Concept library

Free, plain language explanations of the ideas behind The Farm Operating System. Use them, share them, adapt them. Just credit the source.

• What is the Farm Operating System?

  The Farm Operating System is a practical way to run a small farm or homestead using asset management: know what you own, judge its condition and criticality, plan the work, and keep records that outlast you.

• Application dose: how much asset management does a small farm need?

  In the Farm Operating System, every tool comes in three levels, minimum effective dose, recommended practice and expanded, so a small farm applies the minimum effective dose of asset management its situation needs.

• What is a farm asset register?

  A farm asset register is a simple, maintained list of what a farm owns, where it is, what it does and what condition it is in, and how to build one you will actually keep up.

• What is a single point of failure on a farm?

  A single point of failure is one asset whose failure stops a whole service on the farm, and how to find them and what to do about them.