Climate change is a threat to humanity for a number of reasons. One of the most integral pieces of a functioning society is access to food and the means to cultivate it. As climate change continues to threaten weather patterns, soil, water, and air quality, it will be extremely important that farming practices are as up to date, sustainable, and efficient as possible. There are around 500 million small-scale farmers working today that live in extremely poor conditions. Access to technology and support for farming practices is scarce for farmers in remote locations or those who live in extremely poor circumstances. WeFarm, a peer-to-peer service is working to connect farmers in these situations to better arm them with knowledge and resources from other farmers around the world.

WeFarm is dictated by a few key principles. One of which is that information sharing will improve livelihoods. Millions of people are already armed with the tools to access information sharing technology such as cell phones. This “peer-to-peer” model has great power in that generations of farmers now have a platform to share information and expertise.

The concept of WeFarm came out of an experience abroad that led its founder to notice that agriculture-based societies were missing adequate information. There was so much knowledge to be shared, even between close communities, just no useful way to bring that information together and disseminate it to the public.

An important aspect of WeFarm is that no Internet connection is needed. SMS capabilities allow users to communicate by phone. Currently, about 90 percent of small-scale farmers around the world have access to such technology. With this statistic suspected to rise in the future, WeFarm is an effective and innovative platform in the agricultural world.

– Casey Hess

Photo: Flickr