SEEDER v0.3

OPEN-SOURCE FRISBEE FOR AGRICULTURAL ACTIVISM

ABSTRACT

Rooted in the politics of food, ‘Seeder’ is a frisbee for future farmers; it's a seed-spreading frisbee for education as activism, and activism as education. It has a refillable magazine for diverse seeds and once it's thrown, the seeds shoot out of three holes around the edges of the frisbee. As a fun and simple toy, it serves as a conversation-piece for people of all ages to learn hands-on about the global food system, while diversifying local ecologies. Yet as a serious and critical tool, it’s aimed at environmental activists who wish to hack the system by sowing seeds literally everywhere.

RESEARCH

Food Crimes

A 'food crime' occurs when food is used as the medium to performing the crime. From the small-case, like trashing unused food and placing false expiry dates on products. To large-scale, like the Russian ban on food imports from the West, or starvation in Africa, and even dumping food to only crush local economies. Reminds me of the famous ‘chiquita banana’ from Guatemala...

So in my simple and prejudiced mind it seemed as if the West is out to get the rest of the world, but my prejudice was corrected once I realized it's not ‘the West vs the Rest’, but it’s rather ‘Them vs US’ and by us, I mean the 99%.

Behind close doors, away from public eyes, guarded by lawyer lobbyists representing giant corporations, sit politicians and make deals between themselves. Named 'TTIP' (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), it's a series of agreements between and USA and the EU that allow giant corporations to go in and out of any economy, while having the power to sue governments if they try and protect their citizens or environment and prevent them from profiting.

Beyond 'TTIP', the agricultural world is forming an oligopoly that must be protested against due to it promoting a wrong agricultural model that creates a single point of failure, more lobbying for GMO, less biodiversity, further contamination of nature and food, more climate change, and a prevention of independent farmers from having success. This globalized food system is fueled by the power of three huge mergers between leading conglomerates in the seed and chemical industries. This means for a near-total centralization of the global food supply-chain, from seed, to pesticide, to plate.

CONCEPT

If corporate regulations are preventing farmers around the world from diversifying their land, then it's up to us to do it. When thinking of the future, I see an urban landscape that is rich in bio-diversity, where 'guerrilla gardening' is a common practice and the will to protest the oligopoly is ever-present.

For this future, I created a weapon to fight against those who undermine our freedoms. Inspired by he 'Seedbom', this weapon a seed-spreading frisbee called 'Seeder'; it has three holes that shoot out seeds from a magazine once the frisbee is thrown. It lies within a grey area of the law, while raising awareness to food supply chains through a forced transparency of bio-diversity in urban areas.

‘Seeder’ is licensed under creative commons and is available for free download as three editable and printable 3D files.

Seeder v0.3 (current)

smaller 26cm diameter
printed files in one piece
large-scale printer - not precise enough
smooth top surface - removed dots texture
larger opening mechanism - still too small
cap features extruded logo to grip open/close
4.5mm rounded holes
lower profile design

Seeder v0.2

'top' and 'bottom' files pre-cut in three pieces before print due to large diameter
two types of printing techniques - layered SLA (bottom) and Formlabs UV resin (top)
Formlabs quality is superb!
cap on top with finger grooves - not useful
cap features closing mechanism - too delicate
3mm square holes