Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Twenty-eight greenhouse vegetables producers in Constanza, Dominican Republic, along with technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research (IDIAF), completed a course entitled "Development of Management Skill in Post-Harvest Handling of Greenhouse Vegetables for Export."  The course was implemented by the Farmer to Farmer Program with the support of the Cluster de Invernaderos (Greenhouse Cluster), the Universidad Interamericana (UNICA), the Ministry of Agriculture and the IDIAF. During the graduation ceremony, the Director of the Farmer to Farmer Program in the DR, Dr. Rafael Ledesma, urged the graduates to use the knowledge they received because they know first hand that losses due to mishandling vegetables during post-harvest significantly reduce the quality and price of product in the markets, both local and export markets. The Farmer to Farmer Program in the DR supports the development of the greenhouse...

Marcela Trask, Peggy Carlson,  Meghan Olivier,  Christine McCurdy and Samantha Mitchell Whether it is Felices Fiestas, Happy Holidays, Jou konje Happy, Boas Festas or Joyeuses Fêtes, the holidays are a time to celebrate. During this season, we would like to thank all the dedicated volunteers, field staff, program collaborators, host organizations, funders and all the others who have made our  Farmer to Farmer  Program a success. Thank you and best wishes for 2012!

Analyzing plant health - Guyana shadehouse project A few of the local Partners of the Americas Chapters who collaborate with the Farmer to Farmer Program have some recent news-worthy stories. The Guyana Chapter of Partners of the Americas, leaders of the local shadehouse project, have recently created a Chapter Facebook page to share their news with you! The page will feature their activities, especially those related to Youth Programs and Farmer to Farmer . To check out and follow their page, click here , sign into Facebook, and "thumbs up" or "like" their page. The Haiti Chapter of Partners of the Americas is celebrating the accomplishments of chapter member and past president Guy Etienne, who was recently named one of 20 finalists in Haiti's Digicel 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year contest. Guy heads the competition's education category due to his innovations as Director of the College Catts Pressoir in Port au Prince. Guy was also instrumental in fa...

On December 2 nd , the Farmer to Farmer team sent our first Colombian-bound volunteer to the rural community of Anaime, located in the central-western department of Tolima. John Rushing of Cary, North Carolina is working with la Fundación Colombianos Apoyando Colombianos (Colombians Helping Colombians Foundation), an organization designed and coordinated by Partners of the Americas with the mission of improving the quality of life of Tolima’s citizens and helping provide employment and income-generating opportunities. A specialist in food technology and dairy processing, John is working with a group of youth in Anaime to assist them with a small dairy production enterprise that they have initiated through Colombianos Apoyando Colombianos . The group plans to focus on products including condensed milk, arequipe (dulce de leche), cheese and yogurt. Students in the processing room in Anaime. When John met with the youth for the first time, he found that their biggest challenge is ...

Below is the story of Mahindra, one of the shadehouse growers participating in Partners of the Americas' Farmer to Farmer Program in Guyana. He recounted this compelling story when I was in Guyana this past August, and he is eager to share his good news with others! The video mentioned below can be viewed this previous post . Mahindra had invested nearly all his family’s money in his field crops, but they failed due to weather or other conditions. He was at the end of his rope, and was worried about how he would make ends meet for his wife and 4 children. He began exploring all options, including difficult manual labor jobs and assistance for his agriculture activities. With the phone book in hand, he cold-called organizations in Georgetown, Guyana, looking for someone who could point him in the right direction to get back on his feet.  Crops growing in Mahindra's shadehouse, August 2011 No one was able to help him, but one day he called an international agency and a p...

Farmer to Farmer volunteers are in the news again! Jim and Jackie Resick from Wisconsin are finishing up their trip to the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, where they were conducting assessments and trainings related to gardening, small business development, and direct marketing with the Community Achievers Project. Click here to read the article announcing their visit, on ZIZ online news.

FTF Staff have fun while inspecting boxes of hive parts Around this time last year, Partners of the Americas and its volunteers rose to the challenge of donating 100 new, quality beehives to Haiti. You can read more about the use of these hives and all those who contributed to making it happen in this previous blog post . We are happy to announce that the hives have finally completed their long journey and have arrived in the office of Makouti Agro Enterprise in Cap-Haitien! FTF and Makouti staff discuss hive design as they construct a hive box What does it take to ship new beehives to Haiti? Once funds were raised, the hives were ordered and shipped to a US storage site before being loaded onto a sea container. Shipment was delayed a few months due to the unrest and uncertainty around Haitian presidential elections and the run-off in early 2011. The hives were then shipped by sea container and arrived in the spring, but took some time to clear the customs process before bein...

Farmer to Farmer volunteers have been in the news recently! Here are a few examples: Dr. Henry Chan of Maylan Skincare traveled to a remote Amerindian village in Guyana to assist community members in developing new cosmetic products using crabwood tree oil. To read more about his "flex" FTF assignment, view the article here . Spencer always takes polls about the usefulness of the information he shares Volunteer Robert Spencer also published an article in an Alabama Cooperative Extension online publication about his recent trip to Haiti, which focused on meat quality control. Click here to view the article! For any readers subscribed to the American Bee Journal , the November 2011 issue features a story by Rob Horsburgh about his experience as a volunteer beekeeper in Haiti. Rob traveled through our partner organization FAVACA. His efforts supported Partners' same Farmer to Farmer beekeeping projects in Haiti.

This past week the Dominican Republic welcomed a new volunteer, George Matthew Tokar. The focus of Matt's trip is to follow up on past assignments to provide insight in the area of post- harvesting and cold- chain management. Matthew Tokar working with staff members of a greenhouse where peppers are grown. He will be visiting multiple other greenhouses and packing plants this week. He will be working with ADESJO, Fundacion Sur Futuro Inc. and two other organizations. Matt will provide training on the importance of having packing plants, and will develop an assessment study of the current situation on refrigeration after harvesting.

The Farmer to Farmer  team was recently in Colombia and visited with a group of women from San Vicente, near Medellin, who are growing vegetables and medicinal herbs. In addition to visiting their plots, we traveled with the women to a local Foundation that provides training in Good Agricultural Practices. It was a great experience for everyone involved and FTF hopes to continue working with the women to improve their production.

Recently, a team of video production volunteers traveled to Haiti to work with Farmer to Farmer and Makouti Agro Enterprise in creating outreach and success videos. The videos are still being produced, but the team - Sid McGregor, Clay Mason, and Brian Mehrens - compiled a quick video showing a glimpse of their time volunteering. Here it is, for your enjoyment! 60 Seconds in Haiti from Clay Mason on Vimeo .

During the month of October, the Guyana Farmer to Farmer Program welcomed two teams of volunteers who assisted different horticulture efforts. One team from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, James Garner and Edmund Buckner, analyzed test plots during eddo (taro) harvests. They evaluated soil fertility and water quality, and the resulting differences in eddo size on each plot. A second team from Tennessee, husband and wife Pete and Chris Wotowiec, provided ongoing technical assistance to shadehouse vegetable producers as well as a new type of training in "horticulture therapy" programs for rehabilitation programs and orphanages. We thank our dedicated volunteers! Below are some pictures from their trips. The Team from UAPB assists an eddo farmer from Kuru Kururu Volunteer Pete Wotowiec poses with shadehouse farmers. Pete has conducted several trips to Guyana to help the producers over the years and he commented on the progress he observed during his recent tri...

The role of women in agriculture has been studied the world over and is an important issue for the  Farmer to Farmer Program as well. Two volunteers recently had the opportunity to explore this and other topics in South America. James Murren, Program Coordinator for Purdue University’s International Extension Program, and Cheryl O’Brien, gender specialist, recently concluded an 18-day assignment in southern Paraguay. Murren and O’Brien visited small family farming communities and met with staff from the University of Asunción’s College of Agriculture to identify needs on family farms and ways in which women can contribute to farm sustainability. Paraguayan women remain a highly underutilized resource in agricultural production, with limited access to training programs and low involvement in agrarian reform. Murren and O’Brien’s research focused on the southwestern territories of Ñeembucú and Paraguarí, where they were generously hosted by the Inter-American Institute on Co...

To celebrate Halloween, the FTF Team in Washington dressed up to represent our programs: a bee for our beekeeping project, a rabbit for our small animal project, a tree representing our forestry and tree crops project and a Nicaraguan producer (maybe even our Country Coordinator Ronald Blandon).  :)  Enjoy the holiday and volunteer today (costumes not required).  :)

Recently the Farmer to Farmer Program in Nicaragua welcomed Julie Longland for a pest and disease control assignment specifically focused on Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Ms. Longland worked with potato growers and field workers in the main potato production areas of the highlands near Jinotega, Matagalpa and Estelí.  Farmer to Farmer began working with the potato growers in this area in January of this year as part of its horticulture country project. IPM is an important area of technical assistance given that many growers use pesticides as the primary control method to managing pests and diseases.  Growers are often unaware of the safety hazards to themselves and the environment. Often times these growers don’t know the other tools that are available that may be both safer and less expensive to use.  As Ms.Longland expressed, “With all of the recommendations, it was emphasized that any positive change, even if only a small adjustment, would be a real impro...

Today, October 19th , is BONUS DAY on Global Giving! Donations to projects will be matched (at a 33% rate) by Global Giving - increasing the impact that your donation has in rural Haiti. Funds have already helped provide tools and seeds for the village of Lory. Visit the "Vegetable Gardens For Improved Nutrition" project site today:  http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/vegetable-gardens-for-improved-nutrition-in-haiti/

From Robert Spencer, FTF Volunteer:  Here I am on my third volunteer visit this year and each one is great; as I put it “each trip is friends, food, education, and fun”. Field Officers Papy and Anderson are amazing hosts and always make sure we accomplish our mission while enjoying ourselves and serving the clientele. I have been coming to Haiti since 2006 and have become so accustomed to spending time here I consider it my ‘home away from home’. My travels continue to take my colleagues and I to villages further out from Cap Haitien (in the north) including the villages of Gran Pre, Caracol, Limonade, Lory, and Port Margot. And to the southwest part of Haiti which includes the villages of Aquin, Les Cayes, Asile, and Passe bois d’orme. As we make progress with increasing the people’s knowledge base, my presentations are further developed to cover more specific areas such as: animal husbandry, food safety as it applies to organ meat (i.e. liver), zoonotic and biologic concerns, h...

Three Farmer to Farmer Volunteers from the University of Wisconsin-Stout recently appeared in a news article in the Chippewa Valley Post . Click here to learn more about their trips to Nicaragua!

Rabbit producers in Haiti have made significant gains over the past 2 ½ years of the Farmer to Farmer Small Animal project, thanks to the support of Farmer to Farmer volunteers and the ongoing training and follow-up provided by Makouti Agro Enterprise. Partners of the Americas has been tracking the progress of individuals and groups receiving FTF support and based on a recent review, we have found very encouraging results which show the impact the project has had on Haitian farmers who are determined to improve their livelihoods. Our study compared baseline data, collected primarily in 2008 and 2009, against data collected in early 2011 for 99 producers and producer groups (hosts). We found that there was a 142% increase in the number of rabbits each host owned, with an average increase per host of nearly 19 rabbits. One producer from Grand Riviere du Nord started with only 4 rabbits in late 2008 and was managing 96 rabbits by early 2011. There was a 185% increase in offspri...

Mr. Delemarre observes greenhouses at harvest time Often times finding new markets nationally and abroad can be difficult for farmers. Farmer to Farmer has recently had the opportunity to work with a marketing specialist who has answered the call to help farmers begin to bridge this gap in the Dominican Republic. Robert Delemarre had volunteered previously with the USAID Farmer to Famer Program in Southern Russia, and this past July and August he applied his expertise in the Caribbean by participating in an assignment with Partners of the Americas’ FTF Program in the Dominican Republic. His schedule was unique compared to the typical FTF agenda. His first few days were spent in Florida obtaining information from import - export companies. He sought to answer the following questions: What products do the companies already import/export? Would they be willing to establish relations with the Dominican Republic? What products are the companies interested to import? What grade stan...

Ms. Stover visited with animal producers in the South of Haiti The Haiti Farmer to Farmer Program recently benefited from the perspective of a specialist in goat production, Ilana Stover, from the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service. Since the program has previously focused a great deal of attention on rabbit production and beekeeping, this dedicated attention to goat production was very welcomed and needed. In her words,"During my two-week stint in Haiti, I toured the country and met a number of different goat farmers. Until I arrived, there had not been anyone with Farmer to Farmer to handle strictly goat production. I went in with the objective of observing and discovering the major issues that farmers were facing." Ms. Stover conducted a thorough analysis of several sites in the South and North of Haiti and made recommendations in the areas of parasite control and appropriate remedies, dairy production training, slaughter standards, breeding practices, and more...

Did you know that the USAID Farmer to Farmer Program's official name as of 2008 is the "John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer to Farmer Program"? Doug Bereuter is the Congressman who initially sponsored the Farmer to Farmer Program, and John Ogonowski was an airline pilot who lost his life in the September 11th attacks. He is memorialized in the official name of our Program, but do you know why? This recent article in The Republic out of Indiana tells the story of Mr. Bereuter's dedication to helping farmers from other countries. It's a must-read!

At any given time, Partners of the Americas's Farmer to Farmer volunteers are volunteering their time to assist farmers and farming groups in the Caribbean and Americas. So what's going on this week? Bob Blohm, recent Dairy Quality volunteer, with Nicaraguan counterpart Volunteer Sheila Dallas Katzman, communications and leadership specialist, is conducting trainings in leadership to entrepreneurs and agribusiness and community leaders in the South of Haiti . Volunteers Jim Murren and Cheryl O'Brien, extension and gender specialists from Purdue University, are collaborating with IICA (InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture) and over 80 extension agents in Paraguay to improve agriculture extension practices and gender considerations in extension. Volunteer John Hargreaves, aquaculture specialist, is working with a tilapia hatchery in Guyana to make recommendations to improve Good Agriculture Practices. Volunteer Craig MacFarland is conducting a ...

The San Francisco Bay Area Times-Herald featured an article yesterday which highlights the work and dedication of veterinarian and Farmer to Farmer volunteer Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak. Together with the advice of volunteer specialists like Myriam and the local expertise of FTF field staff and Makouti Agro Enterprise leaders, data indicates that the average individual rabbit producer collaborating with Farmer to Farmer has increased his/her annual net income (from rabbit production activities) by US$817, and 74% of rabbit producers collaborating with Makouti Agro Enterprise are now able to send all of their children to school with income from rabbit sales. For a low-income Haitian farmer and his/her family, that translates into an improved livelihood and hope for the future.

Help support Partners' horticulture activities in Haiti! Donations provide tools, seeds and training to rural families. Click the image above to read more!

Students in El Cerron learn about seeds, soil, and environmental protection This past month Partners’ Farmer to Farmer Program had the opportunity to send certified forester Glen Juergens and his wife Patricia Juergens, in collaboration with the Sustainable Harvest International and their local counterpart FUCOHSO (Fundación Cosecha Sostenible Honduras), to Honduras to work with local communities and families to provide assistance in reforestation, nutrition education, and environmental education.  The Juergens have been to Honduras multiple times over the years, beginning with the first time they met during their Peace Corps service in the country in the 1970s. “We thoroughly enjoyed working with individuals, families, and FUCOHSO employees which reminded us of the time when we were PCVs. The highlight of the trip for us was being able to take a few days after the work was completed with FUCOHSO and travel to some of the communities we worked at as PCVs. We were delighte...

While Bob Blohm worked on the milk quality stage of the dairy value chain, volunteer Dr. Allen Pederson had the opportunity to work with veterinarians, technicians, producers and agronomists. His purpose of travel was to teach ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis, c- section procedures, and to convey that there are multiple methods for pregnancy diagnosis. Dr. Pederson worked with a group of beginners to advanced students, starting the program by determining “why” a C- section would need to be performed, and finishing with follow-ups after performing two C- sections on the second day. Throughout his time in Nicaragua Dr. Pederson saw a strong willingness from the students to learn and expand upon the knowledge they have already acquired.

The cows of Nicaragua in the past couple of months have been busy with a couple of U.S. volunteers: Bob Blohm and Allen Pederson. While both worked closely with the farmers and cows their objectives couldn’t have been any more related.  Bob Blohm from Pennsylvania spent his time from June 26 to July 10 monitoring and providing suggestions to improve the quality of the milk from stage one, milking the cow, to the final stages at collection/ transfer stations.  One of the largest problems with milk production is trying to keep milk from being contaminated with bacteria that causes milk to turn “sour.” This often occurs when there is cross contamination between the milk and other objects, or if milk is not kept at a recom-mended temperature. During his time in Ni caragua, Blohm was able to pick out areas where this might occur.   Some of these possible contamination risks were cloth strainers and Milk hol ding containers not being cleaned properly or thoroughly, al...

Partners' FTF Staff examine drip irrigation tape in shadehouse The Guyana Times International has picked up a story about a recent project monitoring visit to the Guyana Farmer to Farmer Program. The article gives some good information about progress on the Guyana Partners of the Americas Chapter's shadehouse project, which Farmer to Farmer volunteers have supported with technical assistance and production of training videos. The title is misleading since this was not a visit from Mississippi, but the articles gives some interesting information nonetheless!

Robert Spencer has been a strong supporter and returning volunteer with Partners of the Americas' Farmer to Farmer Program in Haiti. With each visit, he works with Makouti Agro Enterprise, a Haitian agribusiness, as well as students, producers, and processors to increase knowledge of food safety procedures and meat quality assurance in different regions of Haiti. Check out this Alabama Cooperative Extension article about his July 2011 visit to Haiti!

Lettuce produced through shadehouse hydroponic production. The raised beds and covered structure provides protection from extreme weather and flooding, and the sand and paddy shell substrate is an easily-accessible growth medium. In the past several days that I’ve been here in Guyana visiting Partners’ Farmer to Farmer Projects and meeting with program partners, I’ve heard so many stories from producers and seen so many unique sights that it’s hard to choose what to feature in this blog post. Since my last visit in April 2010, there have been many changes as a result of collaborative efforts between Partners of the Americas and other local and international groups including IICA (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture), GTIS (Guyana Trade and Investment Support), the Guyana Chapter of Partners of the Americas’ shadehouse project, and more. Among the successes that stand out in my mind after visiting a selection of project sites are the 28 (and growing) shadehou...

Horticulture volunteer, Tom Syverud (see our blog post about his news article!), recently returned from Nicaragua where he provided technical support to local Farmer to Farmer hosts in existing small-scale garden projects. The project seeks to improve horticultural production, processing and marketing in rural areas. During his trip, Syverud made recommendations for improving vegetable production including newer cultivation, conservation and marketing techniques. M r. Syverud has made t rips to Nicaragua previously for similar purposes, and he remarked on the improvements he observed in the country since he last visited, six years ago. "Although I did not return to all the same places, I sense an improvement in the knowledge level and interest in small-scale vegetable garden production...I think the whole country has shown improvement; the roads, the building, the stores, the restaurants, and the airport...The economy is, in general, better too, although there are still m...

FTF Flex volunteer Dick Waybright consults with dairy farmers in Brazil Did you know that the 2008 - 2013 Farmer to Farmer program has an option for "flexible" assignments? These "flex" assignments are designed to give the program the flexibility to respond to requests for support from ongoing activities in areas outside of our established projects, or in some cases to explore new opportunities, related to agriculture and environment. Flex volunteers can travel to many countries throughout the world. Are you a part of an ongoing international agriculture project that could use some technical assistance? Maybe you could be the next volunteer to travel under a flex assignment! Examples of past flexible assignments are described on this blog - click "Flex" on the list of labels to the right to read relevant stories of what FTF volunteers are accomplishing throughout the hemisphere! From veterinarian to video producer, GIS technician to graphic designer,...

The Farmer to Farmer program has been featured in a few news pieces recently!  Volunteer Gary Hickman was featured in the online Dominican paper Hoy . The article shares his view on the greenhouse horticulture industry in the Dominican Republic, especially as it relates to exporting to the US and competing with Mexico. Click here to read the full article in Spanish. Pictured above, a hillside in the Dominican Republic, growing plantains and beans. Also related to Farmer to Farmer in the Dominican Republic, The Adirondack Enterprise published an article about the relationship that has formed between Paul Smith’s College and the Escuela de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (School of Environment and Natural Resources) in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. First introduced through their involvement in the Farmer to Farmer program, college officials from both schools are hoping to exchange knowledge about forest management and increase ecotourism in the Dominican Republic. Read...

While in Nicaragua, I met a man who gave me the electronic file for Machete Verde, a manual in Spanish that has 16 chapters about appropriate technology transfer. Please contact me if you'd like electronic copies of the manual. I also posted my homemade videos to my youtube page. Those can be found at http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=585CB9EB9D97E1F4 Included in the playlist are 3 videos about Camoapa Dairy: Bob Blohm (volunteer), Daniel Ingram (Farmer to Farmer Field Officer), and the Masiguito Cooperative Dairy Processing Plant. Farmer to Farmer Nicaragua is looking for someone to help the processing plants diversify their cheese varieties. Here is one example of the videos mentioned above - an interview with Wisconsin volunteer Bob Blohm!

Organic greenhouses are off to a good start in Rio Limpio in the North West Mountains of the Dominican Republic! This is Rio Limpio’s first year of production and the yields are looking high and the fruit quality is top notch. They are trying, for the first time, techniques such as crop rotation as a way to naturally feed the soil and also to control diseases. Currently they are growing peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and melons in the same greenhouses. This is a very profitable way of growing because they aren’t saturating the market with an abundance of just one crop. They have a wonderful seedling production room and are applying non synthetics at early stages of growth to prevent any diseases and help prevent infestations of pests. This is a new way of thinking in the Dominican where the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers have, up to now, been the only answer. I wish them success in their efforts not only in a good harvest but in the continuation of integrating new ideas. The...

Yves Gourdet stops to pose for a photo with some coffee "cherries", during his 2010 FTF Trip to Haiti which focused on coffee marketing Two of Partners' Farmer to Farmer volunteers have taken the initiative to help quality Haitian coffee reach export markets in the US, through their social enterprise called HaitiCoffee. The access to higher value markets allows the farmers to reinvest profits into their communities and businesses so that they might reach even more local and international markets, and improve their livelihoods. Check out their website at haiticoffee.com ! Long-time Partners volunteer Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak realized the potential while traveling to Haiti with Farmer to Farmer and working with Makouti Agro Enterprise. After recruiting and teaming up with FTF volunteer and businessman Yves Gourdet, originally from Haiti, the two have recently launched a successful enterprise. Below is an update from Myriam. I'm sure our past FTF-Haiti volunteers wi...