With the rising costs of farm equipment and tools, the idea of sharing your equipment with others can not only provide financial relief, it is also great for fostering community spirit and helping the environment.

Careful investigation and research may reveal sufficient benefit in the joint ownership of certain vehicles and types of equipment  - particularly if you and your neighbours all have small blocks.

A bit of forethought and careful observation can make sharing the equipments to make and bale hay, for example, a feasible option. And a day’s difference in ploughing dates is not going to make or break a small farm’s viability.

A number of smaller pieces of equipment, such as sprayers and chainsaws, could also be considered for sharing. And if tool repair is not your strength, it may well be that of your neighbour’s. This offers the opporutnity to barter one of your strengths for the euqipment maintenance talents and the chance to  make contact with your neighbours, and discuss the choices available. As our eco-friendly ambitions are gradually realised, we can remind ourselves that a plough shared is one less plough to be manufactured in a process that we know pollutes the environment.

After all - there is no such thing as a small effort to help the planet.