Growing Relationships with the Farmers of Trinidad
PotashCorp employee Karl Burgess looks out at rows of papaya and eggplant pushing through the earth in Trinidad, on land where sugar cane used to grow. Most people would see just a farm, but Burgess sees a classroom.
This "school" is the PCS Model Farm and Agricultural Resource Centre, where PotashCorp teaches the latest agricultural techniques to local farmers. Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean nation of two islands off the northeast coast of Venezuela, imports nearly 85 percent of its food, but PotashCorp hopes to change that.
"I want farmers to tour the Model Farm and leave saying, 'I could do that,' then go home and start improving their own farms," says Burgess, Project Manager – Agriculture.
The farm is a highly visible and uniquely tangible example of how PotashCorp meets its goal of building relationships and improving the socio-economic well-being of its communities.
The company, which operates a large nitrogen facility in Trinidad, has built greenhouses and planted several two-acre demonstration plots on the 75 acres it leased from the government in 2008. In 2009, it began to invite farmers and schoolchildren for lessons in the best practices of modern agriculture.
The seeds of the farm were planted when PotashCorp surveyed community leaders in 2006.
"We learned that the people of Trinidad and Tobago are looking to us for leadership, specifically leadership in agriculture," said Ian E. Welch, Managing Director of PCS Nitrogen Trinidad. "The country is energy-rich, but suffering from high food inflation. With the Model Farm, we are demonstrating to the local population how Trinidad's natural gas reserves are used by our company to make the fertilizer products to grow the crops that help feed the world."
The facility has a long history of community involvement through its sponsorship of local schools, two steel pan bands and a host of scholarships for higher education. Welch said it made perfect sense to increase that community involvement by sharing the company's knowledge of agriculture.
"This is a natural fit for a company that wants to contribute to the long-term health of our nation," Burgess says. "We have the knowledge to share with farmers and the responsibility to contribute to the community."
"This Model Farm and training facility represents a valuable contribution by PCS Nitrogen to the people of Trinidad and Tobago in support of the government's policy for increasing domestic agricultural production for food and nutrition security," said Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources Arnold A. Piggott. Piggott spoke to an audience of local dignitaries during the official launch of the farm in February 2009.
While Trinidad and Tobago imports the vast majority of its food, thousands of acres of former sugar-producing land are available now for cultivation. The heavily subsidized, state-supported sugar cane industry ceased operations earlier in the decade, and the government is encouraging farmers to grow crops that can feed the islands' people.
"The primary beneficiaries of this facility are expected to be small farmers, especially new farmers," Piggott said, referring to former employees of the state-owned Caroni sugar plantation, who soon will be allocated two-acre plots of land to set up their own farming businesses.
The Model Farm will showcase a host of crops including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, bok choy, eggplant and papaya. Several kinds of citrus fruit are also being planted.
Instruction at the farm will include training on how farmers might build their own greenhouses. The greenhouses at the Model Farm demonstrate how a farmer can start small and work toward more sophisticated operations. For example, one greenhouse uses concrete blocks as planters. This rudimentary set-up is compared to another greenhouse on the farm that features an intricate irrigation system.
"We hope to help farmers as they are just getting started, and continue advising them as they continue to grow," Burgess said.
For a long time, Trinidad farmer Ramdeo Boondoo, who grows root vegetables on his farm at Carlsen Field, has been hoping that a prominent company on the island would offer this sort of help. He doesn't just want the Model Farm to help improve his own farming techniques – he wants it to be a force in teaching future generations.
"This farm will go a long way toward educating the youth of our nation, the future farmers of our nation," he says. "I expect Karl will be very busy cultivating young minds."