National Trust launches online farming collective

IT | Kirsty Weakley | 4 May 2011

The National Trust has partnered with digital agency Public Zone to create the first online farming collective, which is designed to increase awareness of sustainable farming.

Inspired by the Farmville social networking game, MyFarm will allow an online community to control what happens on a real farm.

Wimpole Farm near Cambridge is the National Trust’s largest farm and will soon be managed by up to 10,000 subscribers as it continues the process of organic conversion.

When decisions need to be made, farm manager Richard Morris will start online discussions outlining the pros and cons of each option. Members can then vote on the options and the one with the majority of the votes cast will be carried out.

Community members will pay £30 for an annual subscription with the proceeds going back into running the online community.

Jon Alexander, a communications strategist at the National Trust who came up with the idea, said: “We live in digital times, and MyFarm is born out of a desire to use online media to facilitate a constructive connection with reality, instead of the all-too-common escape from reality.”

He added: “It’s an experiment, and we don’t know exactly how it will work – but we’re really excited to find out.”

Members will have behind-the-scenes access to the running of a farm though blogs and webcams and to help with decision-making there will be articles, comment, opinion, videos and webchats with farming experts and National Trust tenant farmers.

To sign up to the community go to www.my-farm.org.uk.

Directory: National Trust

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