July 2023 – Agricultural Trip

For the week of July 6 to July 13, a large team traveled to Honduras to collect some information and to help farmers understand the importance of soil for maintaining nutrients and for holding and making water available.  The team consisted of 3 agronomy professors from the US and Brazil, 3 people from Cosecha in Tegucigalpa, and 3 interested ACTS and Rotary people from New Hampshire.  10 farmers were visited in their fields and soil samples were collected for analysis.  Water sources were visited, all in the trees.  Farmers explained their methods and asked questions to the visitors. Two meetings were held, and a group of community members planted some forage and green manure seeds in a nursery which will be kept by Ronis Cabrera.  Seeds from this nursery will be saved and distributed in the community.  Everyone delighted in finding veins of water from the considerable aquifer by dowsing.  Methods for saving silage were discussed; soil profiles and water infiltration were demonstrated.  The community has the chance to have an ongoing relationship with Cosecha.  Farmers may use the professional resources offered by those they met when they have questions.

Cosecha is an NGO based in Tegucigalpa which works with very poor farmers in the Dry Corridor of Honduras.   They have decades of experience working with campesinos and Eduardo Thomás Pérez has literally written the book.  Or books. They are very experienced in cultivating pride in working the land and supporting farmers as they work toward a more sustainable future.

Nelson Mejia organized our visits to the fields of 10 farmers; Nelson and Ronis’ fields were part of the 10, but the rest were mostly young farmers who had a lot of curiosity and were trying to innovate and try new things.  The scientists and Nelson felt that 10 would give a decent sample size for characterizing the soils, and visiting the fields of these farmers helped bring them into the project.  All finished the week with new understandings and a renewed sense of cooperation, support  and experimentation.

Photo by Gustavo Merten

Elvio had prepared some large tables and graphs showing annual precipitation and evaporation in Yoro.

Nelson and Roniss told us that the Caribbean was beyond the mountains in front of us and all the accumulating clouds would rain on the other side of the mountain, and it would not rain that day since the clouds were not headed for a particular mountain.  If they were, it would mean rain for the village. They were correct. 

We then headed to Nelson’s bean and corn field which he irrigated with an elevated hose fed by gravity.  The beans looked good and he may have some of the only beans. 

In the afternoon we went to the Mejia family fuente where Nelson’s dad, with great foresight, had abandoned the growing of corn and left the trees to grow.  In 1987.  The water source is significant and the forest is cool and damp.  Elvio passed around a soil sample from an eroded bank.  Not much organic matter for sure.

At his field, Elvio showed the soil profile at the bottom of the steep hill, which was deep, and then the one from the top.  It was very evident that the soil had eroded from the top to the bottom.

First, cut in the morning, dry in the afternoon.  Then walk on the silage and remove air to promote anaerobic process.

We visited the large pasture run by Oscar Cabrear.  He was growing Brachiaria also, and had some bare spots in it.  He cut the prickly weeds (acacia or wattles) growing in the pasture and layered them over the bare spots.

Eduardo laid out canes of forage grass in trenches.  Then he cut up other canes and had the farmers plant them their favorite way; later they would compare, and see which way grew best.