News
Winrock International President Rodney Ferguson to Participate in Concordia Summit on the Americas in Miami
May 12, 2016
Rodney Ferguson, president and CEO of Winrock International, will join a gathering of public and private sector leaders at the the Concordia Summit on the Americas to discuss economic and political issues affecting the region. Ferguson, in his role with Winrock and as a founding member of The Cuba Consortium, is one of a group […]
Healthy Food is a Human Right: Rodney Ferguson
May 5, 2016
On April 20-21, Food Tank hosted the second annual Food Tank Summit in Washington, D.C., where Winrock International President and CEO Rodney Ferguson joined other food and agricultural experts to discuss “Investing in the Food Movement.” Ferguson had the opportunity to speak with Food Tank ahead of the summit to discuss what inspires him to […]
Burma’s Coffee Makes World Debut
May 3, 2016
The aroma was intoxicating; it wafted up from tables where nine varieties of rich brown Arabica coffee sat awaiting their fate. The color and scent were promising, but the final test remained. How would it taste? More than 100 people were packing the room to find out. Because this wasn’t just any brew. After decades of […]
Game Changer for Farmers in Bangladesh: ‘Now the Buyers Come to Us’
March 30, 2016
On a foggy winter morning in early February, smallholder farmers in the Jessore district of Bangladesh contributed to a hectic and previously unusual sight. Some farmers sorted produce under a large shed adjacent to a vast field of crops. Others eagerly bargained with the very buyers who, not long ago, wouldn’t have bothered to come out […]
‘The Coffee Trip of a Lifetime’
March 30, 2016
Something special is brewing for smallholder coffee producers in Burma. For the vast majority of coffee drinkers in the United States and around the world, java from Burma remains an unexperienced delight. But, with Winrock connecting hundreds of smallholder farmers with international coffee buyers recently, that may be primed to change. In February, two years […]
Winrock Hosts US-Cuba Dialogue
March 25, 2016
As he wrapped up his historic visit to Cuba this past March, President Obama delivered a speech at an ornate theater in Havana. He explained his decision to seek normalized relations with America’s longtime foe and laid out a hopeful vision. “It is time for us to look forward to the future together,” he said, […]
Cuba Consortium Agriculture & Food Roundtable to be Held in Arkansas
March 16, 2016
Hutchinson, Daschle, Cuban Experts To Headline March Event Hosted By Winrock International, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute And Howard Baker Forum MORRILTON, Ark. (March 11, 2016) – For 50 years, silence has reigned between the United States and Cuba. But warming relations between the two countries is now a hot topic — and Arkansas is poised to […]
Opening the Tap in Tanzania
December 31, 2015
Synopsis: Tackle root causes of poverty in rural areas by linking demand-driven Multiple-Use Water Services (MUS) with impact-boosting health and livelihoods programs Sarai Jacobi’s days used to be utterly predictable. Each morning at 7, she would leave her home in Nyakonge, Tanzania and walk four kilometers with her donkey to collect water for her family […]
Staying Cool In Pakistan
December 31, 2015
Synopsis: Cold chain development program linking horticultural and fishery production Safina Bibi is comfortable being a trailblazer. In 1984, Bibi became the first — and remains the only — woman owner of a cold storage facility in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. This is no small achievement in male-dominated Pakistan. But just as important is the fact […]
Taking Burma’s Coffee Global
December 31, 2015
Synopsis: Integrate smallholder farmers into commercial value chains to increase productivity Armed with a clipboard and a finely-tuned nose and taste buds, Craig Holt began the hard work of determining the potential of Burma’s coffee growers. Holt, owner of Seattle-based Atlas Coffee Importers, was in Rangoon, Burma (also known as Myanmar) as a volunteer judge […]