Renting your neighbor’s tractor instead of going into debt to buy your own is the simple idea behind Wefarmup, a French equipment-sharing platform for farmers, similar in principle to Airbnb. Reviving the age-old concept of mutual farming, the website launched in October 2015 takes inspiration from the cooperative virtues of cofarming, allowing farmers to mutualize their investments by renting out equipment that would otherwise be sleeping in the barn.
From the reaper to the hoe, some 300 tools and machines are already available on the platform, where 500 farmers are registered free of charge. Wefarmup takes a 15% commission from the owner for each rental. As a bonus, the site offers a calculator to simulate the revenue generated by type of equipment according to the number of days rented. For example, renting a 120CV tractor four days a month can earn a farmer 480€ net, or 5,760€ in annual returns. A significant amount, considering that “the cost of automation represents 30% to 50% of farming”, according to Laurent Bernède, founder of Wefarmup.