Hi, all —
This Alabama company is bringing its "tractor for small farmers" to the Midwest for demonstrations. See attached email with details, links, and current schedule (April 3 is the only Illinois date scheduled, but they’re looking for other opportunities to meet small farmers and showcase their tractor).
I love their open-sourced design business model. The Oggun website makes for interesting reading.
A possible urban use: Are tractors legal on Chicago or suburban streets?? What a great traffic calming device! Only half kidding…. I’ve often thought that golf carts are a terrific urban agriculture vehicle, especially if you have multiple locations. A golf cart and Oggun tractor are certainly a step up from my bicycle + Cannondale cart.
To Locky: I hope you don’t mind that I’m forwarding your note to the Chicago-area and Illinois food-and-farm networks. I’m not sure if any of our urban farms can make use of your tractor, but we also have lots of landscaping companies in the metropolitan area. The IllinoisLocalFoods group reaches people all over the state. Hopefully someone will take advantage of your visit.
Alan Shannon is the Public Affairs Director for the Midwest Office of USDA FNS (serving six states — IL, MN, WI, MI, OH, IN). His office’s networking group (Good Greens) is doing great work connecting eaters and farmers and supporting local food projects all over his territory. I don’t know if it’s appropriate for you to make a presentation at one of the monthly GoodGreens meetings, but I just want Alan to know about your company and visit to the Midwest.
— Debbie
Debbie Hillman
Evanston, Illinois
FOOD, FARMS & DEMOCRACY
Getting specific about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
Subject: [WFAN List] Midwest Tour: Oggun Tractor
Date: February 23, 2017 at 10:29:38 AM CST
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the list serv, but first attended a WFAN conference about 5 years ago. I connected with Bridget and Ash about what my company is doing for small farmers. We built a simple, open source tractor - a modernized Allis Chalmers G. To keep the price affordable we have a very grassroots approach (no dealers!), based on relationships. This spring we are taking a road trip, tractor in haul, to farms around the Midwest to do field demos. We would love to connect with some WFAN members along the way! Our website is
www.thinkoggun.com
Please reach out to me via email or phone
(256-244-5939) if you are interested in hosting us and inviting local farmers. Our general and very flexible schedule is below and we're ready to veer off the beaten path.
April 2: Indianapolis, IN area
April 3: Central/Northern IL
April 4-5: Madison, WI area
April 6-9: Minneapolis, MN area
April 10-13: Iowa
April 14-15: Missouri
April 16-17: Back to Alabama
Look forward to meeting you!
Regards,
Locky Catron