Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Elizabeth Church traveled to the Dominican Republic to work with greenhouse technicians to implement integrated pest management and biological controls (IPM). The overall goal of this project was to increase the resilience to changing weather patterns of greenhouse technicians in the Jarabacoa region by helping them implement IPM systems. Biological controls can minimize pesticide use and improve overall sustainability of the operation. Many of the crops in the greenhouses have been negatively affected by various pests and diseases. Reoccurring problems that were observed by Elisabeth include whitefly on the tomatoes, Diptera larvae pests and thrips damage in peppers, and fusarium and charred rice hull in cucumbers. Elizabeth found that none of the greenhouses were ready for biological control implementation and estimated that the greenhouses need 1-2 more years of proper IPM practices in place before successful biological controls can be implemented. Elizabeth had the opportun

This past February, F2F Volunteer, Jo Anne Cohn helped women of the Pinos Fabrettino Cooperative in San Jose de Cusmapa, Nicaragua, build their business skills to help them increase their bottom line. The women were not only taught the 4 P's of marketing (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) they also learned customer satisfaction sales techniques which will make them more successful when selling baskets both in their showroom and at local fairs. The women of the Pinos Fabrettino Cooperative make exquisite baskets out of fallen pine needles. They gather the pine needles and sew them into beautifully made baskets using colorful thread. They've been working on standardizing the baskets so that there is consistency in the quality of their products. Last year the women made more than 5,000 baskets with almost of all their sales going to one vendor. This year they would like to branch out and find more places where their baskets can be sold. During the 3-day workshop, the wom

By: Melissa Delzio, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer With his silver-streaked beard and fashion scarf, seated in Sukhasana (a yoga meditation pose), Marco Barbi may seem like an unlikely candidate to help kickstart the Guatemalan economy. For starters he is Italian, married to a French astrologist and is himself the author of several personal growth books. He arrived to Guatemala via Mexico over a decade ago, and choose to make the outskirts of Antigua his home. He leads a meditation session every Monday evening on one of Antigua’s many photogenic rooftops, and I attend on my first day in the city. I focus on his rhythmic incantations and try to resolve all of the nervous and excited energy that comes from freshly arriving in a foreign land. Marco, the yogi guru, is on a mission to serve up high quality, health food products to the Guatemalan people and I am happy to have him as my client for the coming weeks. He calls his mostly Guatemalan-sourced products, “super foods” and thu

Agronomist Ilan Bar recently traveled to Guatemala to work with producers associated with the Commission of Ornamental Plants, Flowers and Foliage (AGEXPORT) on ways to strengthen the nutrition, fertilization and irrigation of their crops. Ilan Bar was truly impressed by the level of expertise of the owners of the large greenhouse operations he visited. AGEXPORT works with over 150 producers and exporter groups across Guatemala. Many are educated agronomists and highly trained technicians doing a lot of great work.  These dedicated producers and Ilan were determined to make the most of their time together and spent as many as 14 hours a day running through all of the production operations and outlining areas of improvement. They achieved this by conducting extensive hands on assessments and discussing various methodologies to ultimately improve quality and production of their ornamental plants and flowers. Reoccurring recommendations centered around plant nutrition and fertili

Joy Noviello, Saul Abreu & Alexander Blumberg (APEDI), and Rafael Marte ( F2F Field Officer) First-time F2F volunteer, Joy Noviello, was recently sent on an exciting assignment on landscaping for sustainability and beautification of a central park in the Dominican Republic. Joy’s landscape design expertise came in handy as she extensively surveyed the park and gave many recommendations of specific plant species that will not only visually enhance the public spaces but also facilitate soil erosion protection and water absorption rates. The Association for Development (APEDI) is dedicated to investing in infrastructure and landscape enhancements within the central park to improve the usage and enjoyment among community memebers.  APEDI   is a non-profit organization that currently consists of 70 members, most of whom are businessman and entrepreneurs that have big roles in the Dominican Republic.  The Association focuses on developing ideas and initiatives into programs and

F2F volunteer Eli Gottfried collaborated with F2F Country Director, Benito Jasmin, on a soil fertility assignment. During his assignment, he conducted a series of experiments in order to (1) figure out ways to lower the pH level of coffee seedlings in a cost-efficient manner; (2) add nutrients to the soil to promote growth, and; (3) control common diseases on coffee plants.  The results of these experiments will ultimately help other crops like coconut and cacao that are grown by Makouti Agro Enterprise since they share similar nutritional compounds to coffee. Some of the experiments are set to run for 6 months, so we will await the results! Coffee seedlings grow best in slightly acidic environments, so Eli set up experiments to analyze seedling growth in a variety of conditions. These experiments included: (1) spacing out seedlings to see how this affects growth; (2) the effects of different dilutions of urine of pH levels when applied to seedlings; (3) the effects of long and

Our organization is so thrilled to work with such incredible women hosts, staff, program participants, organization leaders, and business owners. Below are highlights of some of the incredible women we work with! Altair Rodriquez in the Dominican Republic Altair Rodriguez is the owner of a 66 hectare demonstration farm called Finca Tierra Negra in the Dominican Republic. She has invited specialists from the Farmer to Farmer program to evaluate the land and help her create a strong agroforestry landscape with a variety of climate-smart crops! Through her farm, she is hoping to create a platform for local farmers to observe and learn about sustainable farming practices and systems. Vision Maya in Guatemala Vision Maya is an association located in Sololá, Guatemala comprised of almost 200 individuals dedicated to the production and marketing of fresh oyster mushrooms. Because more than half of the association is made up of women, Maya Vision is dedicated to the economic development of f

O swaldo Leon traveled to Nicaragua as a communication specialist to prepare an official communication plan for Junior Achievement (JA). The aim of the plan is to bolster JA as the leading organization helping young Nicaraguans develop vital entrepreneurial and leadership skills.  During his workshops, Oswaldo and participants had conversations about social media and various ways to communicate ideas through words and photos.  At first, Oswaldo found it challenging to figure out how to relate intricate communication techniques into practical concepts and engaging activities. He was effective though and people dived right into the activities as seen in the photos posted below! He discovered that Whatsapp can be used as a social network, which is an app already widely  used by young people throughout Latin America. In some rural areas, Oswaldo discovered that it is used more frequently than the internet websites like Facebook and Twitter. Intrigued by this, Oswaldo encouraged

deforestation is prevalent throughout the province Last Tuesday, it was Independence Day for the Dominican Republic! So, here is a blog about some awesome work that is happening there now! Soil expert Jeff Knowles visited a staggering fifteen farms as he engaged with informal discussions with community leaders and farmers on soil quality. Mission ILAC is an organization that focuses on agricultural problems in the remote  and poorer communities in the Santiago and La Vega provinces. A principal goal is to work directly with community leaders to help farmers achieve food sustainability while also reducing chemical usage.  ILAC focuses on cacao and rust resistant varieties of coffee to reverse the effects of farms devastated by coffee rust. Deforestation is extensive in the region due to severe coffee rust years ago followed by the conversion of forest to pastureland as farmers switched to cattle raising. Because of this, Jeff focused on discussions and training centered aroun