When you are a smallholder farmer and depend on your land to survive, climate change is not an abstract concept. The effects of increased and unpredictable rains, floods, droughts, heat waves, landslides, and the spread of crop pests and disease are very real. Climate change exacerbates an already daily struggle to beat the odds, which are constantly shifting and always stacked against them.

DIG’s Farmer Field Schools recognize and build upon farmers’ experience and ancestral knowledge of their environment. We combine local knowledge with innovative agroecological methods to restore degraded soil, increase agro-biodiversity, reuse and conserve key resources, and encourage positive synergy among garden elements. By learning and applying ecological alternatives, farmers reduce their reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides that damage the soil.

By strengthening their agro-ecosystems from the ground up and maximizing use of available resources, farmers emerge from the program better positioned to withstand and effectively respond to climate-related shocks and stresses.