Barney
Barney Muckle was the inventor of the Barney Planter. He developed the tool over many years at his farm on the western slopes of Mount Kenya.
He was an agricultural engineer with over 50 years' field experience across Africa, and a lasting passion for Conservation Agriculture.
In 1966 he spent 18 months in Sierra Leone on secondment from (then) Silsoe Agricultural College, UK. In 1973 he joined the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and moved to Algiers, where he worked on intermediate and appropriate technology projects.
In 1977 Barney moved to Kenya with the FAO, where he was project manager in Nakuru. There he was tasked with creating a large-scale evaluation programme testing small farm machinery for use in Kenya. Over the following decade, Barney travelled throughout Kenya initiating projects in crop management, animal husbandry, water management, alternative energy and low-technology techniques.
After retiring from the FAO, Barney worked as a consultant, conducting field research for the World Bank, FAO and International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Ethiopia, Gabon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. He also served as an external examiner for the University of Nairobi, and informally advised small projects in and around his locality.
Sadly, Barney passed away on 5th May 2024 after a short illness, near the farm where he continued to live, write, and interact enthusiastically with the global CA community.
In his book Good Work, E. F. Schumacher wrote of a young engineer who recalled that earlier generations had used semi-stationary engines, and how a team he led went on to build a machine they christened “the Snail” — that young engineer was Barney Muckle.
