Partners of the Americas Farmer to Farmer programme is hosting a two-week training session with Professor Dr Robin Brumfield, a farm financial management specialist at Rutgers University, to boost the operations of hydroponic shadehouse vegetable growers in Guyana.
According to a Partners of the Americas press release, Dr Brumfield will visit from May 16 to May 30 and will work with hydroponic shadehouse vegetable operators from the IDB-financed Hydroponic Shadehouse Vegetable Production and Marketing Project. She will share her expertise with shadehouse operators through a combination of field visits and classroom training for growers in regions two, three and four. The training is designed to expose growers and project staff to vegetable cost analysis, the development of enterprise budgets for vegetable crops and business planning.
“The shadehouse training provides important information for small-scale vegetable producers to monitor costs of their operations and relevant tools on how to take advantage of niche markets,” says Peggy Carlson, Farmer to Farmer Program Director.
In Guyana, hydroponics is considered a timely alternative vegetable production system of growing plants without soil, a practice being adopted by small farmers and non-farmers alike. The hydroponic technique is growing in popularity, in large part because it is possible to produce fresh, healthy vegetables throughout the year, a prospect that is attractive even to non-farmers doing gardening at home, the release said.
Dr Brumfield, who has particular expertise in shadehouse and greenhouse production and management, has developed “Greenhouse Cost Accounting,” a computer programme that allows greenhouse managers in the US to make effective managerial decisions by allocating costs to specific crops that have become the standard for the greenhouse industry. She wrote the marketing and business management chapters for the recently released seventh edition of the best-selling textbook Greenhouse Operations and Management by Dr Paul V Nelson.
“I am honoured to be able to help shadehouse producers in Guyana better understand and manage their costs so that they can be more profitable,” Brumfield said. “As an educator of small farmers in New Jersey, I am pleased to have this opportunity to spread the vision of Rutgers University’s “Jersey Roots, Global Reach,” by taking the lessons that I have learned in my 24 years of working with producers in New Jersey to entrepreneurs in the Americas,” she added.
In addition to Dr Brumfield, the Farmer to Farmer programme is supporting the visits of Michael Driver, a graduate of the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) Programme at Archie’s Acres Farm in Valley Center, California, and Michael Harker, a former Peace Corps volunteer with years of experience in business management and consulting services relating to the agricultural produce industry.
Harker will be visiting from May 11 – 27 to provide training in marketing hydroponic vegetables. He will assist local hydroponic vegetable producers to identify key markets for their produce and will recommend strategies for marketing these goods to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and individual households.
Driver, who is a successful greenhouse operator in Montana, has been in Guyana since April 18 and will be here until May 17. He will set-up a pilot drip irrigation/fertigation system, provide guidance on the use of organic pesticides and set-up a model Nutrient Film Technique system.
The visits of all three volunteers are sponsored by Partners’ Farmer to Farmer programme which improves economic opportunities in rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean by increasing food production and distribution, promoting better farm and marketing operations and conserving natural resources.
In addition, funding support for Dr Brumfield’s training in Guyana is facilitated by the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA).
FAVACA Programme Manager Chris Beyer said, the group is “thrilled to be partnering with Partners in Guyana with the joint goal to further increase the food security in the region. Beyer further noted that “Dr Brumfield’s skills and expertise are a terrific match for the request to hold training on financial management.”
