Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

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...

These two photos provide a preview to trainings conducted by a team of US veterinarians together with Haitian veterinarians, students, and rabbit producers. The team of 3 from California visited farms and conducted workshops in late June, in the North and also in Grand Boulage, a mountain community between Port au Prince and Mirebalais. More photos and details to come! Bonnie Loghry trains a Haitian veterinarian to listen to the heart and lungs of a rabbit Andremene, one of the most successful rabbit producers in Grand Boulage, tries out a stethoscope. Income from Andremene's rabbit micro-enterprise has allowed her to support her family and send her children to school.

Dr. Koo (left) and Dr. Njue (right) proudly display a large eddo (taro). Together with Dr. James Garner of UAPB, this team has been working with the farmers to study which cultural practices yield the best eddo crop. During the past two weeks, two specialists from the University of Arkansas - Pine Bluff have been meeting with farmers in Guyana to conduct trainings in food safety and pesticide safety. For Drs. Jaheon Koo and Obadiah Njue, they have traveled several times to Guyana and have cultivated working relationships with these farmers over the years. Their trainings provide followup on previous visits from UAPB and also other volunteers (see captions below). Having just returned, they report having and productive an enjoyable trip. Check out some of the photos from their trip! In a field of eddo crops, Dr. Koo consults with a farmer from the Kuru Kururu Farmers Crop and Livestock Association KKFCLA members pose with the volunteers, also showing the color-coded pesticide ...

Since 2006, multiple  Farmer to Farmer volunteers have traveled to Jamaica to assist the Santoy Farmers Cooperative with improved vegetable production, greenhouse design, and marketing. One team of multidisciplinary specialists – Cliff Keil (entomologist), Tom Evans (plant pathologist), Wallace Pill (soil scientist), and Ian McCann (irrigation specialist) – were among the first FTF volunteers to assist Santoy and have returned to Jamaica several times and have made a significant impact on the Cooperative. The team helped establish specific goals to help the farmers improve productivity and marketing strategies . During their most recent trip in 2011, the Farmer to Farmer team received a letter from Milton Murdock, leader of the cooperative, detailing the impact they’ve had over the last four years. “Due to the involvement of this FTF team, the members of the Santoy Cooperative have benefited tremendously. At first, we were having difficulties growing certain crops due to limited...