agricultural

Written by Melissa Delzio, Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer in Colombia I am visiting Cali, Colombia on assignment with Partners of the Americas’ USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program. Partners pairs American volunteers (typically farmers) with producers, farmers cooperatives, agricultural universities, in developing regions of the Americas for a cultural and professional knowledge exchange. The company I am working with, Zen Naturals, has previously hosted technical and agricultural volunteers that have helped the start-up train Indigenous farmers from the Paez tribe to harvest ingredients that become the foundations of their products. Currently, Zen Naturals has developed a line a skin care products called Zue Beauty. This product line includes quinoa-based facial scrubs, toners and creams, but the mission of the company is much greater than the natural product they manufacture. The Paez tribes live in a remote mountain region of the Cauca Department. As farmers, they have been harve...

By F2F Volunteer Harry Greene My name is Harry Greene, I live in Burlington, Vermont, and I am the co-founder of and head of farm development for Propagate Ventures. We are an investment management firm that links financial capital with agroforestry and multi-species agriculture. My role at Propagate involves creating replicable economic models for polyculture (biodiverse) agroforestry systems. In plain English: I design organic orchards that grow more than one type of fruit; I work with everything from building the soil, to planting the trees, to forecasting management requirements over a 10-year time horizon. I also work as part of team that manages a 245-acre organic farm in Shelburne, Vermont, where I run a chestnut-centric tree nursery and agroforestry consultancy called 100 Years of Sun, which is the nursery and installation arm of Propagate Ventures. In February of 2017, Partners of the Americas’ Farmer to Farmer (F2F) program contacted me with the opportunity to travel to the D...

F2F Volunteer Vance Haugen leading a interactive lecture on bio-digester design at the Wawashang School From April 16 to May 1, two Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers traveled on assignment to Wawashang, a remote community in the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. This assignment included the participation of Vance Haugen (a University of Wisconsin Extension professor specializing in biogas production) as well as James Rhode (Director of the 4-H Adventure Project in Crawford County, Wisconsin). Their dual assignment was part of Farmer-to-Farmer’s “Women & Youth in Agriculture” project and was done in partnership with local host FADCANIC (Fundación para la Autonomía y el Desarrollo de la Costa). Mr. Haugen and Mr. Rohde’s assignment was centered on the implementation of bio-digesters systems for FADCANIC’s Wawashang School. Due to the school’s remote location, the administrators are actively trying to strengthen the institution’s self-sufficiency by generating all   the food, energy (...

Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak is a veterinarian, farmer, agricultural development practitioner and now CEO of Haiti Coffee. Since 1971, Myriam and her husband Mark have owned and managed Devil's Gulch Ranch in Nicasio, California, a diversified family farm that supplies high-end restaurants and wineries as well as educates children about nutrition and food production. Her experience in international development began in Niger, where she was a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1983-85 focusing on nutrition. Since 2007, Myriam has been working with Makouti Agro-Enterprise as a Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer. Throughout her 16 F2F assignments in Haiti, Dr. Kaplan-Pasternak has used her technical expertise to support the needs of impoverished communities in Haiti for which she received a Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2010. Her efforts intensified following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which she along with her husband and children experienced firsthand. She c...

                                                               F2F Volunteer Dr. John Rushing Dr. John Rushing is an emeritus professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. During his decades’ long career in NCSU’s Food Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, Dr. Rushing has advised and directed numerous food technology and food safety programs at various regulatory agencies and private companies in North Carolina, and throughout the world. Currently, Dr. Rushing is an independent foot technology consultant who remains committed to training the next generation of Food Scientists. By way of the annual “John and Kelli Rushing Food Science Freshman Scholarship”, Dr. Rushing and his wife support Food Science students at NCSU with the financial assistance they need to continue pursuing their ...

By: Andres Varona, Agriculture & Food Security Program Officer at Partners of the Americas La Union, Valle del Cauca (Photo by  Andres Varona) For more than 50 years, large segments of Colombia’s countryside have been the battlefront of guerrilla rebels, paramilitaries, and drug cartels. The violent clash between these factions and Colombia’s armed forces has not only displaced millions of campesinos to the country’s sprawling cities, it has also contributed to the further degradation and neglect of Colombia’s rich agricultural and food-producing regions. With the signing of the peace deal with the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, the government of Colombia faces a unique opportunity to not only forge greater peace and security, but also a chance to restore the environmental vitality of its countryside and the socio-economic well-being of millions of people that been displaced from their lands. As the FARC put down their weapons and other armed groups (e.g. ELN) begin negotia...

Dr. Pablo Jordan Soto traveled to the Dominican Republic from March 26 – April 9, 2017 to assess the organic banana production practices of the Banelino Association and the Project La Cruz de Manzanillo and provide them with recommendations on environmentally-friendly technologies and best practices to increase the quality and production of their banana crops. Banelino is an association of banana producers that encompasses over 300 farmer households. Aside from its focus on banana production, the association also manages a number of social, educational, and medical programs for its members, including a youth training program in banana production. The Project La Cruz de Manzanillo is a national project that supports job creation for residents of Bateyes, a community in the Provice of Montecristi. The project has 250 hectares of land dedicated to banana production and employs over 2,000 low-income families. During his trip, Dr. Soto visited 12 farms in Valverde and Montecristi to meet wi...