Schumacher College DIY Food

DIY Food Campaign progress with confirmed participation of Schumacher College, UK:

Richard, We can provide land and the students, but not i'm afraid the capital to build it.
We'd love to have you here and can see many synergies, as we expand our programmes around sustainable horticulture and food production, but as I've said at our previous meetings, your team will need to identify the initial capital investing partner.
Best wishes.
Charlie McConnell, Director, Schumacher College

Therefore, the focus now is to find a collaborator who can fund £5,000 minimum financial contribution to cover the cost of a Pilot Project completion. The low cost of the small and simplified Sola Roof DIY puts this kind of project within reach of many organizations and replication and sharing of best practices will result in least cost methods that produce best results. It is expected that the household DIY Kit will produce food of equal value to the greenhouse cost in less than one year's time - plus pure water in quantity greater than the needs of a household. The additional experience of effective solar building design will evoke a paradigm shift for homes of the future that produce an abundance of renewable resources - all essentials for life support: food, feed, fibre, fuel, water clean electrical power and controlled environment for comfort and safety in severe climate conditions.

Now I ask friends of Sola Roof in the UK to join the team and help us to showcase these breakthroughs at Schumacher College by taking a step forward on the learning curve. We will share plans and best practices with all our international collaborators. Together we can build a future of abundance for all.


Dear Richard,

I hope you are well,

I am writing a formal expression of interest on behalf of Schumacher College.

We have been engaged with the Solar Roof concept for now over 2 years. It is our opinion that the potential of the technology as a game changer is significant. When coupled with its relative simplicity and its ability to operate at various scales Solar Roof is appropriate technology enabling individuals, communities and enterprise to re-localise food production and better secure reliable and cost-accessible supply.

Schumacher College is an independent charitable organisation supporting a range of educational and enterprise activities amongst which is a focus on ecological horticulture through curriculum development, training and, via our Landscope Project, access to land for private and community start-ups. In 2009, we were the first to run in the UK an accredited sustainable horticulture course; this year we will have 40 students on 3 such courses and this is projected to expand in coming years.

Though we do not have funds to support product development we are in a position to host, trial and promote appropriate technologies. Schumacher College is part of the larger Dartington Charity, which owns a 1,200 acre Devon estate and welcomes over 1 million people a year to the range of activities we conduct, host or support. Over the past 80 years Dartington has built an international reputation for experimentation, enterprise and radical education across sustainability, the arts and social justice. We welcome the opportunity to support the Solar Roof initiative in the ways stated and would be happy to explore other possible avenues with you and those entering into commercial development of the technology.

Warm wishes, Jon

Jon Rae, D.Phil., Vocations & Enterprise, Schumacher College, Dartington Hall, Totnes