Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Written by F2F field officer, Andrea Lucrecia Fión Góngora F2F volunteer Steve Johnson meets potato producers in Sibinal, San Marcos The distance between Maine, USA to Sibinal, Guatemala is over 3,600 miles. Sibinal is a mountainous municipality  comprised of approximately 27,000 individuals and  found at the base of the Tacaná volcano in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. The majority of Sibinal communities are Mam or Kaqchikel, two Mayan ethnic groups. For the past ten years, the Guatemalan National Potato Federation (FENAPAPA) has supported 2,000 small scale potato producers in the San Marcos region. Like on some potato farms in Maine, potato producers in Sibinal save seeds. However, seed potatoes in Sibinal have recently developed bacterial and fungi infections. As producers save seeds from season to season, the diseases are transmitted each year, causing significantly smaller potatoes and consistently lower yields. While some producers wanted to explore using hi

One major focus of Partners' livestock value chain approach in Nicaragua is to improve competitiveness in export beef markets by developing a national quality control and grading system. Back in July 2015, F2F volunteer Ken Ayers, a retired USDA beef grading and certification expert, traveled to Nicaragua to conduct trainings for Nicaraguan packing house employees on how to analyze the maturity of carcasses by evaluating the size, shape, and ossification of the bones and cartilages. Ken Ayers teaches a beef packing house worker how to evaluate carcasses  In March 2016, Ayers once again traveled to Nicaragua - this time with fellow F2F volunteer Marty O’Connor, also a retired USDA beef grading and certification expert – to follow up on his prior F2F assignment with National Cattleman’s Commission of Nicaragua (CONAGAN) and Nicaragua Chamber of Beef Industry Exports (CANICARNE) in July 2015. Mr. Ayers and Mr. O’Connor conducted beef quality grading and certification workshops w

F2F Volunteer, Armando Milou, trained banana producers in the Dominican Republic in disaster risk management practices by Orli Handmaker, F2F Program Recruiter Today is Earth Day, a day to honor the planet and its many resources. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is now observed in over 193 countries each year. Here at Partners, we are committed to promoting economic growth in an environmentally sustainable way. Agriculture and natural resource management are inextricably linked to the health of our planet and many Farmer-to-Farmer assignments have an environmental component. Today we are highlighting the value of climate services for properly managing the Earth's resources.  Every morning, before getting ready for the day, I check the weather on my smart phone. I want to know the weather forecast so I can best prepare for the day: the forecast tells me how many layers I need to wear, what shoes will be most practical for the day, or whether or not I need to bring an um

For all decisions we make in life, the outcome is usually better if we take the time to consider all of our options before deciding. When contemplating our options, it is important to analyze each of them and figure out the positive and negative aspects that correspond with each possible path. That is where cost-benefit analysis comes in. Cost-benefit analysis is the process through which decisions are evaluated. We may not realize it, but we regularly perform basic cost-benefit analyses throughout our day. Take the following example: "Should I walk to my meeting or take a cab?" Answering that question usually takes less than a minute; but in that time, we consider the benefits (pros) and costs (cons) of each option: A cab will get me there more quickly, but it will also cost me money. Walking will take me longer, but it is free.  We consider these factors and then decide what is most important. Maybe the cost of the cab is more than you would like to spend, so you walk, even

Partners of the Americas’ USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program provides technical assistance to individual farmers, farmer associations, agricultural cooperatives, education institutions, and others in the  Dominican Republic ,  Guatemala ,  Haiti , and  Nicaragua ,  as well as  select other countries .  Farmer-to-Farmer recruits experienced agriculturalists who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents to complete short-term assignments ( 15-day minimum stay ; trips are generally 2–3 weeks). Farmer-to-Farmer covers all assignment-related expenses.  If you are interested in volunteering with the Farmer-to-Farmer program, please send your resume and all program inquiries to  Orli Handmaker  at Partners International in Washington, DC, or call (202) 524-6295. Please see below for a list of all current opportunities. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Cacao Farm Management and Post-Harvest Processing Volunteer (Dominican Republic (April-June 2016: 2-3 weeks) This F2F assignment will focus o

Partners Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers have been out working all over Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to improve agricultural production, processing, marketing, and environmental management. Below are some recent photos from the field...  Vanessa Campoverde examining plants with a host in Guatemala Maria Moreno (center, wearing F2F hat) and Rick Hall (back)  with students from the  Jarabacoa   Environmental School  in the Dominican Republic Dan Culbert (left) and Shawn Steed (center), with Jorge Dieguez, producer and owner of La Floresta (right) in Guatemala

In developed and developing economies alike, there is economic incentive to deforest land for other uses, such as farmland. This is because the crops can be sold at a profit, while leaving the forest alone results in no profit. However, although forests do not turn a profit by standing there, they provide a wealth of benefits to the communities that Deforested land in the DR surround them and to the global climate. For example, forests provide raw materials, promote soil fertility and prevent soil erosion, stabilize slopes and prevent landslides. Forests are spaces for hiking and adventure, provide habitat and shade, regulate local climates, and remove pollutants from the atmosphere and absorb and store carbon dioxide. The benefits of forests described above are all examples of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are defined as any positive benefit that ecosystems provide to people. The UN sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment recently identified the major categories of ec