It’s been too long that I’ve been sitting on this article, but I thought it was about time to put it out in the world. It’s an introductory piece about GOAT and Open Tech mostly for farmers (by a farmer). I’m looking for general feedback and corrections or clarifications. Also, I wonder if anyone has an idea for where this might be published. My standby is the MOFGA (Maine Farmer and Gardener Assoc.) paper but that is pretty narrow and declining in readership. I’d love for someone like Civil Eats or Grist to pick it up but I am not a professional writer or anything… Any ideas?
Oh, @johnnybroadturn, I meant to follow up on this, thanks for coming by the community call to nag us all! Will post something more in the days to come, or perhaps others will chime in before then!
John. I absolutely love this. It is reflective and open, yet points out many of the critical issues and assumptions of digital agriculture. I think you do an excellent job of straddling optimism with informed critique.
I love the title - and I proposed a sub title which might help give more context to the reader.
I also dropped in a few comments and edits throughout. The main section I worked on was the concluding paragraph. I am not sure if my suggestions are actually in line with your intent… so please feel free to disregard.
Finally, I am working with a group of researchers, civil society organizations, and farmers that is exploring questions and challenges of digital agriculture from different perspectives. It’s called the North American Digital Agricultural Working Group - NADAWG.
We are finalizing a initial series of primers on digital ag and I think this might be something we would like to include or at least link to if you have it published somewhere else. Let me know if you are interested.
Thank you for writing this John! I really enjoyed it and added a couple comments and questions.
Depending on who you are trying to target, I’d can try to find additional homes for it when it is ready to publish. At very the least I can post it as a Small Farm Technology update and send it out in our tech newsletter.
I really like the tone of your article, it’s well-written and a great read.
One of my colleagues advised me to include hyperlinks in my blog posts. In your case, I think adding hyperlinks to your article would support the reader’s understanding of GOAT and the other organizations/movements you refer to throughout your post.
Thank you to those of you who offered feedback. I really appreciate your input. I did take you up on many of your suggestions.@samuejao@ElizabethVaughan@KerenR@sezuco@hopeCAL@jgaehring and others… thank you for taking the time.
I’d like a wide audience obviously so please share it as you like. I’m still working with MOFGA for getting it in print, but feel free to share the link with those who may be interested. It was fun to write and especially to read your comments made me feel more connected to the mission!!