Photo Album 

Here's a more complete photo album of my mission if you're curious ;-) 

Conclusion

My UNEC experience is coming to an end soon and I'm looking forward to taking a week off work to really travel and enjoy the experience with my family. We want to do some hiking in the mountains here and explore the area around the city.

I'm also coming out of my cooperative experience with a rather positive outlook. Admittedly, there were a few minor difficulties with health, supplies and cultural differences, but I dare to hope that the exchange process was enriching for all parties, and it certainly was on my side.

Apart from the breathtaking scenery, the work on learning and perfecting the language, or the confirmation that it's okay to have pasta, potatoes and rice on the same plate, I came away from my experience inspired by the resilience of the people, tenderized by having seen mutual aid and sharing, even in a situation of economic precariousness, and finally my slightly anarchist side is satisfied to see a social and collective organization where a large proportion of the rules are either absent or ignored.

Anyone can set up a business on a street corner without having 20 entities trying to regulate them. Sure, there are plenty of challenges here, corruption, inequalities and pollution too, but there's also a lightness and a freedom that makes one wants to keep going.

In solidarity

Frédéric

PS. If you are inspired by my experience and would like to experience cooperation and intercultural exchange as agricultural producers, I strongly invite you to contact the UPA DI.

The Upward Slope

I've stopped taking medication, time has done its work too, I've got better and I now have an iron stomach! On the family side too, health has remained pretty good for the kids and they've adapted well to being home-schooled for about 2 hours a day, taking Spanish lessons for 2 hours a day, and discovering the city with their mother.

The food is so cheap here, that it's great fun for everyone to go to restaurants often and not be shy about eating ice cream, freshly squeezed orange juice or other pleasant street food on our outings.

Inspired by agroecology and the principle of using local resources, I've put together proposals to acquire the necessary resources and run workshops on making horsetail manure, compost teas to protect against oregano rust, homemade insecticidal soap and diatomaceous earth against thrips and whitefly, the main insects causing problems here.

Sharing and Experimenting

Unlocking the small sums needed and finding resources like caustic soda, a slow cooker, a blender, distilled water, etc. were certainly a challenge in a developing country, but it was also fun and we eventually got there.

I then taught myself saponification and gave workshops on the principles of agro-ecology and the homemade manufacture of certain simple bio-pesticides, which were well received.

I was also very relieved to see, during our activity days, that the whole UNEC team, despite their internal debates, were giving growers an unequivocal message about the dangers of pesticides, the importance of reducing them, sustainable agriculture, soil health, the protection of water resources, the needs of the international market for pesticide-free production, and so on.

What I hope they will be able to do next in their slow evolution towards agroecology are comparative trials, with controls, of the different inputs I proposed to them in comparison with chemical inputs.

My stay was too short to set up experiments and demonstration plots, so I tried to make contacts and encouraged some of the technicians to set up trials, and we made some initial applications. I hope that the agro-ecological inputs will show adequate efficacy and that this will convince and reassure growers to get rid of chemical inputs! 

The Challenges and Organic Agriculture

However, it is currently facing challenges linked to climate change, the increased presence of insects and diseases, and the unpredictability of the climate.

Small growers, in a desire to protect their crops, will often apply pesticides to which they have access or which they buy for other crops, but these are sometimes banned in Europe, and the actions of some compromise the marketability of all. In 2024, UNEC customers are now beginning to demand clean products, free from traces of banned pesticides and even organic.

It is in this context that UNEC has embarked on a process of internal transformation and education of its growers to move towards "clean production" in the first instance; and, I hope, eventually towards organic production. European customers are clear: they want production free of banned pesticides, and organic could even open up new markets like in Germany, offering better prices...

My role in all this was to come, albeit for a very short time, to share my experiences and help them build up a small arsenal of organic practices and products that could help them reduce and eventually stop (we hope) the use of chemical pesticides in their oregano production and the future diversification of their crops (thyme, turmeric, hot peppers, etc.).

Internal Questioning and a Slow Start

I was lucky enough, albeit demanding because of the language, to take part in 3 days of strategic thinking and meetings with the organization and the technical team at the start of my stay. I was a little discouraged, to be honest, because after lengthy discussions, the team's objectives seemed to me to be rather unambitious: "clean production within two years"... still a long way from organic.

During the first 2 weeks, things got a bit stale too. Just imagine that finding Trounce, insecticidal soap, predatory mites, micro-fin sulphur, Kocide, etc. is not easy in Bolivia...

My state of health gave me trouble too: I caught a strong flu and diarrhea during the first week, in addition to my reaction to the malaria medication which prevented me from sleeping...

A Truly Social Organisation.

The organization I'm volunteering with for a month is called UNEC (Unidad de Negocios de Especias y Condimentes). It's a social enterprise founded by 6 Bolivian farmers' cooperatives with the help of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The project was literally to set up a new agricultural industry, the production and export of oregano, in Bolivia. After some fifteen years of set-up and support, UNEC is now a company in its own right, supporting over 1,200 small-scale farming families in 4 departments and several municipalities, by providing plants, technical support, insurance, a fixed price, prompt payment, inputs, cleaning, processing, packaging and all international marketing services. Profits made by UNEC are reinvested in the cooperatives that own them.

UNEC is a fine example of success, they have really succeeded in putting in place the processes and quality standards to have a product that stands out worldwide for its quality in terms of color, essential oil content, and to fetch a better price.

Transition to a Cooperative Family Adventure

Not quite the same thing, you might say... but in discussion with my wife, the possibility of going away for 1 to 2 months in winter, with contacts in our destination and a "reason" for going, seemed interesting. What's more, it's easier to justify taking the kids out of school for 5 weeks when you're going on a "cooperative project" than when you want to "chill on the beach" ;-) As a volunteer development worker, too, it's true that you have to do voluntary work, but at least the development worker's expenses are paid, which financially, helps to carry out the family project.

So one thing led to another, the idea evolved, I talked it over with the UPA DI and, as I knew Spanish, they eventually suggested an organic farming project in Bolivia. Dana and I were hooked!

At first, the kids were afraid of missing school, missing their friends, malaria, snakes and many other things, but after a few conversations at dinner and some reading, everyone became excited about our family project.

There were a few minor hiccups with administration, training, school strikes, and quite a few last-minute ticket purchases and preparations, but we finally packed our bags and left on February 25th for Sucre, Bolivia's historic capital!

Entrepreneurial and travel inspiration

Last year I read two books recommended to me by web entrepreneurs, which made me dream ("The 4h Work Week", and « Tout le monde n’a pas eu la chance de rater ses études »).

Imagine their scenario, two single people with a blog, podcast or other online business, working 4 or 10 hours a week and with all the funds they need to travel the world, do whatever they want, learn languages, new sports or hobbies, meet people, etc., etc., etc. Doesn't that make you dream too?

These readings have confirmed my desire to start traveling again and live new experiences, but my situation being that I have a farm (collectively a stroke of luck!), am married and have 4 children; it's clear that the idea of leaving with a last-minute ticket to Bangkok to learn Thai, ride a motorcycle and maybe find a place to learn kite-surfing isn't entirely realistic...

At the same time, I'd been talking to Frédéric Turgeon-Savard, from Ferme coop la Roquette, about his volunteer cooperation experience in Benin, and he told me that UPA Développement International (UPA DI) was always on the lookout for volunteer cooperators.

Adresse

7 rue St-Hyacinthe 

Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Qc

Contact

frederic@productionslocavores.com

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