Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Partners of the Americas Farmer-to-Farmer program volunteer, Nathan, was featured on the Guyana This Week in Agriculture ! Nathan shared his honeybee expertise over a two-week assignment in Guyana. During his time there he met with local cooperatives, businesses, and beekeepers and lead training as a part of his volunteer assignment. Nathan was welcomed by the community, Guyana Field Staff Team, and greatly enjoyed his Farmer-to-Farmer program experience. Want to view full screen? Click here:  https://youtu.be/bEPIoXiS8bU Since 1991, Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer Program has been transforming lives in over 30 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Farmer-to-Farmer provides technical assistance from highly skilled U.S. volunteers to farmers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, extension services, and other agriculture sector institutions. Ready to volunteer with Partners of the Americas? Our open opportunities are posted here:  https...

"You never get satisfied in your paid job at the extent you can get as a volunteer because your effort can bring smiles on the faces of needy people" On April 28, 2019, Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Volunteer Ram Ray, Research Scientist of Praire View A&M University in Texas, traveled to the Dominican Republic (DR) to work with three unique communities that are facing serious issues with soil erosion, flooding, and landslides.  Although this is his second assignment with F2F (his first F2F assignment was in India), this is his first time visiting the beautiful country of the Dominican Republic. When he landed in Santo Domingo, he enjoyed seeing the coastal city similar to his current hometown of Houston, Texas. Originally from Nepal, he was surprised to find a similar topography and terrain in the DR.  The overall objective of his F2F volunteer assignment was to increase the resilience of the vulnerable populations on the impacts of climate change and weather patte...

Since it's founding in 2015, the Yaque del Norte River Basin (YNRB), Fondo Agua Yaque del Norte ,  has been working to promote the conservation and restoration of the watershed of the Yaque del Norte River, Rio Yaque del Norte , the most important river in the Dominican Republic. Their work consists of increasing and managing their financial trust that finances their organization and provides funding to watershed-focused groups in the region. The Yaque del Norte River Basin also includes an educational and promotional arm known as the Development Association, Association para el Dessarollo Inc .  Kent Reid, Farmer-to-Farmer  (F2F) Volunteer, traveled to the Dominican Republic in May 2019 on assignment to work and review overall operating activities with the YNW Fund. This was Kent's second F2F assignment with the YNW Fund, having worked with the Development Association partner, ISA University, in October. The two main goals of the F2F assignment were to review th...

Mr. Rodriguez on-location in Guyana at CV Farms with  Kinaka Craig & F Valentine Mauricio G. Rodriguez, a U.S.-based private consultant, recently volunteered in Guyana as a  Farmer-to-Farmer  (F2F) Volunteer with  Partners of the Americas . His F2F assignment focused on assisting local small-scale produce farmers through postharvest management training. In Guyana, Mr. Rodriguez met with vegetable and herb producers who were experiencing significant crop and financial losses in postharvest transportation of their crops when shipping to  Georgetown  supermarkets. Noting the producers utilize  hydroponic technology  and  organic soil mixes  throughout the growth of the produce , he was then able to evaluate potential issues at the point of postharvest. After preliminary visits to different Georgetown supermarkets, he discovered the problem. From the point of harvest and to the supermarket , the crops were exposed to vary...

By Melanie Forstrom, Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Volunteer Being the first volunteer of a cycle gave me the exciting opportunity to contribute to and shape the youth involvement strategy for the following 5 years in the Dominican Republic. I was mainly stationed in Santo Domingo but had the opportunity to travel to Jarabacoa and Mao. There I saw and experienced organic strawberry and banana production, talked to young producers, and had rich conversations about protecting the basins of the Rio Yaque del Norte.   The main outcome of my assignment was creating a draft youth development strategy.  This was accomplished through research, surveys and meetings with host organizations and young producers. I produced a SWOT Analysis of each of the 3 organization partnering to incentivize youth agriculture in the Dominican Republic, as well as of the youth sector overall.  My assessment that a smaller scale mentoring program with each producer teaching 1-2 youth is t...