Using Drones and VR to Teach Permaculture

Edge Perma is an online learning platform that uses the latest technology to develop new methods for teaching permaculture design and regenerative farming. Please review the following content and consider giving your feedback below.

Edge Perma





3D Model Sample: Inspiration Farm Bellingham, WA


You can help support this project by answering the following questions. If you would prefer to give general feedback or ask questions in the comments, please do!

1. Which documentation methods from the video do you find useful and why? Methods include Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours.

2. If this platform was live and you could tour dozens of farms online, would this interest you?

3. What are you most interested in learning from established farms?

4. Would you consider using this content in a PDC or classroom setting, or would it be for personal learning?

5. Are you most interested in learning about urban agriculture, homesteads, small farms, or large-scale farms?

6. At the beginning of the second video, I go over the Edge Perma mission. What parts of our mission resonate with you?

7. Please list any farms in your area that may be good candidates for this project. We want to know who you want to learn from!

8. What would you be willing to pay for a virtual tour of a farm? This includes all methods of documentation mentioned and hours of video content with the farmers. (Half of this cost goes directly to the farmer)

9. If we were to launch a crowdfunding campaign would you be willing to pre-purchase access to the site and farm tours.

10. If we offered a course specifically for educators teaching you how to use these same methods, would that interest you?

Any additional thoughts or feedback are greatly appreciated. I will do my best to answer any questions you have about Edge Perma.

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Thanks!
Andrew Tuttle

Andrew Tuttle wrote: 1. Which documentation methods from the video do you find useful and why? Methods include Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours.

Virtual tours seemed the most useful to me, and that is because I have never taken a PDC where I would  have gotten a fully-integrated understanding of how elevation and aspects of topography work when designing. If I learned more about macro design principles, I would understand the value of the maps and aerial images more.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:2. If this platform was live and you could tour dozens of farms online, would this interest you?

Yes! I would love to "tour" other people's projects and get information and inspiration!

Andrew Tuttle wrote:3. What are you most interested in learning from established farms?

How to integrate livestock with the gardens.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:4. Would you consider using this content in a PDC or classroom setting, or would it be for personal learning?

I would use it at home!

Andrew Tuttle wrote:5. Are you most interested in learning about urban agriculture, homesteads, small farms, or large-scale farms?

Until I can get out of the city onto some more land, I am most interested in urban agriculture, but I like brainstorming about a future homestead as well.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:6. At the beginning of the second video, I go over the Edge Perma mission. What parts of our mission resonate with you?

Education and sharing with farmers!

Andrew Tuttle wrote:7. Please list any farms in your area that may be good candidates for this project. We want to know who you want to learn from!

I live in the southeastern United States, and would love to see southern Kentucky, Tennessee or northern Alabama farms profiled!

Andrew Tuttle wrote:8. What would you be willing to pay for a virtual tour of a farm? This includes all methods of documentation mentioned and hours of video content with the farmers. (Half of this cost goes directly to the farmer)

Depending on how closely the working farm matched my interests and goals, $20 to $50.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:9. If we were to launch a crowdfunding campaign would you be willing to pre-purchase access to the site and farm tours.

I might.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:10. If we offered a course specifically for educators teaching you how to use these same methods, would that interest you?

I am such a beginner, this question does not apply to me.

Andrew Tuttle wrote:Any additional thoughts or feedback are greatly appreciated. I will do my best to answer any questions you have about Edge Perma.

People do need education on what to do, but we also need accountability partners and community. If you could keep everyone you work with connected and in touch even after tours and projects were done, I think that would be just as important!

Thank you so much for your feedback, Rachel! Your input will help this project grow to better serve the permaculture community.

We hope to feature farms throughout the U.S. I do not currently have any farms on my radar in your region of interest. Please get in touch with me when you find projects that we should consider collaborating with. You can email me directly at Andrew@EdgePerma.com. I am sure we will learn of many great farms down there once we start traveling the country.

I like your idea of creating a community that focuses on accountability partnerships. Maybe we could host regular zoom meetings with course participants where folks could share their goals and give regular updates.

Please consider signing up for our email newsletter at EdgePerma.com to receive updates. Additionally, If you know other folks that may be interested in providing feedback on our work, please forward them this post.

We appreciate you!
-The Edge Perma Team

Here is our presentation at the 2022 Global Earth Repair Summit if you would like to learn more:

We are also presenting on December 7th at the Drone Deploy Regenerative Agriculture Webinar:
Drone Deploy Webinar

1. Which documentation methods from the video do you find useful and why? Methods include Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours.
All of them are useful. They may provide additional and even unique info not possible to be acquired even if you spent an hour or more visiting a site.
2. If this platform was live and you could tour dozens of farms online, would this interest you?
Of course!
3. What are you most interested in learning from established farms?
The list is long...., but I find it useful to have analytical information (both quantitative and qualitative) about each farm beyond the usual general info. As such, I would love to know how they perform against an established benchmark for each variable (see below...)
4. Would you consider using this content in a PDC or classroom setting, or would it be for personal learning?
Yes!
5. Are you most interested in learning about urban agriculture, homesteads, small farms, or large-scale farms?
Interested in all!
6. At the beginning of the second video, I go over the Edge Perma mission. What parts of our mission resonate with you?
Your mission to educate resonates with me, and I see a lot of potential here. That is the reason for actually posting for my first time to Permies forums, even though I have been a lurker for years....
Having said that, I would strongly suggest you move further into analytical aspects for each farm. Make each one of them a research center in a multicentric study. Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours are cool and useful indeed, but their value will fade quickly if you limit yourself on the "visualization" aspect only. Ideally, I would suggest you have a pilot of 10-15 initially farms spread well geographically/by climate and/or size. You are part of Permies, a great place to network with many experts for various subjects to put together a detailed, by consensus template of metric benchmarks/conventions for each location, quantifying and qualitatively assessing everything...i.e: from quantity and quality of inputs, to outputs/yield, rainfall, irrigation, swales, power generation, regenerative/sustainable/efficient practices.  etc... ideally for a number of years and under diverse climate/economic conditions. You could have academic centers and/or government institutions interested in supporting you logistically even with funding if you approach these issues not only as a teaching platform but rather as a research and education project. It will take some time indeed to put something half decent together involving many data inputs that can be compared over time, but it will be worth it. I am a newbie on Permies and in the subject matter (though I read a lot....),  but happen to be an experienced 3D/4D visualization guy in Medical applications. Visualization is limited in scope but once you look into volumetric 3D (static) and 4D (3D over time, or dynamic 3D)  analytics, the impact these methods have in identifying the most efficient improvements are dramatic. This way also your education is not based on merely "anecdotal" evidence from some "successful" farms, but from rigorous research that many farmers would eventually find beneficial for their bottom line.  

7. Please list any farms in your area that may be good candidates for this project. We want to know who you want to learn from!
I live in Southeastern PA and the Amish are the one farming community that always fascinated me with ancient well honed sustainable practices puzzling to outsiders. Lancaster PA has many farms to visit.
8. What would you be willing to pay for a virtual tour of a farm? This includes all methods of documentation mentioned and hours of video content with the farmers. (Half of this cost goes directly to the farmer)
Price is irrelevant here, I am afraid. But it has to be cheap enough while providing unique info with global reach. While 20.00$ in US is reasonable, it is a lot for farmers in Bangladesh or Ethiopia, incidentally places where sustainable and "primitive" (read regenerative) practices are kept alive to this day. They may have some unique tricks to teach too! I wonder if you can have different pricing schemes depending on the farm and/or amount/quality of info provided.  

9. If we were to launch a crowdfunding campaign would you be willing to pre-purchase access to the site and farm tours.
I would!

10. If we offered a course specifically for educators teaching you how to use these same methods, would that interest you?
Depends what it offers, but am quite interested to see how your project evolves over time, and will keep an eye on it. I sincerely wish you all the best, otherwise!

Andrew, you might want to looks at this post:

https://permies.com/t/205621/Virtual-Permaculture-Tours-Edge-Perma#1713071

Mike said "I would advise him to read & follow FAR part 107 to the letter. FAA is very picky if he makes even one penny from the flight. Even if it's not direct profit from the flight itself. Posting the video on a monetized youtube channel or using it for a class where participants pay for the class can lead to heavy fines.

This might be of interest to other folks wanting to "Using Drones and VR to Teach Permaculture"

Thanks, Anne!

I replied to that feedback in Beau's post:

Andrew Tuttle wrote:Thanks for sharing Beau!

Hi Mike. I appreciate your input. I am a licensed drone pilot. I have been since I first started flying a couple of years ago. I am also a big advocate for getting endorsed through the FAA. Flying drones can be dangerous when you don't know the laws and best practices. I talked a bit about that in our Global Earth Repair Summit presentation. I have attached that here in case you would like to check that out.

John,

Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful input on our project! Would you be willing to meet with me via zoom or for a phone call to further discuss your feedback? You have some ideas that could make a big impact on the Edge project. You can email me at Andrew@EdgePerma.com or call/text (360)510-0102.