The Farmer to Farmer program brings together U.S. volunteers and their Latin American and Caribbean counterparts to work together to find solutions to common problems. The program operates with the philosophy that people can solve their own problems with the appropriate tools and information.
The Partners' FTF program is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of the USDA's food aid program. The volunteers travel under grant funding and spend two weeks to one month working in different cities and villages to provide technical assistance related to specific projects, whether it be instructing farmers, conducting classroom instruction for local farmers and agriculture students at Nicaraguan colleges, or gathering information to be brought back for future project consideration.
The Farmer to Farmer program is an exciting example of Partners of the Americas' founding mandate to promote volunteerism and foster citizen action at the community level. Through Farmer to Farmer, individual volunteers share their skills, interests, and energy.
Some of the specific projects in which FTF has been involved are intensive grazing and forage preservation, water sanitation, forestry, milk quality control, small farm management and record keeping, square meter gardening and food production, beekeeping, and veterinary medicine.
In Latin America, women play a critical role in agriculture. The importance of their contribution in agricultural production and the significant impact that they have in bringing about change in their communities is increasingly recognized. Partners' FTF program is committed to providing women agriculturists with access to technical assistance and information to improve their production and marketing systems.
