Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Mision Illac (ILAC) is a non-profit organization that operates in the rural communities of the Central Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic. Its mission is to provide agricultural education and training to local community members in order to improve their overall financial well-being, health, and quality of life, and discourage migration to the city. Specifically, ILAC promotes nutrition and environmental conservation through its focus on the production of organic vegetables using sustainable agricultural practices. F2F volunteer Charles Mitchell with ILAC members Partners’ Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program has been working with ILAC since the start of this year, during which it has sent several volunteers to provide assistance and contribute to the organization’s mission. Recently, F2F volunteer, Charles Mitchell traveled to the Dominican Republic to provide training and workshops on best practices for soil conservation. An organic farm inspector and former member of the USD...

The Dominican Republic has a long and rich history in the production of cacao. However, farmers have struggled to increase the resilience of their cacao yields to changes in the climate. Rebecca Roebber, Marketing Director and COO of indi chocolate , recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to share her expertise in cacao production and quality assurance. In particular, Rebecca worked alongside IDIAF ( Instituto Dominicano De Investigacion Agropecuarias Y Forestales) staff members to help them improve their production practices to become more sustainable in face of climate change and increase the quality and value of their cacao. Following an initial assessment of their current production practices, Rebecca provided training sessions on methods to increase the quality of organic cacao through improvements in pruning and post harvest practices. She also emphasized the importance of soil nutrition to ensure the quality and sustainability of their cacao yields. Rebecca also noted a...

Rincon Grande's Dragon Fruit Chips Alimentos Rincon Grande, S.A., located in the small municipality of San Andrés Iztapa, Chimaltenango, is a family-owned and operated enterprise that produces organic fruits and vegetables to sell in domestic markets. In an effort to increase their profits and diversify their products, they have recently begun producing added-value goods, such as chips, from their sweet potato and dragon fruit crops. As part of these efforts, Partners of the Americas sent two F2F volunteers over the summer to provide support in fortifying their marketing strategy and improving the packaging of their sweet potato and dragon fruit chips. Dr. Melvin Pascall discussing packaging materials with staff On September 25th Ohio State University professor, Melvin Pascall, travelled to Guatemala to help Rincon Grande improve the packaging and labelling of their chip products in order to extend their shelf life and increase their marketability. During his time in Gu...

On Friday, October 27, Partners of the Americas had the distinct pleasure of hosting Dr. Ethel Villalobos for a presentation on her recent Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer assignment in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Villalobos is the Director of the Honeybee Project at the University of Hawaii – Manoa. During her decades-long career of working with honeybees, she has led groundbreaking research on varroa treatments, mite-bee interactions, colony health assessment, as well as hygienic behavior. Moreover, she has also been developing a series of outreach programs for underserved Costa Rican farmers in need of pollination services. In fact, it was her passion for empowering impoverished farmers with practical beekeeping skills, which inspire her to sign up as a volunteer with Partners of the Americas’ F2F program. In May 2017, Dr. Villalobos and her UH graduate student, Scott Nikaido, traveled to several rural communities in the northeast of the Dominican Republic. The object...