The Persephone Project

I grew up on the beaches of Jersey, the Island not the State, where I earned the nickname ‘the kid without an ice-cream’. I read old brown fabers and books on natural science earning the title the ‘hive of useless knowledge’. At 14 denied the place I had earned at grammar school. At 16 I left with a handful of ‘O’ levels. I worked in banks, on building sites and in glasshouses and fields. I stood in elections at 23, I started my own business in composting and was crushed by enemies I made in politics. At 32 I left and studied soil science, to quote Frank Zappa, "I sat in the Library". Now I have a degree in habitat management but no qualification before it. No one would subsequently give me a job, so I traveled and here I am, now at 53: still fighting for planet Earth.

I work and have done so for over 10 years now in helping NGO’s and small farmers adopt sustainable solutions. Covering diverse areas from biodiesel production, soil conservation, water use etc. I have come to the conclusion that change doesn’t happen in a bubble. For real change a project must have application and reach a large number of stakeholders at once. That in order to do so that project must deliver on multiple fronts and provide on going support and analysis as well as connectivity to markets, government and non-governmental programs and aid. To this ends I conceived a data ecosystem: The Persephone Project. An ecosystem that first gathers data from farmers and then matches that data to scientific data on crop and soil husbandry. This data is further shared with markets and government and NGO’s to provide farmers with access to markets, policy, aid and opportunities in carbon sequestration.

The Persephone Project aims to build a comprehensive data framework to improve the production, sustainability, quality and consumption of agricultural products across the globe. Aimed not at any one community but at all farmers across the globe it intends to reach every farm, regardless of size or crop choices to provide access to relevant and critical data in the maintenance of soil fertility and the cultivation of crops.  Through DAO management tools and AI it will create data cooperatives that allow farmers to collectively manage resources, gain access to wider markets and play a significant role in tackling climate change in carbon sequestration programs.  The project has the ambitious target of reaching and including all 650 million small farmers (UN FAO estimation) over the next seven years in order to provide:

1) Access to relevant agricultural data
2) Tools to manage natural resources equitably and sustainably
3) Access to virtual and physical marketplaces
4) Automated mechanisms to manage produce logistics and authenticate origin.

In addition the framework will aim to generate significant 'real time' land use and environmental data at the local, state and national scales in order to provide markets and governmental bodies with accurate crop and environmental data.

The Persephone project is a data ecosystem that farmers upload details to on the soil, crop and water resources they have and then matches that data with scientific data to give tailored advice on the sustainable management of land and correct cultivation of crops. It further uses the data to connect farmers to form virtual cooperatives so that they can equitable share resources and collectively market produce. Additionally the ecosystem can aggregate data to give markets and governments advanced notification of expected harvest dates and yields as well as data on land and water use so as to aid policy decisions.

Verification from remote sensing, human analysis and other data can further provide opportunities for farmers to engage in and gain income from carbon sequestration and reforestation programs in order to tackle climate change. Finally the ecosystem can manage logistics and produce authentication so as to minimize crop loses and provide the consumer with authenticity in crop origin and cultivation methods.

The Persephone project is complete, all encompassing and aims to leave no one out in the strive towards a sustainable and equitable Planet. 

The project aims to serve every farmer from those with just 10m2 of land to those with 10,000 ha or more. Anyone with access to mobile or internet services will be able to upload data and earn income from that data. Income that will allow them to purchase seed and equipment relevant to their individual operation. Through the ecosystems farmers will be able to gain access to critical knowledge, learn of potential pest or disease problems and how to mitigate them in advance and furthermore be able to take part in global efforts to tackle climate change, earning income in the process from doing so.

The industries connected to farming, the markets and logistics companies will also be served as virtual market places and blockchain technology enhance supply chains mechanisms and logistics to facilitate the purchase and movement of goods.

Finally governments and agencies will benefit as aggregated data improves policy and decision making and then through the blockchain and the cypto currency Gateway allows for seamless payments to farmers for adopting amd maintaining measures that enhance our environment and tackle climate change. 

The Persephone Project is a comprehensive data ecosystem that very much relates and fulfils the desire of the elevate prize to "have the potential to elevate humanity" and further fulfills the three principal dimensions: 

• Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind
• Elevating issues and their solutions by building awareness and driving action to solve the most difficult problems of our world
• Elevating understanding of and between people through changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

After spending years trying to help farmers and NGO’s develop and adopt strategies for sustainability and seeing those ideas fail because either they were not adopted correctly or the farmer after having adopted them then reverted back to the old bad practices I began to realize that change cannot happen in a bubble.

Lack of a broader understanding and peer pressure (being the odd one out) combined to make the farmer revert and conform to past ‘bad’ practices. Even when he understood the long term consequences of his actions (i.e. soil erosion) reversion still took place. The old paradigm was exerting pressure and crushing the new.

The solution was to change all of the farmers at once, to create a critical mass that tipped the majority into the new paradigm and then pulled the remaining few forward rather than the reverse. What was missing was a way to reward farmers so that they maintained the new methods until they become the norm; and then came bitcoin. Blockchain similarly presented a means to bring subsistence farmers into the solutions to tackle climate change. What was needed was an all encompassing data ecosystem one that covered all bases.

In Simple terms because it will work! It will provide the framework to enrich the lives of billions whilst simultaneously making a major contribution to tackling environmental destruction and climate change.

It’s important to me because I care passionately about our blue planet. Our shared home that could with such ease be a paradise for all future generations. I have no personal connection with any one geographical location or community, my connection is with the planet as a whole and with the whole of humanity.

The Universe is my home, Planet Earth is just where I live.

Because I understand the connections, the interactions and synergies that bring disparity entities together, like the thread that stitches the cloth I can hold the garment, or as is the case here, the framework together. I can talk to and understand the language of different sciences be they the biological, mechanical, chemical or data fields. Whether its the natural sciences, the political or economic I can grasp the core elements and see how they connect.

I am unique in that I am practically skilled in engineering and horticulture, scientifically trained in soil and habitat management and competent in basic programming, web development and writing literature. I adapt, draw on the skills I need for the moment and continue to progress

I am similarly well traveled and have lived with diverse communities and cultures from the extreme poor to the very rich. I have climbed mountains, walked across deserts and swam seas and in doing so have gained a unique understanding of the human condition and the world we inhabit. A breadth rather than a depth of knowledge that has allowed me constantly evolve and to further conceive the Persephone project.

My life has been nothing but adversity, a constant struggle to be heard. At every impasse I have though found a way to overcome. Denied the education I wanted I educated myself. I started an environmental business only to be crushed by an environmental department. Then turned that defeat into victory as it gained me entry to Reading University. When following graduation no one would give me a job, so I packed my bags and set out to reach and teach the subsistence farmers of the World.

When I sold the last of my bitcoins and was introduced to India’s great agricultural challenge I wrote a solution that addressed 11 of the 12 problems, only for the blockchain developers who had asked me to write it, to do nothing. I was, being a foreigner, ineligible to pursue it on my own so I turned the concept into a global one and thus was born the Persephone project. When no one would read it (despite GODANS discussion document calling for such) I carried on. I refused to give up and looked for a place where I could build it on my own..and then I found Nepal.

I don’t think I am a leader, not in the sense you likely mean. I am more an innovator, the exception rather than the rule. The rat that won't die. I see the World and the Universe through different eyes for I am not here to be, nor do I want to be a leader, I am more a man of action than rhetoric. I don’t seek to galvanize the masses behind simplistic solutions but to build the framework that future generations will thank me for. It is not the present I chose to serve or receive accolade from but the future, the generations yet to be born. If I lead on anything it will be as an example to them.

Never give up, never stop trying for the difference between success and failure is giving up. So I am not a leader, I am a survivor, a problem solver. In truth no one follows me for no one ever could and still be alive.

What makes the Persephone Project unique is that it seeks to create an integrated data network that is specifically built upon the data supplied by farmers. It then uses that data to tailor advice to the farmers needs whilst simultaneously aggregating that data to create virtual co-operatives so that neighboring farmers can share resources equitable and supply markets collectively. It furthermore integrates distributed mechanisms and blockchain technology so that logistics in the supply chain can be deployed effectively then aggregates data so government agencies can develop policy that identifies and responds to specific farmer needs. In this way problems can be anticipated and strategies devised to tackle them before they become crisis's.

Unlike other solutions the Persephone projects strength is in its reach and comprehensiveness. The bigger the network becomes the more benefits individual farmers, markets and government agencies will receive. The Persephone Project doesn't seek to compete but to cooperate and assimilate other ideas and projects into it so that collectively we can solve the Worlds environmental and climate problems. None will be left behind.

The Persephone project is a topological framework that brings disparity entities together into a structured mechanism in order to form data cooperatives. Instead of competing for resources and markets farmers will be able to equitable share those resources on a need basis determined by the data. They will similarly be able to better plan to meet the market requirements thus avoiding over and under production. They will maintain their independence but at the same time be able to respond to the economic, social and environmental factors without having to actually analyze or monitor them: this will be done by the network freeing them of concerns and allowing them to concentrate on production.

Food wastage will become a thing of the past as retailers are connected to the producers through virtual market places and AI and blockchain technology turns the logistic industries into semi autonomous supply chains. Authentication mechanisms built on the same blockchain technology will ensure every cabbage, every ear of corn has an origin and a destination.

Similarly governments will no longer need to guess the policies or base them on limited studies, instead the data will reveal them and permit them to be tailored to individual farms and farmers. No longer will one size fit all, with the Persephone projects ecosystem every policy will become a tailored fit.

The Persephone Project is currently serving 20 people and is in discussion to include more (Covid19 has negatively impacted our ability to increase participation) . We are at the pilot stage for most of our projects and should we secure sufficient funding anticipate that within a year we will be serving more than 1000 farmers in Nepal and within two years all of Nepal. The network is recursive and inclusive; farmers can join at any time, and in doing so they add value to the network for it gains strength and robustness in growth.

We anticipate that with sufficient funding we can reach 200,000 or more farmers across South East Asia in five years and within ten include every subsistence farmer with access to mobile technology across the entire globe.

The Persephone project aims to reach and provide critical data to every farmer on the planet. We aim to do it at breakneck speed. Like a new dawn, a new day, yesterdays storm will seem far far behind. None will be left behind

Our immediate goal is to establish pilot operations, concentrating first on delivering soil fertility benefits (biochar and carbon sequestration) and basic crop husbandry advice whilst similarly building into these projects the means to recursively add them to the data ecosystem as it evolves.

Over the next year we hope to expand this into a Nationwide pilot project in Nepal. We will keep expanding the resources, improving the soils and husbandry advice as we build a comprehensive land use database based on soil and crop data.

Over the next five years, beginning with countries in South East Asia we will mirror the project which will then be rolled out globally.

In order to achieve this objective we will establish a data centre in Pokhara Nepal to build the apps and manage the pilot projects. We will constantly test the network resilience, analyze the data and hone the concept.

We will then replicate and integrate the data model in other regions so as to build a distributed network serving farmers by region whilst simultaneously aggregating the data to provide statistics on land use and crop production across scales.

We currently lack the finances and technical expertise to build the main data infrastructure, Thus we have been concentrating on developing the practical components of the system: the LUI, the soil improvement and crop advice program. The lack of finances is similarly the chief reason for the lack of technical expertise. In short we can't afford the programmers for database, mobile app and blockchain construction. We are similarly restricted by lack of funding to the extent that we can reach with the crop and soil programs.

We further anticipate that in some jurisdictions there may be barriers to the use of blockchain technology to distribute payments and DAO’s to manage those payments.

To overcome the lack of technical expertise in database construction and app development we will, subject to securing funding, create a development centre so that we can employ the software and database developers to build the network.

To overcome resistance to blockchain technology we will involve central government and its finance institutions to monitor and regulate the operation.

Furthermore we will authenticate all wallet holders and will put limits on the size and number of transactions any one wallet holder can initiate thus discouraging speculation and margin trading. These steps will prevent secondary trading of crypto currency on exchanges or the use of tokens to export wealth. These steps should alleviate those concerns and simultaneously create genuine value in the currency as transactions reflect the exchange of goods and services not speculative trading and market manipulation.

We are currently partnering with one local organization (ADAOS) to create a demonstration and training operation in soil management an crop cultivation. Furthermore we are in negotiation to expands this with partnership proposals with other local organizations. However as with many aspects of our program Corvid19 has impacted on our ability to develop these partnership programs to the extent we would have liked. However we anticipate that once the pandemic is over we will be able to resume these programs without any adverse consequences.

We are similarly partnering with Reading University and Tribhuvan University to develop the soil fertility and carbon sequestration program using biochar. This is a pilot operation that we are hopeful will blossom into a long term applied and research program that we will extend across the whole of Nepal. It will similar form the bases of our first program to tackle climate change,

The key customers are government, academic institutions and NGO’s with the the main beneficiaries being small and subsistence farmers. As the network grows and the services develop those customers will themselves become beneficiaries as data gathering and analysis provides reliable statistics for policy and research direction.

The services we supply in the first instance are training in crop and soil husbandry. Followed by opportunities for research programs by academic institutions. Data gathering and analysis of the first two will then feed back into government policy and aid programs.

These services are provided through demonstration and workshop initiatives, registration of farmers and farming enterprises, reconnaissance, monitoring and land assessment for academic research. The data then gathered being aggregated for Government and Policy utilisation.

small and subsistence farmers lack essential knowledge in crop and soil husbandry whilst Government bodies lack data on the activities of small farmers. Research institutions require opportunities to measure improvements in real case operations. Through the Persephone project ecosystem all three key beneficiaries will be able to interact.

In the first instance we are looking for funding through sponsorship and grant funding from relevant organisations. For areas of the project that have commercial potential (i.e. biochar and biodiesel production) we are looking for private investment. Later and in order to fund the data reward system (Gateway) we hope to first raise investment capital through an ICO component in the crypto-currency. This will be used to pay farmers for data and create market places where farmers can obtain seed and tools. The goods available to the farmer will further be identified by the data the farmer supplies so that the items are suitable for the specific farming operation. Gateway will be further developed to facilitate the application of Government grants and Carbon offset payments to farmers: the degree to which they have met targets being determined by the data they supply verified by external data such as remote sensing and human analysis. This analysis we hope to develop as a refugee program whereby refugees can earn Gateway tokens for annotating remotely sensed maps. Similarly through a curator-ship mechanism revenues will be raised by selling aggregated land use and crop data to governments and relevant industry bodies. It is envisaged that the data itself will ultimately become the main mechanism that will fund the network in the long term.

Currently we are not in receipt of any funding from any organisation but we are actively pursuing such. All the costs and overheads to date have been borne by the principal applicant.

We are currently in the process of seeking grant funding from several donor organisations and looking to raise capital by partnering with industry to build biochar and biodiesel plants. We are hopeful of raising between $10,000 and $20,000 from grant bodies. These monies will be used to fund the initial IT and app development programs.

By partnering with industry we hope to build a pilot biochar plant to produce biochar for use in our soil improvement program. This program will further be supported through partnership with academic institutions.

We are currently working on the assumption of raising between $10,000 and $20,000 for ongoing projects. These funds will be used to build a data centre for software and app development.

Fixed Costs/Overhead

type / annual total

Computer room rental $ 1200pa

Utility bills (electric) $600pa

Internet communication costs $480pa

Book keeping $480pa

Insurance $300pa

Postage $120pa

Web site hosting $150pa

Advertising & marketing $1200pa

Salaries for web development $1000pcm (5x $200) $12000pa

Consumables $ 720pa

gross total of fixed costs for year 2020 $17250

In essence the funding will allow me to assemble a team to build the data ecosystem. With sufficient funding I can make it a reality and do what we both want; change the World for the better. 

As well as funding the Elevate fund, MIT and many of the other partners I want to involve in the project can supply the database, blockchain, app and web development expertise I lack. 

These same people can also help to overcome the barriers, particularly at the government level. 

Together we Can Turn a Blue Planet Green   

As much of our work relies on the building of the IT infrastructure and our team are largely soil scientists and agronomists our main interest is in forging partnerships with IT professionals and institutions.

Furthermore we lack both the funds and the skills to independently employ database, web and App developers. Thus we need both the funding to employ and assistance in finding and assessing the skills of those we employ to build the network and create the supportive data apps.

Similarly we are not business orientated but research and technical and so whilst we can develop the training, demonstration and scientific monitoring programs we are not adept at building the business model, managing finances or connecting with industry. Thus it is in IT, financial management and business development that we most need to find partners

As well as wishing to partner with MIT we are currently seeking partnership with the Shuttleworth Foundation and its fellows, several of whom are working on related projects. Similarly we are in the process of building collaborative projects with Reading University and Tribhuvan University with respect to carbon sequestration programs and are also open to and actively seeking partnership with industry to build the biochar and biodiesel plants needed for the carbon sequestration programs.

In the long term we hope to partner with more local and regional NGO's, development bodies, academic institutions and research groups, particularly those with large scientific databases (i.e Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum) that we can parse into the Paradigm database. Be they a small local farming cooperative or a massive government institution we seek partnership with them all.