► They were inspired by the documentary After the Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands and created Food 4 Farmers.
► The Co-Founders of Food 4 Farmers. Marcela Pino (2nd from left front), Janice Nadworny (middle front), and Rick Peyser (far right).
► First Board of Directors: Rick Peyser (far right), Bill Mares (top), Eric Nadworny (not shown), and Ernesto Mendez (not shown).
► Food 4 Farmers begins work with its first partner, SOPPEXCCA.
♦ Food security diagnostic SOPPEXCCA funded by GMCR (phase 1)
► First document with Goals and Objectives
► Soppexcca and F4F summit proposal for phase 2 food security program to GMCR
► Program Café y Miel
► F4F launches its first website
► Vermont Artisan Coffee and Tea interested in investing in CESMACH (Mane travels to Chiapas)
► F4F is asked to summit proposal to conduct food security and livelihoods diagnostic in Colombia. Approved
► La Roya, coffee rust, hits Central America
► First diagnostic trip to CESMACH
♦ We began working with CESMACH in 2013, after coffee rust struck and devastated coffee farms throughout Latin America, to develop effective long-term strategies to overcome food insecurity and inadequate coffee livelihoods.
► SOPPEXCCA phase 2 is approved and F4F conducts baseline study
► First planning for Bees in a Box with Root Capital for Maya Ixil coop
► Final document submitted: Food Security and Livelihoods Diagnostic in Coffee Growing Communities in Colombia
► Presentation at Let’s Talk Roya
► When our partnership began in 2014, Maya Ixil had suffered devastating crop losses from La Roya, a fungus that struck in 2012, killing 80% of their coffee shrubs. Maya Ixil was looking for a way to quickly diversify and bolster income in their members’ communities. Beekeeping was identified as a strategy that had not been sufficiently supported due to a lack of resources. We worked with Maya Ixil to establish two community “apiary schools,” and trained 50 coffee farmers.
► Two projects kick off:
♦ Maya Ixil beekeeping
♦ SOPPEXCCA food security
► Planning with CESMACH leads to first beekeeping diagnostic and training with Alfredo
► Marcela goes to Colombia to present results of diagnostic at Intercambio
► Hired the first office manager!
► Maya Ixil’s first honey harvest in 2015 increased income by 23% on average. Funding was provided by Root Capital, a leader in global social lending.
► We summit to Progreso and the proposals are accepted:
♦ Planning with Nuevo Futuro for food security program
♦ Planning with CESMACH for beekeeping program
► 2nd year Maya Ixil
► 2nd year SOPPEXCCA
► We hired the first Program Officer
► We get funding for 3 school gardens in SOPPEXCCA
► We get funding for COMEPCAFE
► We began working with COMEPCAFE in 2016, co-designing our food security program with this organization to reflect their desire to implement a variety of strategies. These included the creation of home gardens, participation in farmers’ markets, recruiting and training new community promoters and revitalizing traditional crop production and recipes.
► In 2016, we brought in Ecosur, an ecological research college based in Chiapas, Mexico, to help Maya Ixil grow and professionalize their beekeeping venture. Maya Ixil is now a licensed exporter of honey, and has access to international markets. They’ve increased honey production by 200% since 2016, and honey is now the second highest source of income, after coffee.
► A lot of firsts:
♦ 1st year Nuevo Futuro
♦ 1st year CESMACH: collaboration with Ecosur
♦ 3RD year Maya Ixil and final evaluation
♦ 3rd year SOPPEXCCA and final evaluation
♦ 1st year School Gardens SOPPEXCCA (2 schools)
♦ 1st year COMEPCAFE
► We began working with SOPPEXCCA to develop Jinotega’s first-ever organic farmers market. Many women in our home garden project had become skilled enough to meet their families’ needs, and they now wanted to build new sources of income by selling their surplus produce.
► In 2017, we conducted a community diagnostic with 200 members of ACODIHUE to lay the groundwork for our food security work together. ACODIHUE had previously established a beekeeping project in 2017, along with a food security program. This venture has grown to include 90 women and men, but they had not yet fully addressed food security strategies to realize the potential of the program.
► 2nd year CESMACH, training for Lucas by Ecosur
► 2nd year COMEPCAFE (Nueva Ruralidad). We start including water management trainings
► 1st year of second phase with Maya Ixil and 43 beekeepers and Ecosur
► 2nd year School gardens – 3 schools and 1 food security exchange with schools
► Diversification study with Nuevo Futuro and Nueva Ruralidad: participants value the home garden and want to include more crops, also laying chikens and beekeeping.
► This was a particularly difficult time to launch SOPPEXCCA’s organic farmers market, as the co-op and its members reeled from a political crisis that shut off access to many communities. Even with this major roadblock, these women were still able to supply their families with fresh food and provide for their neighbors as well. By the end of the year, the situation improved and we launched the new market. These home gardens provided much-needed stability during the crisis; now, the market, located at SOPPEXCCA’s headquarters in Jinotega, began to deliver regular income.
► We partnered with Engineers without Borders to help design and install prototype water catchment systems using locally available, affordable materials for Nuevo Futuro members.
► Women and girls represented 80% of participants in our food security programs.
► In 2019, Maya Ixil launched a campaign to recruit new beekeepers by reducing the entry fee. This resulted in a new cohort of 13 young people joining the program.
► In 2019, CESMACH’s honey production increased by 95 percent, to 45,000 pounds.
► In 2019, Nicaragua and Honduras suffered a drought that caused major losses of maize, beans, and other crops. Home gardens helped SOPPEXCCA members weather the crisis, provide healthy food for their families and neighbors, and boost income.
In 2020, COVID-19 forced our organization to make some hard decisions. Along with uncertainty about funding, we had to suspend travel to our program sites for safety reasons. This affected the way we normally coordinate work, implement trainings, and monitor activities. At the same time, our co-op partners entered a period of chaos that has lasted beyond 2020. It forced them to create new ways to communicate with their members, find information about best practices to stay safe, and keep a close eye on the international coffee market.
Nuevo Futuro officially graduates and becomes self-sustaining. The association has successfully incorporated our food security program into their long-term strategic plan and they are successfully managing it on their own.