Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

By: Rip Winkel, F2F Volunteer  To start the year 2017 off, I am privileged to be working on yet another Farmer to Farmer assignment, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Partners of the Americas. My project takes me back to familiar territory in Ecuador. I am working in in the Ecuadorian province of Puyo, a high-altitude land where the frequent rains run off down into the Pastaza River that eventually joins into the Amazon. Since my arrival here, I have been fortunate to work with the same communities as last year, as well as adding couple of new ones to the project.  And, just like last year, this project is 10 weeks duration, instead of the normal 2 week length.  The date set for this project started on the 8th of January, and will go through to 19th of March, 2017. Currently I am half way through the assignment, and this article is the first of two that I will be writing; the second article will be posted soon after my re...

On February 4 th 2017, as a Field Officer for the Farmer-To-Farmer Program (F2F) in Guatemala, I got the chance to travel to United States in order to participate in the 2017 Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JECP) Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. Prior to the start of the conference, I had the opportunity to do a quick trip to Washington, DC where I had the chance to visit Partners of the Americas’ international headquarters. By further cementing our professional relationships, the visit to HQ provided with the chance to deepen the link between field office and the HQ staff. On February 6 th , I was fortunate enough to lead a presentation on the work being done by the F2F Program in Guatemala. This was a great platform to unveil my work as a F2F team member and present to others the significant impact that F2F has had in Guatemalan communities for the last two and a half years. During the presentation, I was also able to answer all the questions s...

 Source:  http://didartcultura.com/ The Rural Entrepreneurship Development is a tenet of Partners of the Americas' Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) work in Guatemala. This USAID-funded F2F program offers U.S business professionals the chance to support small and medium-size agricultural enterprises in Guatemala by helping them develop sound business practices. Recently, Bill Nichols, a West Point and Harvard graduate, traveled to Guatemala to assist with these efforts. Bill volunteered as a Marketing and Fundraising Specialist with DIDART, a Guatemalan nonprofit that helps teach children valuable business and art skills. During his time, he worked closely with Christa Nunez, an inspirational entrepreneur who attends Hult International Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. Farmer-to-Farmer team member Mitchell Opatowsky recently had an opportunity to speak with Christa to learn more about DIDART’s mission: Interview with Christa Nunez Mitchell: What ...

Source:   Western FarmPress Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic - Western flower thrips ( Frankliniella occidentalis ) are one of the most detrimental pests for agricultural production in the developing world.  Their impact is particular profound in impoverished communities where integrated pest management (IPM) practices and advance production strategies are neither as prevalent nor comprehensive. In Caribbean nations like the Dominican Republic (DR), these types of thrips have cause devastating crop losses, particularly to vegatable farmers cultivating inside greenhouses. To address the impact that thrips have on crop production and producer wellbeing, Partners of the Americas’ identified Dr. Vonny Barlow, a U.S integrated pest management specialist, to help train Dominican farmers on the importance of sound IPM and greenhouse production methods.  During his two week field assignment, Dr. Barlow provided technical assistance to farmers from the Jarabacoa G...

You know that feeling when you just want to jump on an opportunity? Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer Dr. Fabio Lima, an assistant professor from University of Illinois, must have felt like after his recent trip to Nicaragua, where he saw the tremendous potential for the Livestock and Dairy program in the country. As Fabio explains: “Nicaragua is a lovely country with a great potential. Considering its strategic location in Central America, its tradition to raise cattle, and vast farmland, an increase of efficiency could offer them competitiveness necessary to take a significant position in the global market.” Livestock production is a big part of the Nicaraguan agriculture sector. There are 130,000 Nicaraguan farmers who manage 5 million heads of cattle. But many farmers could benefit from technical assistance to improve their livestock management practices. Dr. Lima traveled to Nicaragua to help address on of the challenges in the livestock sector and improve productivity and prof...

Hello everyone, this is Andrea Fión ! On February 8 and 9, I will be attending the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida for the very first time! As a Field Officer for the F2F Program in Guatemala, I was invited by former F2F volunteers,   Dan Culbert , Shawn Steed , and Vanessa Campoverde, to  conducting a round table discussion titled: “University Extension Educators Responding to International Emerging Issues.” I first met Vanessa, a plant pathologist and horticulture extension agent at the University of Florida when, in March 2016 when we conducted a F2F assignment in Guatemala working with ornamental export producers to improve plant nutrition in their nurseries. I also worked with Shawn and Dan during that same Spring on F2F assignments in Guatemala to improve smallholder aloe vera production. During this round table discussion, we will touch on four important topics: 1) ...

Andrea Fión , one of our Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Guatemala Field Officers, visited Partners of the Americas HQ in Washington, D.C. this past Monday and Tuesday. During Andrea's visit to HQ - a brief stop on her way to the JCEP Leadership Conference in Orlando - she gave a presentation to Partners staff, sharing success stories and lessons learned from our USAID-funded F2F program. The success stories focused on the great impact F2F assignments have had in Guatemala with farmer associations, exporters, and research institutions alike. In addition to her presentation to Partners staff, Andrea met with USAID/Washington to discuss the many successes of the F2F Guatemala Horticulture and Rural Enterprise Development projects. Andrea left today for Orlando, Florida, where she will be attending the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Leadership Conference. At this event, she and several past F2F volunteers will lead a roundtable discussion on the role that university extension agen...

Like many places in the world, Paraguay is a country of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.  Tremendous inequality exists between urban centers like Asunción that have access to basic amenities like clean water, electricity, education, and internet access to people outside the city living in rural areas. There are many other challenges as well and Partners of the Americas is helping address one of them - child labor. Partners’ is implementing the Paraguay OKAKUAA, a 3-year cross-sector project between the central, departmental, and district governments in the Department of Guairá. project. It is funded by the US Department of Labor and focuses on addressing child labor issues in the sugarcane industry.  Partners' USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program is collaborating with this effort.  F2F volunteer Lauren Hrncirik traveled to help start a 4-H program to help OKAKUAA meet one of it's objectives - to improve educational opportunities for children and youth in rural areas....

In case you missed it, here's a quick video synopsis of Melissa Delzio's trip to Haiti: We love our volunteers! Email Stephanie Verganza (SVerganza@partners.net) to see how you can get involved and write your own story!