Groundswell International

07/23/2026

Hands-on learning for the youth of Oaxaca, Mexico! 🌱

Last Saturday, around 30 young people from communities across Oaxaca gathered at the agroecological demonstration center of our local partner, Centeotl A. C.. The day included a tour of the center's agroecological demonstration and research spaces, a fresh tomato tasting, interactive games, and preparing seed balls to support reforestation efforts.

With no cell service on site, the visit encouraged shared experiences and learning together. These young participants are part of Groundswell International's Youth Storytellers program, where they are building and sharing knowledge, connections, and a deeper understanding of agroecology within their communities.

07/20/2026

Who is driving sustainable rice production in the dry lands of Senegal, and what does it look like in practice?

This short film follows women producing and transforming rice to sustain local communities in Kaffrine. Hear from rice producers like Fatimata and Madame Gueye as they demonstrate how rice is grown, harvested, winnowed, pounded, and transformed into different preparations for traditional local meals.

Produced by rural youth with ONG Agrecol Afrique as part of our Youth Storyteller Program - a program empowering youth from smallholder farmer communities to document and share how their communities are transforming food systems with agroecology.

This film follows women producing and transforming rice to sustain ...

07/13/2026

As global fertilizer supplies tighten and prices climb, the consequences are felt far beyond the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz. The current situation in the Middle East has disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for approximately one-third of the world’s fertilizer trade. Global fertilizer prices are expected to rise by more than 30% this year.

For Usha, a farmer in Bihar, India, rising input costs made it harder and harder to support her family. "Half of what we produced went toward paying for fertilizer."

After learning natural farming practices through our local partner PRAN, she began using locally available resources to produce her own farming inputs instead of costly chemical fertilizers, making her farm far less vulnerable to the fertilizer shortages and price shocks affecting farmers around the world. Today:

🌱 Her yields have nearly doubled.
🌱 She spends less on farming inputs.
🌱 Her children now attend a private school.
🌱 She sells her produce at a nearby local market.
🌱 She's helping other women farmers make the transition to natural farming, inspired by her results.

Read the full article: https://www.groundswellinternational.org/blog/as-fertilizer-prices-rise-agroecology-offers-a-more-resilient-path-for-farmers/

And if you're able, and if you're able, help more farmers build resilience by making a gift (link in comments) 👐

07/02/2026

When the systems meant to feed the world fail, where do we find solutions?

Growing Through Crisis, Groundswell International's 2025 annual report, looks to the communities on the frontlines of overlapping crises. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa, and South Asia, farming communities supported by our network of 16 local NGO partners are responding to climate shocks, displacement, and economic instability by building farming and food systems based on solidarity, collective care, and working with nature instead of against it.

In 2025, together we:
🌱 Supported 273,000+ farmers to practice agroecology across 240,926 hectares
🌍 Reached 2.1 million people in 11 countries
👩‍🌾 60% of participants were women
📊 Published an impact evaluation in Burkina Faso showing 4.4x higher yields for advanced agroecological farmers vs. conventional farmers, even during one of the driest seasons on record.

The report highlights five roots of resilience and agency that contributed to these results, showing how Groundswell International enables local organizations to strengthen one another and scale proven solutions across borders.

Explore the report:https://www.groundswellinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Groundswell-International-ANNUAL-REPORT-2025_compressed.pdf

And a big thanks to our local partners driving this change in the field! ACESH ONG Agrecol Afrique Association Nourrir Sans Détruire Vecinos Honduras Asociación Flor del Café Centeotl A. C. Cealghana Urbanet CIKOD SAHEL ECO Bbp Pariwar PRAN Qachuu Aloom "Madre Tierra" EkoRural PDL

06/30/2026

Set in the rural communities of Baja Verapaz in Guatemala, youth from smallholder farmer communities produced a short documentary featuring Indigenous women farmers conserving native seeds and sustaining local food systems.

Through firsthand testimonies, women describe how they cultivate diverse crops using agroecological practices and seed saving, sell at local markets, and pass on agricultural knowledge to their children.

“We are here to teach our children about native seeds.”
“Saving seeds is not only an agricultural act. It is an act of love, resistance, and wisdom.”

Watch the full short film to learn about how women are conserving native seeds and their communities' cultural heritage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INokI_hiD2U&list=PL45XYgl8ZQnV40gffh9YdDOMoP7FnH1EJ&index=8

Produced by youth storytellers from Guatemala with our local partner Qachuu Aloom as part of our Youth Storyteller Program - a program empowering youth from smallholder farmer communities to document and share how their communities are transforming food systems with agroecology.

Set in the rural communities of Baja Verapaz, this short documentar...

06/19/2026

What does it take for ordinary people to change the food system around them?

My Food Is African: Volume II, written by over 35 farmers, journalists, chefs, market traders and organizers across Africa, tells the story of how local people are taking back control of what they grow, sell and eat.

Published by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) as part of the Barefoot Guide Agroecology series, it features two of our local partners building food sovereignty alongside local communities: CIKOD in Ghana and ONG Agrecol Afrique in Senegal. Our colleagues Freda Pigru (West Africa Regional Communications Coordinator) and Peter Gubbels (Senior Advisor for West Africa) also contributed as writers and editors.

Volume 2 covers:
🌱 The ultra-processed food crisis and community responses
🌱 Agroecology advocacy from practice to policy
🌱 Citizens as food system actors (radio, schools, markets, campaigns)
🌱 Africa's territorial markets as food sovereignty infrastructure
🌱 Advocacy at the African Union, COP, and UN food governance spaces
🌱 A grounded vision for African food systems in 2045

Download the guide to explore powerful stories of ground-up change. It's free, and available in English and French: https://www.barefootguide.org/barefoot-guide-14---my-food-is-african-volume-2.html

“Policy is like soil. If it’s healthy, everything else can grow.”

—
From My Food Is African: Volume II, published by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), part of the Barefoot Guide Agroecology series.
✍️Illustrations by Caroline Kloppert

06/09/2026

Kiema Anika, a 25-year-old farmer from Burkina Faso, shares how she is growing healthy crops using simple, low-cost agroecological farming practices.

Through the local organization Association Nourrir Sans Détruire (ANSD), she learned techniques such as composting, biofertilizers, Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), and seed coating. Each method helps her improve soil fertility to better resist a challenging climate, protect seedlings, and grow resilient crops like millet, maize, beans, and sesame, without having to spend on external inputs. She’s passionate about sharing these techniques with others, especially women, who often face complex barriers to getting access to resources like land, resources, and livestock.

Watch the full short film on our Youtube channel (link in comments)

🎥 Footage: Kofi Dotsé
Short film on YouTube produced by Kofi Dotsé for Groundswell International
Co-directed with Freda Aagyereyir Pigru, Groundswell International’s West Africa Communications Coordinator and Association Nourrir Sans Détruire

06/04/2026

Like many women in rural Nepal, Radhika farms land she doesn't own. The plot next door had been sitting abandoned for years, so she asked her neighbor if she could farm it. He said yes, in exchange for a share of the harvest.

She had a clear vision for it: a farm that could feed her family without buying seeds, fertilizer, or pesticides every season. She joined training sessions with RWUA (Rural Women's Upliftment Association), learning to make her own fertilizers and pest sprays from materials around her home. She discovered how to grow different local crops together to better resist pest and rebuild the unused plot's soil health over time.

The plot now grows 22 local crops, feeding her entire family year-round. Her seeds come from her women's group and her maternal home - varieties that have moved between families for generations. She runs the farm entirely on her own, and is passing that knowledge on to her children.

Organic waste feeds the soil, the soil feeds the crops, the crops feed her family and livestock. Almost everything the farm needs, it produces itself. Read her full story at the link in comments.

“What was once a wild patch is now a living farm feeding my family, my livestock, and our future.”
-Radhika, Sarlahi, Nepal

06/03/2026

06/02/2026

⭐️Youth Storyteller Film Festival highlights: The Silence of the Land, Oaxaca, Mexico

El silencio de la tierra follows Sofía Hernández as she reflects on a life spent working the land in Santa Ana Zegache. Through memories of planting, harvesting, and daily routines from her childhood, the film contrasts past abundance with today’s drought, soil exhaustion, and reduced harvests. Her testimony links personal history to the visible impacts of climate change, and to the uncertainty facing future generations as they work together to change course.

Produced by youth storytellers from Mexico with our local partner Centeotl A. C. as part of our Youth Storyteller Program - a program empowering youth from smallholder farmer communities to document and share how their communities are transforming food systems with agroecology.

📸Pictured: snippets of Doña Sofía Hernández and the youth sharing her story

Watch the short film on our Youtube page (in Spanish with English subtitles): link in comments

🎬 Part of Field to Film Festival 4th Edition | Latin America & the Caribbean | UN International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026