Botón De Oro awarded to F2F volunteer in Guatemala

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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. The commitment is given under the slogan "Go and teach all". The Farmer to Farmer program partners with Save the Children and the University of San Carlos to form human capital at a professional level. This creates experts who are available to replicate their knowledge and techniques in rural areas to reduce chronic and acute malnutrition in food insecure families.

Goats housed at CEPROCAL
In late October, Bill Knox, a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, made his second visit to CEPROCAL, a large, established dairy goat project in Nebaj, Guatemala to increase the capacity for genetic improvement of goat 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.  In  2014 he trained management and staff in artificial insemination and parasite control over a two week visit. This knowledge was applied at CEPROCAL with very positive results. In October 2015, the training focus was the capacity to collect and preserve semen from bucks, goat males housed at CEPROCAL. This will allow these superior males to serve female goats all over the country of Guatemala.

Knox says he feels privileged to transfer technology in artificial insemination in goats and "goat project is the most successful in the world" given the commitment and execution by the members of the technical and professional staff in Guatemala.

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