Harvesting

Learning, Growing, Investing, Harvesting
Role selection onboarding screen - choose between Investor or Farmer with feature lists
Investor dashboard showing $12,450 portfolio value, performance metrics, and quick actions
Discover page with AI-recommended farm investments and ROI details
Learning section showing 25% progress and agricultural education courses

Inspiration

Our inspiration for Harvesting is rooted in our own family histories — specifically the story of the Spencer family, who lived and farmed in Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1950. Their land, like that of so many Black families across the African diaspora, was eventually lost due to systemic barriers and disinvestment. Harvesting is our answer to that legacy — a mobile co-op platform that allows users to invest in land-based projects, support farmers, and reclaim ownership through tech and community power.

What it does Harvesting is a mobile-first platform that:

Allows users to invest in real agricultural projects across the Globe Connects farmers to funding without relying on debt Provides educational resources through our Learn. Grow. Invest. Harvest. system Tracks financial and community impact through a transparent dashboard Fuses fintech and cooperative land ownership in a culturally rooted, tech-enabled ecosystem

How we built it

We built the Harvesting agricultural investment platform using Bolt's AI-powered development environment, which allowed me to rapidly prototype and iterate on complex features. Starting with a comprehensive prompt that outlined the app's vision - connecting sustainable farmers with impact-driven investors - We leveraged Bolt's ability to generate full-stack React Native code with Expo integration. The AI assistant helped me establish the core architecture including Supabase backend integration, TypeScript configuration, and the sophisticated AI matching algorithm that scores farm-investor compatibility based on ROI preferences, sustainability goals, and risk tolerance. Bolt's real-time code generation capabilities were particularly valuable when implementing the recommendation engine and the complex database schema with proper relationships between users, farms, and investment preferences. The iterative development process with Bolt enabled me to quickly refine the user experience across multiple screens - from the role-based onboarding flow to the comprehensive investor dashboard displaying portfolio metrics and market insights. We used Bolt's ability to understand context and maintain consistency across components to build features like the discovery feed with AI-recommended investments, the educational content system with progress tracking, and the real-time data synchronization. The platform's strength in generating cross-platform compatible code meant we could simultaneously develop for web, iOS, and Android without managing separate codebases. Bolt's integration capabilities also streamlined the implementation of modern development practices like TypeScript interfaces, custom React hooks for business logic, and responsive design patterns that work seamlessly across all device types.

Challenges we ran into

Limited Context Window: Bolt has a finite context limit, which became challenging when working with large codebases. As the app grew more complex with multiple components, hooks, and database schemas, we had to carefully manage what code was included in each conversation to avoid hitting context limits that could cause Bolt to lose track of the overall architecture.

Dependency Management: Bolt sometimes struggled with complex package dependencies and version conflicts, particularly when integrating Supabase with React Native and ensuring compatibility across Expo SDK versions. We had to manually troubleshoot and specify exact package versions to maintain stability across the cross-platform codebase.

Real-time Debugging: While Bolt excels at generating initial code, debugging runtime errors and complex state management issues required significant back-and-forth iterations. The AI couldn't directly execute and test the code, so identifying issues with the recommendation engine algorithm and real-time data synchronization required multiple refinement cycles. Platform-Specific Nuances: Bolt occasionally generated code that worked well for web but had mobile-specific issues, particularly around React Native navigation patterns, touch interactions, and platform-specific styling. We had to guide the AI to understand the differences between web and mobile implementation requirements.

Custom Business Logic: The sophisticated AI matching algorithm for farm-investor compatibility required extensive prompt engineering to help Bolt understand the complex scoring system based on multiple weighted factors like ROI, sustainability, and risk tolerance. Breaking down this logic into digestible chunks for the AI was a significant challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of.

Built a working prototype of the core investment workflow Created a culturally resonant brand and logo from scratch Storyboarded and began production on a cinematic demo video Designed a full platform that merges financial tech with food systems and education Brought together a multidisciplinary team of technologists, designers, and storytellers

What we learned That fintech doesn’t have to be cold — it can be community-powered and human-centered

That reclaiming land through tech requires both cultural vision and financial logic How to bring together education, cooperative economics, and investment into one user experience That when you design for people who’ve been excluded, you create solutions that work better for everyone

What's next for Harvesting

We’ve built Harvesting on a foundation of research, legacy, and the belief that people deserve a new way to own, invest in, and grow land-based wealth. Now, it’s time to validate that belief. Our next phase is about real-world traction: We’ll pilot Harvesting with a small group of farmers and early users across the African diaspora. We’ll refine the platform based on their lived experiences and feedback , putting our cooperative ownership model to the test. We’ll build visibility, grow our community, and invite more people to invest in land and community revitilization. We know the need is real. The data proves it. What comes next is proof that the solution can scale ,ethically, beautifully, and from the ground up.