December 13, 2024
Carmarthenshire Machine Ring

We always say that no two libraries of things are the same – and our network are doing a pretty good job of proving that!
All across Wales we’ve seen Libraries of Things in empty shops, in public libraries and even a bus! And sometime, you find that a Library of Things can offer specialist equipment, supporting small businesses and enterprise by loaning equipment that would be expensive to purchase. Carmarthenshire Machine Ring is one of the new kids on the Benthyg block, and in this blog, Alison Sheffield, Join Wales Manager of Social Farms & Gardens will explain a little more about the project:
“Social Farms & Gardens (SF&G) is a UK-wide charity supporting communities to farm, garden and grow together.
“In spring 2023, we were approached by Carmarthenshire County Council to apply for a small pot of revenue funding (Levelling Up Fund) following the success of our Sustainable Food Procurement for Local Prosperity pilot [LINK]. This pilot had a slight funding quirk that meant we had lease-hired equipment to a number of growers in Carmarthenshire and in North Powys in order to enable them to diversify or expand to help meet public sector demand for fruit and vegetables. However we thought this model had potential!
Through partners, we have access to a local bolthole in Bremenda Isaf farm where we were could store and manage machinery. Our initial activity was to convene growers at the local site to introduce the concept and to build connections between growers. In the spirit of co-production we considered what would inspire growers to participate in the session so we included a tour of Bremenda, which is an interesting new site, and a nice lunch provided by a local chef.

During the session, we established a baseline. What are you growing? How are you growing? At what scale are you growing? And what are your aspirations? We really wanted to focus on upscaling production for the public plate, so some of the growers had useful input, but maybe this wasn't a space for them. We also started to build a list of potential items that could be useful within a horticulture machinery ring.
After the event and over the next couple of months, as a staff team we investigated various online software solutions, different membership options, we looked at insurance and risk management and explored how payments could be made. We started to explore some options for governance models of the Ring going forward.
In terms of functionality we really benefited from being able to access support from Benthyg who were able to advise us on different online platforms that could manage a library of things, and put us in touch with other lending libraries.
Thanks to having previously provided equipment on a lease hire basis, we were able to use our existing paperwork that had been produced by lawyers to give us reassurance about the hire process
Our second consultation was a couple of months later in January and again we held it in an interesting location at the National Botanic Gardens. We presented the options that had come out of the research that we'd undertaken. We went through what machinery was available within our budget, weighting how we spend and we had explored the scale that people wanted to focus on. We used a traffic light system for growers to indicate what their preferences were for the various purchase options.

We proposed the use of the My Turn online platform to manage bookings, which was universally accepted, and we started to encourage the group to think about long term payment options. Being able to engage the growers in agreeing a payment plan that would both be fair and enable the machine ring to be self-sustaining, was imperative.
On leaving that event, we then set up a catalogue on My Turn. We were able to access a free trial account which has been really beneficial as we've tested it and the support from the team at My Turn has been really great in terms of understanding how the site works and its potential. I think that's one of the things that I would like to explore further and we haven't had enough staff capacity to do, there is a lot more functionality available in the system that we're currently using. We set up a standard membership option and two hire agreements – high risk and low risk. We are currently managing payments outside of My Turn, through PayPal, but this isn’t proving very seamless so we'd like to move over to Stripe. On My Turn, our library looks very professional and is fairly straightforward to use. We have all of the available items on the system so members can view what everything is and how it functions and when it can be hired.

The second thing we obviously needed to do then was to purchase machinery. We were using public funds so we did need to get three quotes for many items, however due to the changes in the procurement law we are now able to buy second-hand. We did buy some items second-hand / refurbished but generally went for new. Given that the aim of the library is longevity and shared use, we wanted to invest in something that's really quality and going to last,. Items are going to be used by lots of people so we need to guarantee their safety and be confident in their history.
So finally, in May, we launched!
We notified all the growers by e-mail we then offered an initial free membership to everyone and a refundable deposit on all items. Because we've got our staff time and insurance covered at the moment, we didn't need to bring any income in, so we were very keen to make sure that the growers are using the system and that was our priority. We did however include a refundable deposit because some of the items are expensive and this provided a bit of a guarantee. So far there have been about 15 hires and many items are in regular use (BCS pedestrian tractor, power harrow attachment) over the first 2 months.
We have an on-site coordinator who is monitoring the ins and outs of all the items and doing the maintenance. He is recording how long the maintenance is taking so we can cost it out once the project staffing is removed.
This system is reliant on trust, it's reliant on shared values, and maybe that's naivety, but actually we’re looking to forge something deeper than just an equipment library, somewhere people have a shared vision and a share investment in increasing production in the area.