“Lessons Learned” and finding a way forward

One of our tasks as interns with the future Organic Agricultural Service (OAS) was to assess the success of the UNDP sponsored predecessor of the OAS organization: the Organic Seedling Cultivation Project with Differently-Abled People.    

The following synthesis of “Lessons Learned” is based on the experiences of 15 differently-abled seedling growing families and 7 groups of organic farmers from across the island.  They were shared with us through formal survey interviews, under the branches of trees ripe with fruit and generous with shade, and in the rattling heat of a speeding white pickup under the Barbadian sun.  The process was romantic and enthralling, sometimes it was frustrating, and we hope that it will prove to be forever rewarding.  

The synthesis of these many narratives is offered with the hope of finding some common way forward, one that leads to a successful and lucrative partnership for both groups of stake-holders in the form of the OAS.  With this in mind, we ask hindsight – and our interpretation of what went well and what could have gone better – to serve the future generously.

To review: three groups of farmers were each responsible for a group of 4-6 seedling growers who were divided amongst them by loose parish (geographic) groupings.  

The Successes of the UNDP-Sponsored Project:
The prevailing consensus from the yearlong project was that it was a fruitful endeavor with positive feedbacks for individual growth, organic development, and for the environment.  Often cited claims were that the project brought participants “joy from working with the earth,” a sense of accomplishment from producing a crop for planting then eating, and a sense of purpose derived from contributing to an organic movement they felt privileged to learn about and of which to be a part.  The project empowered its members and allowed them to experiment outside of the comfort zone of their ordinary lives.  

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Learning about backyard organic agriculture and its positive feedbacks for personal nutrition, community development, and Barbadian solidarity and security in the world food market, played a central role in defining success for some members.  Education was a foremost priority and accomplishment for these members.  Their commitment and enthusiasm about the project was or became ideological.  

For others, the fruits of the project were more tangible: seedling growing supplemented their income and left them with some new crops around their own homes.  They were satisfied by the greater freedom their participation in the project awarded them.  For farmers specifically, the project increased the availability that a ready supply of seedlings could be available for planting.  Their aspiration was that the certainty of this supply would increase with the future.  

Farmers and seedling growers alike described a range of monetary profit generated by the project.  The discrepancy in revenues across parishes appeared to be a concern that would become of greater relevance in the future, but that was at present secondary to the fulfillment of getting the project started.  

The project participants unanimously agreed that they felt the project was worthwhile and were enthusiastic about the aspiration that the project evolve into a business.  Some admitted that they would be unable to take on a role greater than the one they already held but expressed their desire to remain involved in this same capacity into the future.  

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The Weaknesses of the UNDP-Sponsored Project:
The weaknesses of the project revolve around 3 axes: problems related to transportation, communication, and the quality of compost.  

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It is the unwritten agreement that it is the responsibility of the farmers to drop off the inputs (compost, trays, seedlings) for growing seedlings and to pick them up when they are mature.  This happened with varying success among the three groups of farmers.  The growers and farmers attached to the project leader, John Hunte, expressed the fewest concerns related to transportation problems.  Both growers and farmers attached to Cornerstone Farm and to Michael Bradshaw’s farm repeatedly expressed that transportation and pick-up was not reliable.  Whether transportation is a physical problem (lack of an actual vehicle) or a question of willingness or availability of existing means of transportation is something that the farmers especially, must address.  The drop off of inputs and the pick up of outputs must be more consistent across growers, farmers, and through time, for the business to be successful.  Failing to do so, seedling growers will be unproductive waiting for inputs, farmers will not receive the anticipated yield of seedlings, or mature seedlings will be lost as they are not planted before outgrowing their trays.  

Many farmers and a few growers have expressed their commitment to improving their mobility, either by accessing vehicles that can be borrowed or by committing greater personal initiative to resolving the problem.  

In the proposed OAS, the dissolution of the geographic groupings and the diffusion of all business responsibilities amongst the owners of the business should also help to remedy this problem.  Household and farm profits will reflect the ability of the OAS members to efficiently drop and collect the business inputs and outputs.  Furthermore, the creation of a committee of representatives for the seedling growers and the elevation of their status to that of equal partners in the context of the business should compel them to take greater initiative, where possible, to make the business parts mobile.  It should be noted that a disproportionate amount of the responsibility for transportation remains among the farmers; this is a cultural understanding (farmer “buyer” picks up grower’s “good”) and reflects the physical limitations of many of the seedling growers who are blind or confined to wheelchairs.  

Communication was not adequate, foremost between seedling growers and farmers.  This problem is congruent with the problem of transportation and caused many coordination failures that prevented seedlings from being efficiently grown and planted.  Expectations for all business activities and responsibilities need to be communicated more frequently, openly, and consistently.  This is also true of communication among growers, to help build solidarity amongst themselves.  It is again true in the case of the farmers, where expectations and the division of responsibilities often go unspoken.  Communication rather than assumptions will make the business successful.  

The quality and consistent provision of compost was the final main concern.  Especially by Cornerstone growers, compost was described as being “bad” or “poor quality,” often with rocks, pieces of glass, or big clumps in it.  The seedling growers have since expressed the desire to produce compost independently from the farmers; a few among them would develop the capacity to produce enough to supply the group of growers.  In addition to the agricultural benefit of better compost, the independent production of compost by the growers will bolster their level of autonomy from the farmers, to ensure the sustainability and profitability of the business.  

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In conclusion, these three weaknesses warrant attention for the business to be successful.  While transportation, communication and compost are the stated concerns, at their heart, these problems share common roots.  Extending the project into a business will require greater definition of roles and expectations of all stakeholders.  A default assumption commonly made over the past year was that John Hunte would attend to it, whatever it might be.  For the business to be sustainable, it should be the prerogative of each member to know, understand, and fulfill their stated responsibilities.  

A Business Structure Born of Lessons Learned

As embodied by the structure of the OAS, ownership of the business should be diffused among its members.  Greater responsibility has been transferred to the seedling growers as they have accepted to see themselves as equal partners opposite the farmers, represented by a committee of 5 members who will take leadership over the business affairs internal to the seedling grower side of operations.  These five positions on the grower side of the business will be mirrored by similar representatives on the farmer side of the business.  As the balance of responsibility shifts slowly towards equilibrium, with growers and farmers becoming increasingly comfortable with the new level of autonomy desired for the seedling growers, their side of the business should consolidate into a more formal structure.  

The farmers have already delegated the following roles and defined the associated responsibilities for each of the following: chair, secretary, accountant, quality control director, operations director, and marketing director.  The seedling growers have elected to distribute the responsibilities associated to each of these roles among a committee of 5 members (chosen by consensus), without attaching an official role title to any of them.  This decision was made to allow the seedling growers to evolve naturally into their new responsibility, without prematurely imposing a foreign structure on them.  Their goal is that they will develop an understanding of how business operations are conducted and will shortly grow comfortable towards accepting roles that will mirror those accepted by the farmers.

so that’s that!
i’m going to see if I can find a way to post some visual representations of the business evolution…

onelove, for real! 
-Hayley

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