Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

While they were visiting Washington, DC recently, several Farmer-to-Farmer Field Staff members and one of our volunteers were interviewed about their involvement in the program. Click on the video below to find out more!

The Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program is not just about improving economic growth and agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean - it is about connecting people and organizations to make a difference. As one producer in Guyana put it - "You have to meet with people if you want to change the world.” Hearing about F2F directly from field staff, volunteers, local partners, and hosts can be powerful. Below are some quotes from interviews and focus groups in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guyana and Nicaragua. Economic impact... “Before [Makouti and F2F] started helping me, my level was very low. That is to say I couldn’t produce. I wasn’t making any money. Now, I am working for an organization that pays me [well], and I have a lot of bees now. I travel to the US because of my business in apiculture, my whole family gets job from that, I pay for schooling for kids, my everyday living is because of the grace of F2F and Makouti.“ -F2F Host, Haiti “I'll tell you an example, wi

The 2013 Farmer-to-Farmer Field Staff Workshop was a wonderful way to reflect on the past 5 years of the program's success. From July 9-12 Farmer-to-Farmer headquarter staff Peggy Carlson, Meghan Olivier, Marcela Trask, and Christine McCurdy hosted field staff from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Guyana in Washington, D.C. The University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) team joined the headquarters staff and field officers to provide much needed assistance with monitoring and evaluation. As this cycle of the program comes to a close, field staff will be busily working to collect final qualitative and quantitative data. Program Officer Christine McCurdy exclaimed, "I give a lot of credit to UWEX for helping all of us better understand what information we need to collect for our final report and how it can be collected effectively, appropriately, and efficiently."  Pictured: Field staff from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Guyana, as well as Washington, D.C.

In 2011 Mr. Zapata earned his Veteran's Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) certification. Certified as an Agricultural Irrigation Specialist, he also has his Food Manager Handler’s license and is experienced in the areas of integrated pest management and small business administration. He has also earned certifications as a Master Gardner and Master Composter. F2F volunteer, Herbe Zapata shares with us a personal narrative of the first week of his June 2013 trip to Dominican Republic. Herb Zapata leading a session with producers in El Cercado I arrived in the Dominican Republic on June 15 and was driven out to El Cercado in San Juan de la Maguana. I went to La Hermita where I conducted a composting and vermiculture lesson and built a shadehouse. I also built a pen on the ground to keep the worms in with cow manure, explaining the importance of a three layer bin and how to keep areas separate on the second level with food and paper. Sunday I traveled to the villages Los Ta