2017-10-04 It is often a problem in tropical soils farmed by smallholders that the soil is nutrient-depleted and acidic, costing the farmer more money and yielding less valuable crops. In an attempt to overcome this, Dr. Tom will discuss different ways of evaluating important soil properties and thus...
2017-10-05 This workshop will explore biochar and how Warm Heart has been researching, experimenting, creating, and promoting biochar in northern Thailand and some of the lessons learned through the years.
2017-11-01 In 1998, ECHO USA mailed six chaya stalks to Indonesia. Today, a conservatively estimated 10,000 households across Indonesia are benefiting from this ‘Mayan Superfood.” Come hear about an indigenous grower-to-grower movement and how its promoters in the informal association, “Komunitas Chaya...
2017-10-03 In this workshop, I will describe and diagram the common sloping land corn and rice farming system. I will then identify leverage points within the system and how development workers can work with farmers to make these systems more sustainable.
2017-10-05 The Sloping Agriculture Land Technologies (SALT) were developed in the Philippines more than 30 years ago. They were developed with local farmers incorporating some key principles for farming the uplands in the humid tropics such as soil erosion control, fertility management through use of plant...
2017-10-05 This workshop will look at indigenous microbial fermented feeds as an alternative to our expensive foreign/imported GMO corn-soy based feed ration for our native animals (chicken and swine). Experiments on microbial fermentation on indigenous plants was conducted in terms of palatability,...
2017-10-03 In this workshop, Scott talked about his small backyard urban garden and his experiments with integrating egg-laying chickens into the system on multiple levels. Faced with the economic reality of it being cheaper to buy eggs than produce them himself using store-bought feeds, he began to look...
2017-10-04 Seeds are the most significant agricultural input factor. Smart farmers must know how to select and harvest the seeds that are adaptable to the environment in a particular area and their production requirement characteristics. Each vegetable has certain times during the plant’s growth when seed...
2017-10-04 Why is local food important? We will discuss a few topics related to local food: 1) Right now, local food is a trend that includes a focus on super foods, clean food, and supplements. 2) Local food touches on food sovereignty. Do we have a choice of what we eat? 3) Indigenous plants are still...