robot.

When Dave powered "Gather," the robot, up for the first time, the chickens were curious.

Why a Farm Robot?

Most agricultural technology is built for large commercial operations. Very little of it is designed for small farms like ours. When Suma Reddy and her team reached out about piloting the robot she’s been building, I asked her why this project mattered to her.

Her answer: She wants to make farming possible for everyone.

Especially aging farmers.

The average age of a US farmer is now 58.1 years.

And especially small farms -- farms bringing in under $350,000 make up 80 to 96% of all farms in America.

Thanks to a grant from the American Farmland Trust, we are field-testing Gather’s platform right here at Bethany Farm to find out if this technology actually helps small farms.

We’ll track hours of use, slopes, weights lifted, and reliability, and share what we learn with other growers.

Your small garden matters. So does the farmer behind it.

This doesn’t mean you need a robot, Reader.

Our entire garden -- and our massive fence project -- was built by hand, by our family.

But there will come a day when hauling the harvest and clearing the brush takes more than we have to give.

And Dave already has ideas. Mapping the property. Patrolling for deer. The possibilities are worth exploring.

We believe the most productive farms are often the smallest ones.

Change is made by many "little" people.

And that means even your garden can become a little bit more like the paradise it was intended to be.

Come see Gather, the robot, in person this Friday and Saturday.

We’re opening Bethany Farm for the Loudoun Fall Farm Tour on October 17-18.

Walk the property, see permaculture in action, meet the robot, and ask us anything about how we steward Bethany Farm.

Grow abundantly,
Nicky and Dave

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Dave & Nicky Schauder