CropKit – Smart Farmer-Centric Toolkit Ecosystem for Small Farms

The Disappearance of Small Farms

Small-scale farms are vital to Europe’s food sovereignty, biodiversity, and ecological resilience. Yet they are vanishing at an alarming rate. In just ten years, Europe has lost more than half of its small farms. Their decline fuels monocultures, ecological degradation, and the erosion of rural communities. The future of European agriculture stands at a crossroads: the disappearance of small farms is not merely a statistical trend but a profound transformation with far-reaching consequences.

Precision Agriculture Technologies (PATs) are often presented as the solution, but today they mostly serve large agribusinesses, reinforcing inequalities and creating new dependencies. Smallholders are caught in a vicious cycle of heavy workloads, fragile economics, and systemic neglect — a cycle that PATs rarely break because they are applied at the wrong leverage points. Agriculture does not need more technology and automation for monocultures. It needs radical tools for diversity, resilience, and autonomy. True innovation begins when farmers remain in control — not when they are replaced.

From Dependency to Autonomy

The outcome is CropKit, a modular, open-source ecosystem designed to meet the unique needs of smallholders. At its centre is the CropKit Base, a micro-tractor modelled after the familiar two-wheel tractor. Compact, flexible, and offering three levels of autonomy — from manual to assisted — it allows farmers to adopt technology gradually and on their own terms. Modular attachments expand its functions from soil preparation to planting, transport, and data collection. By combining usability with digital insights, CropKit reduces dependency, lowers barriers, and respects farmer autonomy.

CropKit demonstrates that agricultural innovation can be co-created with farmers and designed for systemic change. In a time of ecological crisis, it stands as a first step toward a farming future that is resilient, regenerative, and rooted in people, not machines.

An Ecosystem of Tools for Farmers

CropKit is not just one machine, but a family of modules that expand its capabilities across the farming cycle. With these modules, the Base transforms from a simple two-wheel tractor into a flexible ecosystem that adapts to the diverse needs of small farms. Farmers can start with the basics and expand step by step, lowering costs, reducing dependency, and safeguarding autonomy. CropKit is more than a machine: it is a vision for systemic change — showing that technology can be collaborative, adaptable, and empowering by default.

Modules:

- Power – drives powered implements like mowers or planters via PTO.

- Walk – manual walk-behind control with ergonomic handlebar.

- Remote – smartphone-based remote control and path replay.

- Pilot – autonomous navigation with RTK-GPS and RGB-D sensors.

- Cargo – transport of up to four Euroboxes, guided by Walk or Remote.

- Float – ergonomic platform for delicate hand tasks like weeding.

- IQ – the brain: sensing, data, and analysis via RGB-D camera and bioacoustics, with digital services: Logbook, Scout, Planning, Habitat, Edu.