July 10, 2017
We all know Uber or Airbnb or, at least, we heard about it! These web sites, real embodiments of what is known as the sharing economy, literally revolutionized the way of doing business in certain domains such as transportation or the hotel industry.
Given the success of these innovative business models, some acute and audacious entrepreneurs caught the ball on the bounce and tried to apply the same “recipe” to other economic activities. Thus, no need to be surprised by the recent arrival of WeFarmUp, a French start-up which aims at being the meeting point of supply and demand for… farming machinery!
Created in 2015, WeFarmUp fulfills an economic need, but also a striking social need, since challenges of the agricultural world are immense. Financial difficulties, succession problems, high prices of state-of-the-art agricultural machinery: so many factors which question farms viability and farmers determination to pursue day after day, relentlessly, their essential work.
“What if we could at least make the machinery profitable, the use of which is not always optimal?” That is the question Laurent Bernede, agricultural engineer and himself farmer, and Jean-Paul Hebrard, also agricultural engineer and media man, asked themselves, noticing for instance that a tractor could be used on average only eight hours a week. How to get your money’s worth with the farming machinery? Just as Uber or Airbnb did, by creating a virtual market place where farmers can offer their equipment to rent. Simple, yet effective!
Whether it is to test a new type of machinery, to counter a sudden breakdown or for a limited task that requires a specialized piece of equipment, the WeFarmUp network gives access to about 3,000 diverse machines offered by 4,000 farmers present on the platform. In need of a fertilizer distributor? In a blink of an eye, WeFarmUp proposes to the applicant a series of rental offers within a radius of 30 kilometers of its farm, and puts farmers in contact. Sensitized to the problems of the agricultural world and willing to play a key-role in the development of local communities, Groupama insures the leased material. The mutual insurance company has thus become an essential partner of WeFarmUp, given the value of assets temporarily exchanged between farmers.
With WeFarmUp and similar web sites created in the same vein, the agricultural world is witnessing the emergence of cofarming, a state of mind which aims at the creation of a robust community of mutual aid. Of course, the best management of agricultural assets for farmers is one of the most tangible aspects of cofarming. But let’s not forget that a website such as WeFarmUp also allows, in the purest cooperative spirit, to forge links between producers, to generate a lot of exchanges and a wealth of rural knowledge, things that are priceless! And for those who still doubt the originality and the utility of WeFarmUp, be aware that it has just won the 12th edition of BFM Académie, a major entrepreneurship contest broadcasted on French radio and television.
Here’s a ray of sunshine that will for sure greet the efforts of the creators of this original and necessary website, while shedding a little more light and heat to the agricultural world!