How We Partner With Family Farmers

We provide family farmers with the training and tools necessary to become community leaders in sustainability. Sustainable Harvest International's (SHI) local field trainers work with families, individuals, and communities for an average of four years. This long-term approach creates lasting transformation, as program participants continue to apply the skills they've learned long after graduating.

Our program includes three distinct parts:

• sustainable agricultural techniques,

• small business development, and

• communal capacity building.

When participants graduate from our program, they teach others the skills they learned - multiplying our impact.

LUISA PAN,
SMALL BUSINESS success in belize

Luisa Pan is the proud owner of a profitable small business in Dolores, Belize. She received a micro-credit loan from SHI-Belize to expand her mini-store. She stocks the shelves with crops harvested from the family farm, including cassava, tomatoes, onions, and plantains.

With the profits, she was able to pay off her loan in less than one year, and also pay off other household debts and purchase school supplies for her five children.

“The business has done well and my husband and I agree that it is important for me to make money to help support our family.”

Farmer Field Schools in Honduras

Through Farmer Field Schools, communities in SHI’s Honduras TREE project come together to learn, collaborate, and produce food sustainably. They gain knowledge on crop cultivation and reforestation through hands-on experience at community-run plant nurseries. Agroforestry sites serve as hubs for learning sustainable practices, where participants build greenhouses, create organic pesticides, and produce natural fertilizers. Afterward, they distribute resources and materials to help individuals implement these practices on their personal farms.

Elmer Buezo, a Farmer Field School member, sums up their philosophy, “It doesn't benefit just me or just him. Everyone benefits.”

JORGE CHIrÚ, organic fertilizers in panama

"In just one year of working with my field trainer, I have learned many new techniques for my home garden. I have learned to make homemade organic fertilizers and natural pest repellents. I have been improving the life of my soil, controlling pests and different crop diseases.

I now realize that our garden can produce the food we need for my family’s meals without harming the soil or the environment. My family's health has already improved because of the good food we are eating. I know that in four years, when we are finished working with SHI-Panama, we will have achieved many things."