Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Over the years, a number of our F2F volunteers have worked in the area of soil fertility. As synthetic agro-inputs can be pricey, oftentimes our volunteers teach hosts about organic soil fertility management practices such as the use of green manures, compost, companion crops, crop rotations, and animal manure. One common and inexpensive source of macronutrients, however, frequently gets overlooked: urine.  Stored goat urine at CEPROCAL In March 2016, F2F volunteer Rob Crook traveled to Guatemala for a two week assignment to train extension agents with the Center for Goat Production in the Altiplano of Guatemala (CEPROCAL) on how to make liquid fertilizer and compost using goat urine. CEPROCAL currently captures and stores the urine produced by stabled goats at their production center. While CEPROCAL technicians have speculated that the urine is an excellent source of nutrients for fertilizing home gardens and pastures, they did not know how to best utilize it and in wh...

F2F Volunteer Cynthia Ocamb recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to complete an integrated pest management assignment focused specifically on Black Sigatoka. The DR is one of the biggest producers of bananas in the Caribbean and one of the most devastating diseases affecting crops is a leaf spot disease called Black Sigatoka, or black leaf streak. This disease causes significant reductions in leaf area, yield losses of 50% or more, and premature ripening, a serious defect in exported fruit.  Dr. Ocamb examining leaves for disease In meetings and field visits with producers and technicians, Dr. Ocamb explained why infected leaves should be removed regularly: “to reduce the leaf area with active infections and suppress subsequent spore production” and showed each producer what the early stages of Black Sigatoka look like and how the spores travel via water from infected leaves to uninfected ones. She also noted that leaf tips (rather than the entire leaf) can be removed...

Rincon Grande Farming Operation F2F volunteer Colehour Bondera recently traveled from his home in Hawaii where he owns and operates a certified organic vegetable farm to complete an assignment in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Mr. Bondera worked with agribusinesses to clarify the path to organic certification for mixed vegetable and fruit production operations near Antigua and Guatemala City. In addition to field visits and intensive discussions with host leaders, Mr. Bondera led several interactive workshops covering topics related to organic certification, discussions of the differences between “the ideal and the actual” organic plan, distinctions between production and processing, how to change an existing system, and effective planning. His recommendations included increasing the use of worm composting for soil and nutrient enrichment; incorporating trees and/or perennials for crop diversification, shade, nutrient access and/or border protection for overall organic syst...

Whether it’s facilitating capacity building workshops on agricultural production, processing, marketing, or another theme, a large part of the F2F program, in a sense, is about the diffusion of innovations. For this discussion, innovation is defined as an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other entity. Often times when a F2F volunteer gives a recommendation to a F2F host, the volunteer is encouraging the adoption of a particular innovation. While the process may seem fairly straight forward – volunteer gives a recommendation and the host implements it – the actual adoption of that recommendation is a multistage progression often referred to as the Innovation-Decision Process (a model developed by rural sociology professor Dr. Everertt Rogers).  Rogers' Innovation-Decision Process Model So how does this process look applied? Let’s take a look at how the Innovation-Decision Process progressed as a result of Bill Knox’s F2F assignment wi...