This blog post was originally published by Initiative 20x20. SHI-Honduras partner farmer Consuelo Galeas plants coffee, plantain, and citrus fruits in her agroforestry parcel. Agroforestry and agroecology are practices central to the regenerative agriculture efforts of Initiative 20x20 partner Sustainable Harvest International (SHI). By combining organic farming practices with forest preservation and restoration, SHI partnering farmers no longer rely on conventional agriculture practices like slash-and-burn in an effort to survive. In agroforestry, trees are a crucial part of the farming syst ..read more

(Traducción en Español abajo) Sustainable Harvest International welcomes its new Executive Director, Janeen Simon! Janeen is enthusiastic about SHI’s goal to transform one million farms by 2030 and eager to lead us forward as we plant one billion trees and partner with thousands of family farmers. ““We are thrilled to have Janeen as our new Executive Director; she brings critical nonprofit leadership experience, much of which was gained working in Latin America, as well as a passion for our work. This was evident in our recent board trip to Belize, where we got to see her engaging with our fie ..read more

2023 was an exciting 26th year for Sustainable Harvest International (SHI). We expanded to new communities, growing our current partnering farming families in Central America. Program teams focused on building partnerships, strengthening program management skills, and training farmers in small business practices. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) chose SHI as a Commitment Maker, opening the door to new funding opportunities. A Minecraft world was built based on our work in Santa Martha, Belize, to raise money for our work.  Please read on to see our many accomplishments in this past ye ..read more

““My philosophy has always been that the health of soil, plants, animals, people, and the environment is one.”” — Rattan Lal, professor of soil science + 2020 World Food Prize Laureate Conventional, or industrial, agriculture uses chemicals to defend crops from weeds, certain insect species, and diseases. However, these chemicals harm the very thing the crops rely on: soil. Harsh chemical fertilizers disrupt natural soil networks made up of plants and fungi. The commonly used salt-based formulas reduce essential soil minerals and nutrients, increasing acid levels and decreasing plant growth. W ..read more

Love Tropics, an annual Minecraft charity livestream event, has chosen to support Sustainable Harvest International and the partnering community of Santa Martha, Belize, for this year’s event.  From November 3rd to 5th, Love Tropics will host content creators, gamers, and donors for 48 hours of playtime on a custom modded Minecraft multiplayer server. The unique 3D world, designed and built by a team of passionate Minecraft- and planet-loving volunteers, is based on the people, animals, plants, landscapes, and culture of Santa Martha.  “Climate change affects us all, but some more th ..read more

Every day, rural women work long, tireless, and sometimes thankless hours to provide for their families. Their innate desire to nurture and uplift their communities in Belize, Honduras, and Panama is palpable as they work with Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) to transform their farms into regenerative ones. Thanks to them, large swaths of land are restored, families are kept intact, and we are all better for it. SHI-Belize - Love Drives Our Work In the community of Concepcion in northern Belize, Maritza Cunil exemplifies the foundation of SHI’s work: love. More specifically, love for pe ..read more

New York City, New York - The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) announced a Commitment to Action by Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) at its 2023 meeting in late September. SHI was recognized as a leader in the category Climate Resilience for its expansion of carbon-negative agroforestry and other agroecology practices in Central America. CGI believes that 53% of the UN’s goal for net greenhouse gas reductions can be achieved by these practices that produce more food by increasing soil organic matter and integrating trees into the farming systems. A farm in La Pedregosa, Panama after tran ..read more

Goodbye and best wishes to our Executive Director, Elliott Powell This September, we bid farewell to our Executive Director, Elliott Powell—a person of deep importance to Sustainable Harvest International’s story. During his tenure at SHI, Elliott worked to grow and strengthen the organization both programmatically and fiscally, with the goal of achieving long-term sustainability, first as Director of International Programs (2015-2019) and then as Executive Director (2019-present).  Elliott on one of his visits to SHI’s Central American programs / Elliott en una de sus visitas a los prog ..read more

Medellín, Colombia - The Clinton Global Initiative invited Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) and others to discuss and collaborate on action-oriented solutions that address climate change and health issues in Latin America and the Caribbean during a symposium held in Medellín in late April. SHI’s Executive Director Elliott Powell (far right) with representatives of Fair Trade America, Acceso, and Fondo Acción Executive Director Elliott Powell shared SHI’s transformative work across Central America in an hour-long panel discussion titled, “Showcasing solutions: Scaling regenerative agric ..read more

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