The central aim for Toober is surplus redistribution, parsed into two related goals: 1. Scale and replicate the existing product to other regions 2. Extend the existing business model in successful regions which will further increase the ability to scale. Scale and replicate The majority of villages, communities, and regions would be entered by Toober through two primary stages. In the
easy access to the platform by providing a mobile SMS service
TOOBER
Increased Productivity
enabling large scale production through provision with professional tools
Knowledge Exchange
farming knowledge and information sharing through platform approach
TOOBER
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- provide platform for agricultural services - charge reasonable fee pa
offers
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Farmer Jack
Farmer John
- wants to increase productivity - needs farming tools and training - cannot afford to buy them
- owns farming tools - has agricultural knowledge - wants to earn money execute booked service
Authors: Yingxi Chen, Michael Fröhlich, Christian Gebhart, Adrian Hesse, Christian Hülsemeyer
Scenario Fit:
Supervision: Laura Bechthold, Florian Lachner For further information on CDTM trend studies, please visit www.cdtm.de.
Separated New Worlds In the first scenario, where global collaboration has ceased and GMOs are widely used, Toober faces severe challenges. International conflicts between states are more common than today and border areas are filled with refugees. Access to international market is limited in most cases and countries are trying to satisfy their food demand self-sufficiently with varying degrees of success. In order to meet the demand for food, the agricultural industry is largely consolidated in most countries, leaving no place for smallholder farmers in the market. As a consequence, the remaining large scale farming corporations own all of their agricultural tools themselves, thus pushing sharing platforms like Toober out of the market. Ultimately,
Trend
enabling farmers an additional income by providing agricultural services to other farmers
Mobile Accessibility
service
Surplus
reduce high cost of professional farming tools through utility maximization
books
Service Fee In the second stage of implementation, farmers will move towards the use of Toober as a platform for information exchange. Instead of a rental fee, Toober would then charge a service fee to farmers on the platform. Every time contact information is exchanged, both potential contract parties are charged a fee. This service fee is collected from the telecommunication partners via airtime payment. Telecommunications business partners also share a portion of the payment for ICT services, with remaining collected service fees transferred to Toober.
Affordable Tools
Additional Income
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Extend the business model Storage and transportation remain the biggest hurdles to achieving true large-scale industrial farming in most underdeveloped regions. Mature market channels as well as effective storage and transportation systems are vital for the modern agricultural supply chain. Immense harvest gains made through large-scale industrial farming cannot realize their actual monetary value, without these factors. Thus, tackling storage and transportation problems become inevitable for regions to achieve true self-sustainability and prosperity. A portion of the surplus will therefore be dedicated to extending existing business model further and contributing to storage and transportation solutions. For instance, through the Toober platform, a possible next step could be to connect the vehicles passing through villages, to farmers who require vacant space for the transportation of crops.
Accelerate growth through sharing.
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Due to lack of reliable transportation and other conditions, smallholder farmers in certain areas may have trouble selling their full crop, or may sell them at inadequate prices. Toober therefore proposes a floor price for individual crops. If the current market price for crops is too low, Toober advises farmers to delay sale, while storing the crops for extended shelf time through a rentable, Toober crop-drying tool. The calculation of floor prices can be based upon cost, plus reparation for specific tools, divided by the estimated average user life of the specific machinery. A certain percentage based on maximum product lifetime usage and any pertinent discount rates would then be added.
TOOBER
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initial stage, Toober would serve as both service and platform provider; in the second stage, only as a platform. In providing services directly at the first stage, farmers are forced into financial and logistical dependency on Toober, while this business model would require further heavy fixed costs and investment. That scenario is hardly scalable. Toober‘s business model can only reach self-sustainability in the second stage, as a pure sharing platform. Surplus profit will therefore be primarily spent on tools and machinery, and then be invested to expand into new villages and regions.
transfers
Rental Fee Rental fees will serve as the primary revenue stream in the initial stages of Toober. In monetary terms, in most cases, the fee is not collected immediately after each usage, but post-harvest, making the service affordable for smallholder farmers who have no money upfront. For each tool, Toober estimates a percentage rate of increase in harvests, due to the productivity surge from using more advanced tools. When farmers have sold their seasonal crop, Toober collects a fraction of farmers’ income from harvest sales based on prior estimations.
Scenario
Ideation Ideation
agricultural sharing platforms like Toober are only profitable in countries where food security has traditionally been high, and smallholder farmers are still in business. Powder to the People A scenario where international collaboration stops completely and GMOs are not used at all would not be favorable for the business concept of Toober. The disappearance of GMOs results in fewer services which can be offered on the platform. Furthermore, the acquisition of specialized tools is more difficult than today, due to high tariffs. On the other hand, this will lead to higher demand in services including such tools. Moreover, the overall business model would have to adapt
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