agricultural

Dear F2F volunteers, blog readers, and friends: This Giving Tuesday, make a donation to support a unique opportunity for our Guatemala Farmer-to-Farmer field officer, Andrea Fión! Many of you have come to know Andrea Fión, one of our outstanding field officers for Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in Guatemala. Andrea has been a field officer for F2F for 2 ½ years. In February 2016, Andrea accompanied two F2F volunteers as they completed their assignment to train aloe vera producers in integrated pest management and production. They were so inspired by her intellect, motivation, and hard work that upon returning to the US, they kept in touch and sent her information on presentation opportunities at various conferences throughout the US.  With the help of several former F2F volunteers to Guatemala and one F2F volunteer to Ghana, we were able to submit an abstract to present on “University Extension educators responding to international emerging issues” at the ...

Dear blog readers, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers, and friends: On behalf of Partners of the Americas' Agriculture and Food Security Team and our field staff throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, we would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for continuing to read our blog, staying up to date on our work, and volunteering with our program. Our Farmer-to-Farmer program would not be a success without you!  Here are some special notes of thanks from around the world: F2F field staff say thank you in different Mayan dialects "Thank you for your support" from banana producers in the Dominican Republic "Greetings from Nicaragua! Thank you for your support" - a postcard created by the F2F Nicaragua field staff

Every now and then, we like to feature members of our team from around the world on our blog. Below is a short interview with Abraham Jarquin, one of our outstanding field officers in Guatemala, who talks about the role of being a field officer for the Farmer-to-Farmer program. How long have you been working for the Farmer-to-Farmer program? Inicie a trabajar con Farmer-to-Farmer, el 1ro de junio del 2014, a la fecha tengo casi 3 años trabajando.  I started to work with Farmer-to-Farmer on June 1, 2014. Today, I have almost three years of working for the program.  Abraham with field officer, Andrea, at a goat center in Nebaj What is your background and what drew you to work for the Farmer-to-Farmer program? Soy ingeniero agronomo, cuento con 2 maestrias; maestria en estadistica avanzada y maestria en manejo de empresas agricolas. Inicie a trabajar en este program por que me parecio una buena oportunidad para poder aprender y desarrollar nuevas tecnicas. I'm an agricultural eng...

Partners of the Americas has been implementing the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program for over 25 years, making it one of our longest standing programs in the history of our organization. There are several organizations that manage the F2F program throughout the world. Historically, Partners has been in charge of the F2F program in Latin America and the Caribbean. Here are some other fun facts about our program: 1. We have completed over 283 volunteer assignments During this funding cycle (October 2013 - September 2018), we have recruited for and filled over 283 volunteer assignments to our four core countries and eight Flex countries. Our goal is to fill 540 assignments by the end of the program. F2F volunteer Bill Nichols in the Dominican Republic 2. We work with 139 host organizations throughout Latin America Host organizations are cooperatives, associations, farmers groups, small businesses, public and private education institutions, public sector agencies, and individual private farme...

We are #38! Thank you Feedspot.com for ranking Partners of the Americas' "Cultivating Change: Agriculture and Food Security Blog" as one of the top 50 Agriculture Blog Winners!

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 with the...

Do you know what it means to be climate-smart? For smallholder banana farmers in the Dominican Republic, climate-smart agriculture can mean the difference between surviving and thriving during extreme weather events. Find out how Partners' Farmer-to-Farmer strategy in the DR is leveraging the agricultural knowledge of American agricultural experts to help Dominicans become more resilient to climate change and ensure a food secure future for their families!

Partners Farmer-to-Farmer Program staff from around the region met last week in the Dominican Republic to receive training, share experiences, and meet with some local hosts. The meeting was a great opportunity for new F2F field staff and seasoned veterans alike to learn from each other and form new relationships. Through these yearly workshops, we aim to build the capacity of F2F staff to collect success stories, measure program impact, and anticipate the needs of hosts and volunteers. Exchanging stories from four diverse F2F countries generated new ideas and excitement about the program and we look forward to carrying that out in the coming months! Below are photos we snapped throughout the week during a field visit to a F2F banana cooperative, workshops, and relaxation time. Enjoy!

This article is a contribution to a blog series on how Partners Agriculture and Food Security programs contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals . This week’s blog highlights what Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers have been doing to achieve SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The Dominican Republic currently has one of the highest amounts of available fresh water in Latin America, but global climate change has led to more frequent and severe droughts, floods and storms on the island. These non-typical climatic events have reduced both the quality and quantity of the country’s supply of fresh water for human consumption and agriculture. By adapting agricultural practices to global climate change, Partners aims to create sustainable economic development that benefits producers and consumers as they become more resilient to a changing environment. As we approach the halfway point in our 2013-2018 F2F cycle, volunteers have already made huge progress in...