From Farm to Fork design concept

1. Team A
UbiFarm
Team Instructor /
Tsen-Yao Chang (Taiwan)
Facilitator /
Ikea Lee (Taiwan)
Team members /
Yao-Ting Hsieh (Taiwan)
Shu-Ting Chuang (Taiwan)
Veranika Lim (Netherlands)
Whangjae Lee (Korea)
Lim Zhi Ying (Singapore)

2. Final Projects 7170 Asian Smart Living International School Report. 2014 7170
Background Exploration
The current main problem with the Friendly Life Shop is a lack of income
and human resources, so it can only help a few small-scale farmers in
environmentally-friendly farming through the difficult start-up time. In
the exploration process, the design team interviewed many stakeholders,
including managers and staff at the Friendly Life Shop, small-scale farmers
that are currently cooperating with the Shop, and small-scale farmers that
have not cooperated with the Shop. After the interviews, the students
found that, for the small-scale farmers that are currently cooperating
with the Shop, the Shop is not their sole sales channel, and there was a
lack of special irreplaceable value. In addition, the team also discovered
that because the farmers are usually busy farming, the farmers that use
conventional farming methods and the farmers that use environmentally
friendly farming methods do not have many chances to interact.
Furthermore, small-scale farmers that are not members of the Shop believe
the Shop is too far from their farms; they prefer to sell their produce by
themselves or through other channels. The main challenges faced by the
Friendly Life Shop are:
1) to increase customer volume and sales volume, in order to further
increase the number of cooperating small-scale farmers;
2) to assist more local farmers to practice environmentally-friendly farming
to fulfill the future needs of environmentally-friendly consumption;
3) to promote the values of environmentally-friendly farming and change
the ecology of local mainstream conventional farming.
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Figure 34 The Ubi Farm app design thinking process

3. Final Projects 7372 Asian Smart Living International School Report. 2014 7372
Design Target Positioning
In order to improve the above communication problems and increase
the importance of the Shop, the design team proposed the design of an
official website and the idea of an "Ubi Farm" app, in hopes of establishing
an exchange platform between small-scale farmers and consumers, as
well as among farmers, to improve the information transparency and
create opportunities for exchanges. In other words, through exchanges
and cooperation, there was a chance that the drastically different local
farming methods, environmentally friendly farming and conventional
farming, could find a common ground. In addition, it allows consumers to
have a deeper realization of the value of environmentally friendly farming
and environmental sustainability, and it also increases their willingness to
consume at the Shop.
Design Details
The Shop was first established to provide customers with safe, reasonably
priced, environmentally-friendly produce, and to serve as a sales channel
for local farmers willing to adopt environmentally-friendly farming
methods. The Shop also hoped that this business model could be
expanded to other areas in Taiwan in the future. In order to achieve the
design purpose, the design team first defined two types of target groups:
customers that purchase in the Shop and new small-scale farmers. The
reason the customers visit the Shop is mostly to pursue healthier and more
environmentally-friendly lifestyles. Consequently, the production process
of the produce needs to be more transparent in order to increase the
willingness of customers to revisit and promote the Shop. The new farmers
hope to accumulate agricultural knowledge and to use farming methods
that are better for the environment, but they lack experienced guidance to
get them started.
In response to the challenges faced by the shop and the critical needs
of target customers, after going through concept development, PEST
implementation, and business model draft evaluations, the design team
finally proposed the design concept of an Internet platform and the
"Ubi Farm" app. Through the establishment of an Internet platform, the
production information of the environmentally-friendly produce can be
more transparent, which can serve as a bridge for farmers to exchange
experiences. Furthermore, utilizing the location-based services of mobile
devices, customers can instantly learn stories about local farmlands during
their tours, to increase the depth of their experiences.

4. Final Projects 7574 Asian Smart Living International School Report. 2014 7574
In the following, the service design content will be illustrated from the
perspectives of customers and new farmers’ experience journeys. First,
general customers can connect to the Shop website through the QR code
found on product packaging at the physical store, allowing them to learn
about the story behind the products and the services provided by the
Friendly Life Shop. It also links to the download page for the "Ubi Farm"
app. After logging on to the app, local customers can get information about
different farmlands that they pass through, including produce farmed,
the farming methods, expected harvest dates, the sales channels, etc. The
local customers can establish emotional bonds with the farmlands more
directly through this process; after grasping the idea of the production
process, customers may increase their desire to choose environmentally-
friendly agricultural products. In addition, when touring the farmlands, the
app will automatically launch an "Environmentally Friendly Farming Quiz."
If customers get enough correct answers, they can win Friendly Life Shop
e-coupons that serve as a stimulus for customer to revisit the Shop.
New farmers, besides discussing environmentally-friendly farming
techniques with farmers from different areas of expertise through the
Shop's Internet platform, can also input the techniques they would like to
learn during the app’s account registration process. Later on, if they pass
by farmlands that practice related techniques or are framed by farmers
who acquired the specific technology or knowledge the user is seeking,
the app will automatically inform the users so they can get the chance to
get acquainted with one another and exchange information. By consulting
experienced farmers directly, new farmers can more quickly become stable
producers of environmentally-friendly produce. The design team also
hopes that learning farming knowledge can be a turning point for farmers
to interact with one another and break the barrier between conventional
farming methods and environmentally-friendly farming methods. With
these methods, the initial goals of the Friendly Life Shop can be achieved.
Figure 36 The Ubi Farm app interface for travelersFigure 35 The Ubi Farm app interface for farmers