CTP Stewards Arrive for the 2010 Orientation

Thirty-five MESA Stewards (from Peru, Ecuador, Ghana, and Thailand) attend the Program Orientation to kick off the 2010 season.  Their eight-month training has begun!

The 2010 Stewards are a great group, and seeing them all together proved it. This year’s group comes from Thailand, Peru, Ghana, and Ecuador. At the orientation the Stewards from the Core Training Program (CTP) and the Professional Networking Program (PNP), along with US-based farmers, researchers, and MESA staff all came together to share visions, plans, games, music, and Ghanaian groundnut stew with fufu (a sticky bread made with cassava).

Everyone arrived successfully on Friday night to Hidden Villa Farm for the five-day orientation, which included tours and planting at Hidden Villa led by Jason McKenney and Joey Smith, a mock California Certified Organic Farm (CCOF) inspection led by Laura Murray, presentations by Scott Murray of Slow Food San Diego, Reggie Knox from California Farmlink, and Paul Roge, an agro-forestry researcher at UC Berkeley. Steward presentations came from Ernest Anaadumba (Ghana), David Moreano (Ecuador), and the Thai cohort – Bee, Duk, Pookie, and Gay.

The lively conversations about the future of global agriculture and our reasons for pursuing it unfortunately had to be cut short – to begin the farm training! April 1st, new friends spread across the country as stewards left from San Francisco for their host-farm placements.

 

Check out some photos from the event: