Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

2015 has been a productive year for Partners' Agriculture and Food Security (AFS) Unit! Under the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program, 119 volunteers traveled to nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to work with close to 114 producer groups, NGOs, universities, and other hosts. Skilled professionals volunteered for a combined total of 1,905 days and directly assisted over 8,500 people. Partners' Haiti Nutrition Security Program, funded by USAID/Haiti as part of their Feed the Future Initiative, has recruited and is providing support to Mother Leaders who have been organized into 188 Care Groups.  Each Mother Leader is then responsible for leading local neighborhood women’s clubs, through which nutrition counseling and promotional support are provided to additional pregnant and lactating mothers of children under the age of five. As a result, the project is now reaching over 20,297 neighborhood women households. Top words from our 2015 blog posts:

The Agriculture and Food Security Team at Partners of the Americas would like to wish you happy holidays! The field offices in Guatemala, the DR, Nicaragua and Haiti also would like to say thank you to our volunteers for all their hard work this year- this program depends on them! Guatemala Haiti DR Nicaragua

INDE workshop group in Managua  Written by F2F Volunteer Michael Lofstrom This assignment was carried out over a two week period in Nicaragua essentially to assist five Nicaraguan entrepreneurs, small businesses and small agricultural entities develop business plans for the production and marketing of cheese, yogurt and other dairy products sold locally.  My business plan scope of work was part of a team approach that paired me with Mike Doherty, an agricultural economist with the Illinois Farm Bureau and who has many years of experience in developing marketing plans for agricultural cooperatives and farmers in general.  Mike and I participated jointly in all of the interviews with the entrepreneurs and enterprises, and we both helped design and carry out on behalf of INDE three, half-day workshops for small entrepreneurs in the cities of Managua, Chinandega and Masaya.  During the course of our work there was a certain amount of overlap and collaboration between the busines

Nicaragua's hilly farmlands By Volunteer Rip Winkel In October of 2015, I was privileged to have traveled to Nicaragua in Central America to work on a Farmer-to-Farmer assignment, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development through the organization Partners of the Americas. The assignment was to assess the viability for small-scale cash crop production in four farming communities in the municipality of Nueva Guinea.  My principle responsibilities were to meet with representatives from each community, extract one or more soil samples from each, and analyze each sample for pH, and N, P, K availability. After the analyses was completed, I was to recommend avenues that could be taken to amend the soil as well as possible crops that would perform well in the given soil/climatic conditions. The day after arriving in Managua, I was met by Moises Guill é n, the F2F field officer that assisted me for the duration of my stay. Moises was the best of gentlemen; extre

By Emily Oakley and Mike Appel In the beginning of October, we traveled to Guatemala as volunteers with Partners of the America’s Farmer to Farmer Program.  This is our third volunteer assignment with program.  Previous assignments have been in Domincan Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua.  It has been four years since we have been on an assignment and our first since having a daughter.  Fortunately, our daughter, Lisette was able to travel with us on this trip and “helped” out on our farm visits and presentations. We are full-time organic vegetable farmers from Oklahoma.  We love sharing our experiences utilizing organic growing methods with other farmers and gardeners around the world.  During our two weeks in Guatemala we were hosted by two different organizations: Semillas Para El Futuro and INCAP (Institute for Nutrition for Central America and Panama).  During both assignments we discussed soil health, composting, growing green manures (cover crops), organic fertilizer and pe

This article is a contribution to a four-week blog series celebrating 30 years of  USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program . On Thursday, December 3rd, friends of Farmer-to-Farmer gathered for a Farmer-to-Farmer Learning Event, which recognized accomplishments of volunteers and staff over the 30 years of the program and highlighted lessons learned. Participants heard from the Honorable Douglas Bereuter, former Member of Congress, who was responsible for starting the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program. In his words: "remarkable things have been accomplished!" and "F2F puts a face on US foreign assistance." A panel of F2F volunteers shared their experiences working in the key areas of technology transfer, natural resource management, citizen diplomacy, and organizational capacity. Attendees also had to the chance to hear from key players in agriculture and rural development and to connect with colleagues and old and new friends.  As w

This article is a contribution to a four-week blog series celebrating 30 years of  USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program . Artificial insemination means all the offspring will have superior genetics. In late October 2015, F2F volunteer Bill Knox made his second visit to CEPROCAL, a large, established dairy goat project in Nebaj, Guatemala to increase the capacity for genetic improvement of goats in the western highlands and throughout the country. Mr Knox is recently retired from North Carolina State University, where he worked for 20 years managing research, livestock, and students. Knox also has many years of experience with artificial insemination in a production agriculture setting in the United States.   Bill checks on the first usable post-freeze sample.  In  July 2014 , Bill Knox made history by visiting the western highlands of Guatemala to provide the first-ever training on artificial goat insemination. H e trained management and

This article is a contribution to a four-week blog series celebrating 30 years of USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program . Yaque del Norte watershed  The Dominican Republic (DR) is one of the only countries in the Caribbean where bananas continue to be a major export. Banana production is of particular importance in Yaque del Norte, an area vital in the country's food production. However, unpredictable weather patterns such as more frequent droughts, floods, and extreme weather have caused concern over the reduced quantity of available water. Poor agricultural practices including land-clearing, over-fertilization, and poor waste management also threaten the quality of water in the Yaque del Norte watershed - which is also the main source of potable water for several communities. Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in the DR is working to protect the Yaque del Norte watershed through climate-smart agricultural technologies

This article is a contribution to a four-week blog series celebrating 30 years of  USAID's John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program . Coffee growing in the shade Between plant disease, pests, and changing weather, farmers face more than enough challenges related to growing, harvesting and producing their crops. Once the crop has been collected, there is another set of problems for farmers to address in order for them to sell their goods-ones that require a whole host of management skills that many small farmers lack. Cooperatives allow farmers to work together, share tips and strategies, and organize policies for the whole sector. By pooling their resources, smallholder coffee farmers are better able to access financing, obtain technical assistance on improved farming practices, and sell their product at higher prices.  In addition to in-the-field experience and training, Farmer-to-Farmer also finds volunteers who are able to build the organizat

This article is a contribution to a four-week blog series celebrating 30 years of USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program . Transferring skills, knowledge, and technology is the heart of the F2F program. US volunteers focus on practical interventions that improve farm and agribusiness operations or production, assist with marketing and market linkages, protect and conserve natural resources, and strengthen organizations. Below are three stories that showcase the difference volunteer interventions and impact of transferring knowledge and technology. Panama Chocolate Although Panama does not produce a lot of cacao compared with the rest of the world, the cacao of Changuinola has a lot of potential. F2F has been working with women who are participants in Partners of the Americas' EducaFuturo program which focuses on reducing child labor in the region. In a joint effort to improve the livelihoods of families and reduce child labor, EducaFuturo a

This past week, the University of San Carlos in Guatemala granted the Botón De Oro award to Mr. William "Bill" Knox and Mr. Rodrigo Arias for their contributions to the caprinocultor (goat industry) sector in Guatemala. "I was humbled and deeply honored to be given the Grado de Botón De Oro for contributions to agricultural technology and best practices." - Bill Knox The award is given to professionals and academics for sharing their knowledge and contributing to the development of Guatemala in various sectors, such as agriculture. The secretary general of the USAC, Doctor Carlos Enrique Carney, made a speech regarding the excellent work that the Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Guatemala has been making towards the development of the agricultural sector through technical assistance. The University of San Carlos is committed to training professionals of high academic standards so that they can replicate their knowledge with the underprivileged of the country.