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Phase I turns a farm idea into a DAO-ready operating plan.

Phase I is the foundation of every Kokonut Framework farm. It is the stage where a site becomes legible: the land is mapped, the local problem is documented, the crop strategy is designed, the budget is prepared, the team is trained, and the MRV baseline is established before active production begins. The purpose is simple: do not deploy farm operations until the DAO, operators, contributors, and MRV stack can understand what is being funded and how progress will be verified.

Use this page when preparing a farm funding proposal, reviewing a new farm, establishing an MRV baseline, or deciding whether a project is ready for Phase II.

13
schema fields
1
funding proposal
5
planning outputs
MRV
baseline
3–6
month target
Phase I is not a formality. A farm with incomplete data, unclear local demand, missing budgets, untrained operators, or no MRV baseline should not be treated as ready for production funding.

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What Phase I produces

Phase I can include planning, assessment, proposal development, and readiness work. The key boundary is that active production and major operational milestones should not begin until the farm has enough data, training, infrastructure planning, funding approval, and MRV baseline records to be evaluated responsibly.

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Phase I readiness loop

The loop protects the farm, the DAO, and the community. It forces assumptions to become records before they become spending decisions.

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The five Phase I workstreams

Data Collection and Diagnosis

Phase I begins by documenting the farm site and its context: soil, climate, water, biodiversity, community needs, market access, and local economic conditions.What to collect:
  • Soil: texture, organic matter, pH, drainage, compaction, microbial activity, and initial probe readings
  • Climate: rainfall, temperature ranges, drought frequency, seasonal extremes, and planting windows
  • Water: surface water, groundwater, irrigation source quality, watershed position, and erosion risk
  • Biodiversity: existing trees, at-risk species, native species, pest pressure, and habitat conditions
  • Economic context: crop demand, local price benchmarks, buyers, distribution channels, and labor availability
  • Community context: who the farm serves, what problem it addresses, and how local participation will happen
Tools that can be used:
  • Drone mapping for orthomosaic imagery and elevation models
  • QGIS for slope, drainage, boundary, and vegetation analysis
  • GPS registration for farm boundaries, trees, species, and production zones
  • Soil probes for baseline electrical conductivity, volumetric water content, temperature, and moisture conditions
  • Local interviews and market research for community demand and buyer validation
At Adelphi: the team documented coordinates in Monte Plata, generated a 3D orthomap, established a species GeoNode, recorded native species, and used local climate and soil conditions as the basis for crop selection.Schema fields started: project_date, project_location, land_size, forecasted_budget, local_problem, proposed_solution.

Crop Selection

Crop selection turns the diagnosis into a productive design. The goal is not to pick the most profitable crop in isolation; it is to design a syntropic system that produces food, builds soil, protects biodiversity, and generates revenue across multiple time horizons.Selection criteria:
  • Agro-ecological fit: crops match the farm’s soil, rainfall, heat, water, slope, and disease conditions
  • Syntropic compatibility: crops occupy different strata and support each other across time
  • Revenue timing: short-cycle crops generate early cash flow while medium and long-cycle crops establish
  • Biodiversity value: species support pollinators, habitat, nitrogen cycling, pest balance, or native conservation
  • Community and market demand: crops have buyers, local use, or direct food-access value
At Adelphi: lettuce was selected as a short-cycle cash-flow crop; passion fruit and Indian yam support medium-cycle production; coconut anchors the long-cycle model; native and at-risk fruit species extend biodiversity and nursery value.Schema fields strengthened: revenue_streams, target_market, project_summary.

Infrastructure Design

Infrastructure planning defines what must be in place before production can run safely and consistently. This includes both physical systems and evidence systems.Core infrastructure planning areas:
  • Biofactory: biochar production, humic acids, organic urea, composting, and other biological inputs
  • Water and erosion management: terraces, drainage, ground cover, irrigation, tanks, pumps, and water monitoring
  • Energy and utilities: electricity, lighting, tool storage, data collection equipment, and connectivity
  • Poultry or animal integration: housing, forage, manure handling, rotation plans, and animal welfare
  • Community infrastructure: training space, meeting area, visitor flow, and safety requirements
  • MRV infrastructure: soil probes, GPS records, data logging workflows, image baselines, and dashboard connections
At Adelphi, Public Nouns Proposal #69 helped fund critical infrastructure, including the biofactory, poultry system, manure-processing station, education gazebo, and monitoring equipment.MRV milestone: pre-production baseline readings should be captured before soil amendments, crop planting, or infrastructure changes make later comparison difficult.

Personnel Training

A farm is not Phase II-ready until the operators understand the practices they are expected to run and the data they are expected to report.Training curriculum:
  • Syntropic planting, strata design, species interactions, and the 5 Principles of Regeneration
  • Biochar production, humic acid extraction, organic urea preparation, and safe input handling
  • Soil management, cover crop maintenance, erosion monitoring, and water retention practices
  • MRV logging, field observations, image capture, soil probe checks, and dashboard updates
  • Harvest handling, local pricing, market relationships, and public goods allocation reporting
  • Proposal accountability, milestone reporting, and community communication
At Adelphi: Yanny and Neury Hernández and the farm team received training across regenerative production, bio-inputs, syntropic bed preparation, and field data logging.Framework connection: training is part of Human Capital and should be documented with attendance, role assignments, and, where possible, pre- and post-skill assessments.

Soil Preparation

Soil preparation is the first operational test of the farm’s regenerative design. It should establish healthy beds without destroying the soil biology that the farm is trying to build.Core preparation practices:
  • Biochar incorporation: use locally appropriate biomass and controlled pyrolysis, then apply biochar based on crop-bed design and soil needs
  • Organic fertility: apply biological inputs such as compost, humic acids, organic urea, or other approved inputs
  • Living cover: establish ground cover and edge vegetation to prevent bare soil and erosion
  • Minimal disturbance: form beds without deep mechanical tillage when possible
  • Baseline comparison: record soil readings before and after preparation, so future changes can be evaluated
At Adelphi: bamboo-derived biochar, beard grass cover, terraced edges, soil probe readings, and prepared crop beds established the amended baseline for Phase II.MRV milestone: post-preparation soil readings serve as the starting point for continuous Phase II measurements.

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Phase I readiness

Phase I is complete when the farm can answer five questions with evidence.

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Phase I completion checklist

Do not mark Phase I complete just because the farm has a good story. Phase I is complete when the farm has enough structured data, operational planning, team readiness, and baseline evidence to move into production responsibly.

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What Phase I does not guarantee

Phase I reduces uncertainty, but it does not eliminate risk. This is why Phase I should be treated as a readiness gate, not a guarantee of success.

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Advancing to Phase II

Phase I completion triggers the transition into Phase II — Production and Regeneration. When Phase II begins, the farm moves from planning to active production: agro-ecological practices are implemented, short-cycle crops begin generating early harvest records, medium- and long-cycle crops are established, and MRV data begin to compound across crop cycles. The farm status should be updated in the Farm Registry once all Phase I completion items have been verified. If the transition is recorded through EAS, the attestation should reference the baseline evidence, the proposal approval, and the checklist items used to justify the advancement.
MRV does not wait until the end of the farm lifecycle. It begins during Phase I with baseline evidence and continues through Phases II, III, and IV as the farm produces data, harvests, ecological observations, and public impact records.

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Use Phase I when…

Preparing a new farm

Use Phase I to turn a promising site into a complete farm record, proposal, budget, crop plan, and MRV baseline.

Reviewing a proposal

Use Phase I to check whether the project is ready for DAO review or still missing evidence.

Setting MRV baselines

Use Phase I to capture pre-production records before planting, soil amendment, or infrastructure changes begin.

Training operators

Use Phase I to confirm that the team understands syntropic farming, bio-inputs, harvest records, and field reporting.

Designing infrastructure

Use Phase I to decide what must be built before the farm can run production safely and consistently.

Preparing for Phase II

Use Phase I as the gate that determines whether the farm is ready for production and regeneration work.

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Next steps

Common Data Schema

The 13 required fields that make a farm record comparable, fundable, governable, and verifiable.

Farm Funding Proposal Template

The proposal format that turns Phase I outputs into a DAO-reviewable funding request.

Phase II — Production and Regeneration

The production phase begins after Phase I completion criteria are met.

MRV — Measurement, Reporting, and Verification

How Phase I baselines become the beginning of Kokonut’s evidence pipeline.

5 Principles of Regeneration

The regenerative practice logic that guides crop selection, soil preparation, and farm operations.

Adelphi Farm Summary

See the first live Kokonut farm and how Phase I planning became active production.