Backers vote to determine locations of organic food production centers
PRLog - Dec. 26, 2013 - COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A KickStarter campaign has launched with the goal of crowdfunding urban, organic food production centers. Each will be designed for high-density production of organic food and will include substantial automation and staff management capabilities. The locations for the centers will be determined by votes submitted by backers of the project. Urban farming groups in the selected communities will be engaged to help obtain and manage physical facilities.
In 2012, the Hydroponic Automation Platform Initiative (HAPI) was founded with the goal of developing an open source automation platform for hydroponic food production. Since then, HAPI has expanded to also include grow system designs and educational outreach. Launched as an extension of HAPI, the KickStarter campaign will provide a channel to deliver state-of-the-art food production capabilities to urban areas where healthy food is often scarce.
The campaign has a low funding goal, under $15,000, that will help the project to continue. For every $10,000 of funding over the goal, HAPI will build one urban food production center. The owners/operators will provide the space and utilities while the HAPI team will provide the grow systems, automation platform, site design, staff management software, start-up guidance and operational support. HAPI founder Tyler Reed stated “In 2010, I found myself asking: how can the food system be transformed? How can we shift from large-scale production of food grown using questionable methods and substantial amounts of fuel and chemicals, to a local production model where the values of the community dictate the means and methods used. The HAPI project was created out of a strong desire to provide solutions to these problems.”
Campaign rewards include organic seeds, hydroponics classes and personal hydroponic systems. To back the HAPI project, go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/302950287/hydroponic-automation-platform-initiative-hapi. The project will only be funded if at least $14,900 is pledged by Wednesday Jan 22, 10:32am EST.
About HAPI
Created in 2012, a key purpose of HAPI is to create open source automation and designs for scalable food production systems. This includes sensing and monitoring, remote-control, automation, power management and the design of high-yield grow systems that can be customized to meet end user requirements. In fall of 2013, the project launched an educational outreach program by providing public hydroponics classes, engaging with schools in Nashville, TN and Columbus, OH and making educational content freely available to the public.
HAPI is staffed and funded by its volunteer members. To learn more about the HAPI initiative, please visit the project website at http://hapihq.com
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KickStarter Project Aims to CrowdFund Food Revolution
December 26, 2013 at 13:09 PM EST
