FarmBot Inc is a California Benefit Corporation founded in San Luis Obispo in July of 2016. Our mission is to grow a community that produces free and open­ source hardware plans, software, data, and documentation enabling everyone to build and operate a farming machine. Our vision is to create an open and accessible technology aiding everyone to grow food and to grow food for everyone.

Watch founder Rory Aronson share this vision in his 2014 TEDx talk at UCLA:

Public benefit purposes

As a benefit corporation, we have coded into our bylaws the following specific public benefit purposes. This legally binds our company to pursue these purposes in addition to the traditional sole purpose of a corporation of producing profit for its shareholders. It is our way of staying true and accountable to our mission and vision, as well as people and the planet.

The benefit purposes are in no particular order.

Openly share our products

products

Our company is founded on the belief that a more open food system is a better one. The following aspects of our products will be openly shared at the time the product is publicly released:

  • Hardware designs shall be released in accordance with the Open Source Hardware Association’s definition of open source hardware.
  • Software source code shall be released under a permissive license approved by the Open Source Initiative.
  • Documentation shall be released under a license conforming to the definition of “open” put forth by the Open Knowledge Foundation.

Openly share our business

business

We believe that business is a powerful agent for change, and like our products, it can be more powerful when its details are openly shared for inspection, modification, and replication by others. The following aspects of our business will be shared for the benefit of our company, our customers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and the FarmBot community at large.

  • Detailed sales and financial information including but not limited to revenues, expenditures, profits, salaries, investments, and taxes.
  • Cultural, operational, and strategic insights that we determine important to our growth and success.
  • We will default to transparency in all aspects of our business except when there are individual or partnership privacy concerns.

1% for the community

community

Each year, we shall contribute one percent (1%) of our annual net revenue towards furthering The FarmBot Project’s mission to “Grow a community that produces free and open-source hardware plans, software, data, and documentation enabling everyone to build and operate a farming machine.” Contributions shall consist of cash, products, and services that directly help to maintain and grow the community.

Be good people

good-people

We strive to do the right thing in every situation: for each other, our customers, the environment, and all of our stakeholders. We make ethics, integrity, transparency, and community the cornerstones of our business.

What’s next?