Back in 2012 I blogged about cloud computing and explained three alternative models of this – ‘infrastructure as a service’ (IaaS), ‘platform as a service’ (PaaS), and ‘software as a service’ (SaaS). The “… as a Service” business model is based around the idea of the manufacturer retaining the asset but receiving payment by results or by usage. For instance, Rolls Royce provide their aero engines to airlines on the basis of power usage.
Now the Small Robot Company is promoting its concept of “farming as a service” (FaaS) here. The company specialises in providing robots that can perform a variety of functions in agriculture:
- soil and crop monitoring
- precision spraying
- laser weeding
- precision drilling and planting.
The farmer pays nothing upfront, but on a per hectare basis for a healthy crop.
Jones and Robinson 