April 19, 2025 • 57 mins
In this episode of Project Good, host Annmarie Hylton interviews Neil Curtis, leader of Farm Up Jamaica, a local initiative aimed at revitalizing Jamaica's agricultural sector through climate-smart organic farming. The discussion covers the evolution of farming in Jamaica, the socioeconomic challenges faced by local farmers, and the comprehensive support model employed by Farm Up Jamaica. Curtis shares his personal journey into farming, the collaborative efforts of the Jamaican diaspora, and the importance of reeducating farmers with modern techniques. The episode also highlights the critical role of community-driven initiatives in fostering economic development and food security.
00:00 Introduction to Project Good Podcast
00:31 The Evolution of Farming in Jamaica
01:02 Introducing Farm Up Jamaica
02:28 Interview with Neil Curtis Begins
02:40 Challenges in Jamaican Agriculture
07:31 The Birth of Farm Up Jamaica
21:14 Community-Driven Farming Initiatives
26:57 The Importance of Local Farming
37:09 Empowering Jamaican Youth Through Agriculture
50:41 Call to Action for the Jamaican Diaspora
56:20 Conclusion and Contact Information
Farm Up Jamaica is a local initiative aimed at addressing some of the key challenges facing the agricultural sector in Jamaica. The program focuses on empowering Jamaican farmers, increasing food production, and promoting sustainable farming practices. It was launched in 2016 by the Jamaican Government, with the support of private sector entities, and other stakeholders. The program is designed to promote agricultural development, food security, and job creation within the rural economy.
Neil Curtis who leads FarmUp Jamaica and has decided to pursue a long-time heart-felt objective to tackle the current economic crisis in Jamaica through the revitalization of agriculture with climate smart organic farming.
With a strong family history in Jamaican farming, Neil understands the value and tradition of farming to live. In 2013, during the Jamaica Diaspora Conference, Neil met Jamaicans from the US, UK and Canada who shared a common, heart-felt concern regarding the underutilized agricultural sector. In contrast to Tourism, which represents 60% of the Jamaican Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Agriculture only represents 6% of the economy. Together, the Diaspora organized to form Farm Up Jamaica Ltd. which would work to help safeguard jobs & food security in addition to reducing crime through large-scale cultivation of organic produce.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annmarie Hylton (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Project Good podcast.
I'm your host, Annmarie Hylton.
Project Good is a social impact podcast,interviewing experts and advocates
about the pressing problems that weface globally and hearing how they
suggest we move forward in the future.
The Project Good Podcast is broughtto you by Project Good Work.
The goal of this podcast is to inspirepeople and organizations to develop a
(00:20):
mindset that can move others to positiveaction regarding the complex social
issues facing people and the planet.
For May we have a special flashepisode featuring Farm Up Jamaica.
Farming in Jamaica has evolved fromthe cultivation of traditional crops
by the Tino Indians to the largescale plantation agriculture of
the colonial era, and now to a morediversified, sustainable approach.
(00:43):
In the modern period.
Agriculture continues to play an importantrole in Jamaica's economy, culture, and
way of life, despite the challenges thesector has faced over the centuries.
In the current times, Jamaica's economyis fueled by tourism, mining, and exports
like sugar, coffee, bananas, and Yams.
Farm of Jamaica is a localinitiative aimed at addressing some
(01:05):
of the key challenges facing theagricultural sector in Jamaica.
The program focuses on empowering Jamaicanfarmers increasing food production and
promoting sustainable farming practices.
It was launched in 2016 by the Jamaicangovernment with the support of private
sector entities and other stakeholders,the program is designed to promote
agricultural development, food security,and job creation within the rural economy.
(01:29):
Today I have the pleasure of interviewingNeil Curtis, who leads Farm Up Jamaican
and has decided to pursue a lifelongheartfelt objective to tackle the current
economic crisis in Jamaica through therevitalization of agriculture with climate
smart organic farming, with a strongfamily history in Jamaican farming.
Neil understands the value andtradition of farming to live.
(01:53):
In 2013, during the Jamaican DysphoriaConference, Neil met Jamaicans from
the us, uk, and Canada, who shareda common heartfelt concern regarding
the underutilized agricultural sector.
In contrast to tourism, whichrepresents 60% of the Jamaican
gross domestic product, agricultureonly represents 6% of the economy.
(02:15):
Today the dysphoria organized toform Farm of Jamaica, which would
work to help safeguard job securityand food security in addition to
reducing crime through large scalecultivation of organic produce.
Let's get into the interview.
(02:40):
After gaining independence fromBritain in 1962, Jamaica's agricultural
sector faced numerous challenges inthe latter half of the 20th century.
Agriculture and Jamaica faced decliningproductivity, land degradation, and the
rise of tourism and manufacturing asthe dominant sectors of the economy.
Many traditional farming communitiesstruggled and rural migration to
(03:02):
urban areas became more common.
In response to the Jamaican governmentimplemented practices to support
agriculture, including the promotionof modern farming techniques and
increased investment in irrigationinfrastructure and research.
Farmers began to diversify theircrops and focus on organic farming,
agroprocessing, and the export ofspecialty products like herbs and spices.
(03:25):
Farm Up Jamaica is a comprehensiveinitiative that aims to strengthen the
agricultural sector, create opportunitiesfor farmers, and contribute to the broader
economic development of the country.
Now we will begin our conversation withNeil Curtis, who leads Farm Up Jamaican.
Welcome, Neil.
Neil Curtis (03:43):
Good morning, Ms.
Hilton.
How are you?
Good, how are you?
It's beautiful day inour neighborhood here.
I'm in New York.
Annmarie Hylton (03:50):
Yes, is, uh, well over here.
I'm in California.
It's raining,
so it doesn't rain very often,um, here in Southern California.
But, um, definitely, I guessyou could say we need it.
Uh, especially, we just experienced a,a series of, um, uh, catastrophic fires.
Neil Curtis (04:11):
Oh yeah.
I know that you guys go throughthose things and you know, Jamaica.
Has its fires also that peopledon't really speak about.
In many cases, it's gets so hot and drythat there are bush fires and many times,
uh, they're never really reported, but wesee them, um, because we're in the field.
Annmarie Hylton (04:33):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And I guess that's, you know,especially, um, uh, uh, faced with,
um, since we're speaking about farming,I'm sure that's something farmers
have to, um, uh, be prepared for.
Neil Curtis (04:45):
Oh yeah, that's, there's so many things that farmers Yes.
Have to be prepared for thata lot of people don't realize.
And so, you know, farm of Jamaicais kind of that, um, liaison that
brings people regular, normal peopleinto this world of agriculture.
(05:05):
And I think that's another, youknow, major part of what we're doing.
We're kind of helping people to acclimate.
To what agriculture really, really is.
Annmarie Hylton (05:15):
Yes.
And so I wanted to ask, um, you know,I, I usually, one of the things before
I dive into a deep series of questionswith my interviewees is I try to
understand each interviewee's, um,kind of, uh, heart and what is, uh,
you know, happening inside of them.
Um, so what, I guess from apersonal standpoint, um, got
(05:37):
you interested in farming.
Well,
Neil Curtis (05:40):
in 2013, I was summoned to come to Jamaica
because my uncle had passed away.
My uncle was the last survivingmember of a long line of
entrepreneurs and farmers or agrientrepreneurs, if you'd call it that.
(06:03):
When I got to Jamaica, um, my aunt saidto me, she says, you know, I know, we
know you like coming to Jamaica andeverything and we have 60 acres of cocoa.
Cocoa, which is chocolate.
And she says, why don't youcome and revive the fields?
I mean, I'm sure that there's gottabe a great market for this because
(06:25):
we all grew up and, you know, ourplane tickets were bought to go
to America and England and Canada.
From the same sale of cocoa.
Anyway, I took on the challenge andwhen I took on the challenge, I went
out and just looked around to seeall if all any of the other farmers
(06:47):
in the area were also farming cocoa.
And I found that none of them were.
So I asked, you know,what's going on here?
Why aren't you guys farming?
And they said, well, theydon't have any assistance.
They said, you know, the lastcouple hurricanes over the
years put them outta business.
So I said, well, why don't you justgo to the government, ask, you know,
(07:08):
the ministry or whatever, and theysaid, no, those, that, that assistance
doesn't is not there any longer.
Anyway, I was kind of not believing andwent to the ministry only to find out
that what they were telling me was true.
They told me that you have to, you know,make your own investment if you're gonna.
Want to revitalize, um, cocoa.
(07:31):
Anyway, at the same time, the, they werehosting the Jamaican Diaspora Conference.
Now that's where people from allaround the world come together to
figure out how to help Jamaica fixsome of the problems that it has.
And the government invites,you know, Jamaicans to do that.
(07:55):
So we went, I went to the mini, Iwent to that, um, that, that meeting
conference when I got there, um, Istarted talking about agriculture in the
networking group and I thought peoplewere gonna not be very interested,
but everybody was very interested.
Everybody was interested in figuring outhow to revitalize agriculture, and I kind
(08:20):
of didn't want to throw my one little.
Chocolate or cocoa project on the table.
So I kind of, at that moment, I becameselfless and I kind of had to put my
project on a back burner and just kindof talk to them about let's fixing,
about fixing agriculture across the,the, this, the, the whole sector.
(08:45):
Um, and that's how Farm of Jamaica began.
We, we, we Jamaican diaspora from the.
From the, um, diaspora conference cametogether and we said, yeah, le we're
gonna, we're gonna stand together.
And some people from Miami, some fromCanada, some from England, some from
Washington, DC and New York all cametogether and we decided we're gonna have
(09:10):
this nonprofit organization, which iswhat form of Jamaica is where a 5 0 1 C3
formed in the United States of America.
Um, nonprofit organization and wereformed to help reduce the importation
of foreign food into Jamaica.
Increased Jamaican exports, putyoung people and farmers back to
(09:31):
work in regenerative climate, smartagriculture, and to help reduce crime
and poverty by creating opportunities.
And that's really howFarm of Jamaica started.
That's the reason, thepassion that I have behind it.
You know, from that we went,we met with the Ministry of
(09:52):
Agriculture, we met with Jam Pro.
They directed us into differentcommunities that needed assistance
with agriculture and you know,we, that's how we launched and
started making it all happen.
Annmarie Hylton (10:05):
Wow, that's amazing.
You, um, you know, um, touched, uh, twothings on having, uh, community, and
I always think about farming as a, uh,as a, a, a community type of industry.
Um, you know, um, of exchanging notonly, um, knowledge of, you know, how to
do things, um, when it comes to farmingon the land, but also an, uh, exchange
(10:31):
of, um, you know, uh, a personal.
Like, um, you know, I can help you.
Um, and so having that expanse ofreaching out to people all over the
world and coming together like, okay,let's, let's, you know, let's move
together and, and make this happen.
So already, I would say that's,uh, a win for any initiative is
(10:52):
that you, if you can get people toalready, uh, jump into collaborate.
Um, you know, I guess what is,when you, when you have began,
um, in, in farm up in Jamaica,and I'm, I'm making the assumption
you can correct me if I'm wrong.
Um, what, uh, uh, I'm sureyou've met with, um, local
(11:12):
farmers and things like that.
What would you say is the mainchallenge such as holding farmers back?
Um, on the island?
Neil Curtis (11:19):
I'm gonna say the real main.
Problem and challenge in the, inthe, in the, um, farming belt of
Jamaica is not having access tothe correct markets, number one.
And then now the planningand the organization and the
(11:43):
unification of farmers actuallyuniting to get the work done.
Is also a lack.
So that type of cooperativespirit is not, is also missing.
And then thirdly, I would say thatum, the weather and the, and the
change in climate and the extensivedroughts, um, um, are as another issue.
(12:12):
And then fourthly, I'd say that the, um.
The techniques that are being used inJamaica, they're very antiquated, and
then they're coupled with chemicals orconventional farming methods that are
not necessarily gonna teach people how toincrease their yields, but just continue.
(12:39):
That, um, subsistence farmingmodel that's been left with the,
um, persons after colonialism.
Annmarie Hylton (12:49):
Yes.
And so in this, you.
Essentially need to reeducatethe farmers o overall.
Neil Curtis (12:57):
Absolutely.
Annmarie Hylton (12:57):
And I guess that's happening not just, uh, in
Jamaica, but just even in globallybecause of, um, you know, whether
people want to believe it or not.
Um, uh, climate change, but also, um.
Uh, just from, if we go back to, um,you know, I'm not an expert, uh, uh,
farmer, but I do know that, you know,um, the, one of the processes in
(13:21):
farming is that you were supposed tobe rotating crops and things like that.
I. To keep, um, healthy soil and, um,and not necessarily were pe are people
or were people doing that all the time.
And so that, um, along with, uh,chemicals, um, has contributed
to, I guess I would say themess that we find ourselves in.
(13:42):
Um, and so.
I guess in, in trying to, uh,reeducate people because I don't know.
Would you say from a, one of theperspectives is that, um, the people
who are interested in farming now,would you say that that generation,
um, is uh, you know, is it growingor is it, um, like, I don't know.
(14:05):
Are there a lot of young people withinJamaica that are, um, uh, willing
to take up that, that profession?
Neil Curtis (14:13):
So.
The first thing that we mustunderstand is that the willingness
of somebody to wanting to want todo anything is based on the current
status of whatever that thing may be.
So if you have a dying.
Um, profession that is not generatingrevenue that doesn't do well and people
(14:36):
work hard, but get very little for it.
Then the interest for people to farmis, is, is, is probably not, um, it's
not what we call, uh, second nature.
Nobody's ready to run and godo farming because they don't
have enough good examples.
(14:58):
As Jamaica is importing some higherportion of food, I believe 85%, right?
And so they don't get a chanceto see very successful farmers.
Now in the United States, you cango into places like the corn belt
and you see these millionairefarmers that are doing really well
with grains and things like that.
(15:19):
Jamaica doesn't have the example.
And so it's not that the peopledon't want to farm, they just
don't wanna waste their time.
And so people, and the young people,again, who are, you know, um, quick
thinkers, they don't want to wastetime on things that are gonna take a
long time and not give them the reward.
(15:40):
So what Pharma Jamaica hasdone is we've changed that.
Concept and we're able to explainto them how we can offer them a new
market and how funds can be made by,um, by doing things more effectively,
more efficiently, understanding mothernature, understanding the climate,
(16:01):
and then using all of that to createthis product that's probably can sell.
For more than what the regularconventional food can sell for, which
is, you know, um, explained by a, aplace like Whole Foods or, um, trader
Joe's or Wegmans, you name it, right?
The things are more expensive andpeople, and there's a definite demand
(16:23):
for it, that people want to go outand buy this food because people
are concerned about their health.
Annmarie Hylton (16:29):
Now one of the things also that I'm noticing just um, from
a global standpoint, I'm also thinkingthat, um, and this is just a, you know,
a part of, uh, reading and researchand part of, uh, personal hunch is
that it's going to be dis become, um.
Uh, critical for almost everyoneon the planet to know how to farm.
(16:51):
Um, because I think we're headinginto some really, uh, difficult
times, um, on, on the, on the planet.
I think, um.
You know, what they say, and I don'talways mean to be, uh, uh, pessimistic,
but this is just what experts say,um, that if we continue how we are now
(17:11):
with, um, our, our farming practicesand the um, and uh, the production.
Uh, within the industry that we arelooking at, um, mass problems with,
uh, um, uh, uh, the ability to haveenough, uh, food, um, because of,
uh, not only having enough workers,but the soil itself is getting
(17:33):
burnt out from all the chemicals.
Um, and uh, just the way that we'repracticing everything in, in general
is not going to be sustainable.
And so it's becoming, I think, criticalthat almost everybody knows how.
To, I guess, grow their own foodif they want to, um, you know,
uh, continue their own existence.
(17:54):
Um, and so I think, uh, that was one ofthe reasons I actually was so interested
in interviewing you because, um, I thinkit's, uh, an initiative that, um, this
has to happen in, in the, the future.
Um, I guess, have you beenseeing, uh, the same things I.
Neil Curtis (18:12):
Oh, absolutely.
In fact, we are in, technically, we arein a food shortage right now, and the
future is not that bright only becausethe more droughts that we have, the
more fires you guys have in California,the more drying up of the river, the
Colorado River and things like this.
(18:35):
You know, as and I, I, I use the UnitedStates because it is the, the big.
It's a conglomerate, right?
And so it tells you that if it'shappening here and we can't control
it, then third world countries arehaving a three times the problem.
Pharma Jamaica has experienced, um,droughts on our farms that last as
(18:59):
long as six months, and so that.
Says that there's gonna be less food.
There's no way around thatthere's gonna be less food.
We, we we're sure of that part, right?
Because farming requires water.
And when the water levels are down, it'snot this, that the rain is not falling,
(19:21):
it's that the rivers are drying up.
It's that the water sources for the,wherever these guys are getting water
from the wells and all those wa,those things are very low at that
time when the drought is in play.
And so it's not justbecause you didn't get rain.
Rainfall is not necessarily whatwe rely on to irrigate properties.
(19:42):
Rainfall just maintains andhelps to maintain the water
levels so that things are right.
The aquifers are at the right level,the rivers are still flowing and right.
And so, um, we definitely see, I.
The, the, the, the damage.
And we definitely see the effect ofwhat is happening and why food is
(20:05):
gonna get very scarce very quickly.
I mean, even in America, you know,farmers are trashing their crops
after not having enough water to,to, to give the crops throughout
the, um, the regular growth cycle.
So it's a definite, it'sdefinitely, um, an imminent concern.
Annmarie Hylton (20:25):
Yes.
And I, I was reading also before,uh, um, about Jamaica's, uh,
drought problem, you know, Jamaica.
Um, a lot of people may not know that thename itself is the land of wood and water.
And so, you know, it's, I, uh,um, sad or ironic or, um, to, um.
You know, have a, a place thatnow the, the water part is,
(20:47):
uh, uh, uh, dry drying up.
Um, from what the history I knowis that Jamaica always had, uh,
pretty, uh, fertile, fertile soil.
I. Um, and so, um, I guess if, if,if people wanted to get started, um,
in, uh, your initiative and wantedto, uh, come and learn, I guess, what
(21:11):
are the steps that they need to take
Neil Curtis (21:13):
now?
Alright, so we run a programthat is fueled by the diaspora.
Remember we started thisout of the diaspora.
Um, conference.
So our whole model is predicatedon the Jamaican diaspora, literally
coming back to Jamaica and becomingthe Jamaica's greatest hope, right?
(21:38):
Um, so we, we kind of say, okay, allright, diaspora, where are you from?
And when I say diasporaguys, I really just mean.
A Jamaican living abroad.
So it's just a Jamaican, maybe livingin New York or like yourself living in
Canada, I mean California, or someonethat's living in Canada or England.
(21:59):
And we're saying to them, allright, let's go back to your
community where you come from.
We call it the Naval String Program.
'cause you know, in Jamaicathey say, we're gonna go back
to where your Val string cut.
It's a val string.
And so we connect.
Jamaicans that live abroad back to theirown home communities, and we get them to
(22:22):
put together, um, support for a farmingcommunity within their own old community.
Right.
So, you know, in other, in a,in, in a place like America, they
call that a cooperative, right?
And what we do is we give thema market to sell food to that.
And it's a mainstream market.
(22:42):
Normally it might be a. A,a, a, a group of hotels.
It might be supermarkets, it might beexport right, to a different location.
Um, and what we do is we, we gointo them, into the communities.
We do soil testing andwe speak to farmers.
(23:03):
We organize them and we train them andwe get them up to snuff to farm in this,
what we call regenerative climate Smartagriculture, which is a technology that
Farm of Jamaica has actually created.
Um, and then we put each farmerto work on their own properties
(23:25):
and we, we don't start with morethan about one acre per farmer.
And we, um.
We have them do what wecall day for day farming.
It's like a round robin where all thefarmers come together and go to the
first farmer's farm and then they farmthat up of course, using our techniques.
And we have our oversight and ourpeople from Farm of Jamaica that are,
(23:48):
that actually stay in that communityand make sure that the processes
are being carried out correctly.
'cause we have to guarantee to the marketwhat we promised them, which is good
wholesome food that's unadulterated.
Then they all gang farm, that first farmand then they'll go to the second farm,
let's say the next day or the day after.
(24:08):
And gang farm.
That farm, all the farmers in thecommunity working together to to
farm each farm until the wholefarming community is farmed up.
And then now we set up packing stations.
We set up tool sheds so that they haveaccess to tools and machinery to get
the work done, and they maintain those.
(24:31):
Lands all together, working togetheruntil they come to fruition, in
which we go in and we do the harvest.
They, we also set up packing stations andplaces to store food, um, as it relates
to refrigeration and things like those.
And so that the whole communityis kind of self-sufficient.
And then we, you know, box,we teach them how to box.
(24:53):
We teach them how to pack,we teach them how to ship.
And so the truck comes, they loadthe truck and it's off to the market.
They get paid.
The hotel, the supermarket, the exportgets their produce and everybody's happy.
Annmarie Hylton (25:07):
Wow.
Uh, that is a, a full andcomprehensive, um, uh, program.
I think that, I don't know ifI've heard a program that has, uh,
essentially touched on all the, thekey pieces and put together, um,
I guess even the workers in place.
And not only that, um, the thing I love.
(25:28):
Just like I was saying at the beginningis, uh, this whole sense of community,
Neil Curtis (25:32):
when it's community driven, the way that I explained it,
it's very hard to break that chainbecause the moment one person in
the chain gets weak or drops off,the whole thing can crumble and.
Everybody's relying on the chainto stay solid because everybody's
relying on the same source of income,so nobody wants to lose the market.
(25:55):
So the moment that the consistencystops is the moment that
they risk losing the market.
I. So everybody's making surethat crops are, nobody comes
in and steals anyone's crops.
Everybody's making sure that, no,that nobody actually, if somebody
falls short, that somebody'scoming and filling in the blank.
'cause they know that if we go to thehotel and we say, oh boy, you know,
(26:18):
with this, we never have the lettuce.
This week, the, the hotel is literallygonna resort, resort back to importation.
That's a guaranteed market.
They can guarantee that if they import,they don't have to hear the stories.
And that's the problem.
That why, that's the problem.
Why most hotels don't buy from localfarmers because they'll, you know,
(26:41):
one farmer might try to do thisbig job and then they fall short.
And when you fall short, you know, youcan't tell the the guests that, oh,
I'm sorry, we don't have lettuce today.
They don't want to hear thatthey're spending five star money.
Annmarie Hylton (26:56):
Yeah, definitely.
And, and one of the things, this is justa, an aside, a little, um, a tangent
to let people know how important itis actually not just, uh, you know,
for, from an economic, uh, stand, uh,point to, uh, support local farmers.
It's also in their best interests.
In regards to health, I was, uh,recently actually using a, um,
(27:20):
uh, a medical, um, study of whyit's so important to eat local.
Like a lot of us, you know, wehear this thing like eat local,
eat local, and we think it's, uh,really about, um, economics, but it's
actually also very, um, pertinentto your health because when you are.
Um, visiting different environments.
(27:40):
Um, the thing that you, you know, youcan't see because this is happening
from a microscopic and, you know,biological level that you're, you
know, your eyes are not seeing happen.
Um, but when you are in differentenvironments, you, your body is
adjusting to, um, whatever that climate,whatever those, um, different, um, uh,
(28:04):
microorganisms that you're breathing in.
Um, you know, the, the foodthat you're consuming there.
Um, and so each time you go to adifferent, uh, spot, um, in, uh, on
the planet or within your community,um, your body is adjusting to that.
And so if you eat food thatis actually, um, grown.
(28:26):
Within that local community, your body isable to, um, maximize the capacity, um,
of that food and fuel you and you are muchhealthier, um, within that environment.
And so I. Eating local and supportinglocal is not just only about economics,
it's also coming directly back to you asan individual in the form of, uh, better
(28:52):
health and, um, uh, you know, havingmaximum, um, uh, energy and, uh, vitality.
Um, so.
Just, I wanted to bring that topeople that it's so important and,
and why, um, you know, uh, getting,um, farming and supporting farmers
(29:13):
in the local communities are justso much more about than economics.
I. Um, the other thing that Iwanted to, uh, talk to you about
is, you know, having, I guess, um,uh, Jamaica's known a lot, uh, from
its historical, um, perspective.
(29:33):
I. It had a lot of, uh,plantations, uh, sugar plantations.
Um, you know, um, uh, if we go back,um, through, uh, a time, you know,
um, everybody had this, uh, craving.
European said the craving for sugar andof course the creation of rum alcohol.
And so, um, how has itbeen to kind of, um.
(29:55):
Add and diversify the markets.
Has that been a great challenge, um, forboth, um, introducing like new products
to the farmers and then also, um,finding markets on the island for that?
Has that been a challenge or not really?
Neil Curtis (30:11):
Um, the, the, what really happens is the market, because we
grow food that's sustainable becausewe grow food that's, uh, organic.
And, um, not without all of thechemicals, there's a definite specific
lane that form up Jamaica is in.
(30:35):
Right.
We've, just to give you an example,we've, we've, we've grown food, um,
whether it be carrots, are onions,are pineapples, and then many others.
We've grown those things and put them insupermarkets all, all across Jamaica and.
Although there are other.
(30:57):
Produce is the conventional producethat's Chemicalized sells for less money.
Our Jamma Pharma JamaicaProduce sells first.
People want good, clean food to eat.
We don't have a problem creatingnew markets for anything in Jamaica.
In fact, many of the hotels are, aredying to boast that they have local
(31:20):
foods, they're dying, but they want tomake sure that the food is consistent.
They cannot.
Take on the challenge of not having theconsistency, and so the organization
and the Strat and the strategy has tobe there in order to make sure that
this food is gonna be consistent.
Annmarie Hylton (31:39):
Now, I guess, um, I, consistency seems to be, uh, something
that you keep, uh, tapping on.
Uh, so how, I guess if you weregoing to give yourself an estimate
within the next, uh, few years,I guess, how many more people do
you think that you need to becomefarmers to provide that consistency?
Neil Curtis (31:59):
Well, you know, um, again, we, we strategize the, the market also.
So let's just say, hmm, thatwe are focused on lettuce.
We are gonna focus on lettuce andwe're gonna look at the numbers, the
amount of, of, um, lettuce that'sbeing imported into the country.
(32:22):
And then we have to make a decisionon how much of that we want to tackle.
Do we want to tackle 50%?
Do we want to tackle a hundred percent?
And once we've made that decision, thenwe can decide how long it's actually
gonna take us to do those things.
But I don't think that,we'll, we're really, um.
It's a 1.3 billion US dollarmarket, the importation of food
(32:46):
into Jamaica, um, and just 10% ofthat is 130 million US dollars.
So it's a lot to really tell youthat I can strategize at this moment.
I probably can't give you asolid answer of how long it's
gonna take for us to actually.
You know, say that we're, we're, we're,we're, we're streamlined into market.
(33:07):
But I can tell you that these arethe beginning steps that are gonna
be necessary to build a foundationso that we do have successful, um,
agriculture, agri entrepreneurship.
From here forward, I.
Annmarie Hylton (33:21):
So how can, um, like a, a local Jamaican, like myself,
um, I guess, uh, help you now?
Neil Curtis (33:29):
Well, if you live abroad, which I think that's where I'm seeing
that this, this strong, I. Hold is right.
That's where we should start from.
If we live abroad and we've been exposedto so many great businesses that you see
flourishing and the free enterprise thatmany get from living in countries like,
(33:51):
you know, the United States or it's, it's,it's, it's, it's something that you've
learned and it's something that we shouldbe taking back to Jamaica and enriching.
Our farmers with, I believe that Jamaicansthat live abroad are the backbone for
the farming community because theycome from those farming communities.
(34:12):
People have to realize Kingstonis just a very small place.
Everything else outside ofKingston is a farming community.
And so the, the, the backboneand the beginning of this, this,
this, this, this investment.
Whether that be social, social or asocioeconomic investment, I believe
(34:36):
lies in the hands of Jamaicans thatlive worldwide around the globe.
And to come to a farm of Jamaica andhelp us to organize that strategy
for you in your community and as anonprofit, um, may maybe even assist.
In, in donation in certain parts of it.
(34:57):
Right?
Because when you talk about rebuildingthe infrastructure of a community,
that's really no one person's, um, job.
It's, it's, it's a collective job andyou gotta put people's hands together
in order to, let's say, bring waterto the community or drill a well that
everybody in the community can actually.
(35:18):
You know, benefit from, but if you comefrom that community, it shouldn't be
such a hard lift to find and galvanizemore people that live in California,
that live in New York, that live in,you know, England or Canada to come
together, especially if you're from thatcommunity, to actually put hands to, to
get these things going so that not only.
(35:41):
Do you build a better social place, aplace where you can now replug into when
you go to Jamaica and people are waitingfor you to come because they, they're
happy to see you because you've broughtthis socioeconomic strategy to their
community, but also to feel that senseof pride that wow, Jamaica can change
(36:03):
and you've been a part of the change.
Annmarie Hylton (36:07):
Fantastic.
Um, uh, I guess, uh, uh, you candefinitely, um, uh, sign me up.
I'm, uh, I, I want to learn moremyself about, um, uh, farming.
As I said, I believe it's critical,um, for our survival each in the
future that, um, everybody's going toneed to learn how to, uh, really, um.
(36:29):
You know, uh, defar themselves in orderfor them to have, um, enough food.
Uh, I don't wanna be the person, uh, 10years there for now, having to go run
over and fight my neighbor for the apple.
Uh, on a, on a, hopefully a, a happy note.
What would you say is, um, a story youwould love to share about, um, your
(36:53):
experience that just made you like, um,either warm your heart or you were just.
Wow.
And, uh, either somebody that youhelped, that was a farmer, um, uh,
somebody you educated, um, a momentthat just, you know, I guess lit you up
since you've started this experience.
Neil Curtis (37:09):
So we were told that young people don't wanna work.
They're lazy.
There's a million stories, right.
And what we ended up finding outis that we interview, we started to
interview, we had to do research anddevelopment, everything that we've done.
In form of Jamaica has been researchingand developing and figuring out what the
(37:31):
problem was and then figuring out what theanswer to that problem or solution, right?
So they told us, the young people forgetabout it and you know, there was a moment
where, you know, we were getting tiredbecause, you know, you, you go in and,
you know, we're doing this out of, outof the, the goodness of our hearts.
(37:52):
And sometimes you wonder if thepeople really appreciate it.
And I remember going to young peopleand talking to them about doing
agriculture and allowing them tohave a voice, allowing them to,
to say what they thought would dowell in the farm or what have you.
And
(38:13):
it gave them inspiration and itgave them a sense of ownership.
Like, like they, they wereable, we were allowing them to
help us come up with solutions.
Right.
And these were young peoplethat are somewhere between
the ages of 17 to about 24.
(38:33):
Um, and we were teaching them howto do agriculture, um, and they
were willing to learn and they lovedthe idea that it was something new.
And they love the idea that theydidn't have to go to some of the
older farmers to actually learn thisinformation because a lot of the
older farmers have the whole idea ofchildren are to be seen and not heard.
(38:56):
And so sometimes we don't recognize thatwe are the reasons why the kids are lazy.
We are the reasons why they'reprobably smoking or not being
collaborative or in our, um.
Connecting with us and I was ableto pull that out of young people and
understand what the real truth was andthat these people can be Jamaica's new
(39:23):
farmers to change the whole dynamicof agriculture across the sector.
And so that was a wonderful moment for me.
I remember meeting a girl, I. On thefarm and you know, we take, we would
pull people from schools, right?
And this one school we would always go toevery Friday and let them come and stay
(39:45):
the weekend and board with Farm Jamaicato learn about organic agriculture.
So it was about four timesthat I saw this one girl.
And you know, I said to her, well, whydon't you give another student a chance?
You know, it's you, you, you comehere every week, give somebody else
(40:06):
a chance to fill that position thatyou're taking up, and she says, boy, Mr.
Curtis, she says, you don't realizehow much this program is helping me.
She says, every time you see mecome here, it's because my cousins
are calling me to come to Kingston.
(40:30):
To do things that I don't really wanna do.
Right.
And your farming program iskeeping me constructive because
my, my cousins don't want me to dosomething constructive in Kingston.
I,
and that was when it hit home thatthis project and this program is
(40:52):
so much greater than I can explain.
So again.
There are reasons why people arein certain situations in Jamaica,
there are reasons why young peopledon't move to the drum of what
you want them to do, you know?
(41:13):
Mm-hmm.
Um, and ultimately wehave to create creative.
We have to create constructive.
Work for our young people, orthey're gonna end up selling drugs.
They end up using a gun, they'regonna end up in prostitution.
Wow.
And.
(41:34):
We're gonna say that theyjust don't wanna work.
Are they just looking the easy way out?
But a lot of those young people, whenthey go to the elders for help, they
tell them, Cho, you're just a kid.
Get away from here.
And they don't give themthe time of the day.
They don't believe that they haveany creativity in their minds.
But I have learned that there's acertain way to treat human beings.
(41:58):
When they're old or young, and manyof our Jamaicans have to come up
to that level in order to see thereality of the future of Jamaica.
Annmarie Hylton (42:10):
Wow.
You know, I was just thinking, um, herewe are talking about agriculture and,
you know, not only are we growing food,but growing young people and young
minds and, um, you know what we, the.
Missing link is like, uh, cultivatingit all together because, um, just
(42:30):
like, uh, when it comes to farming andagriculture, it's a continuous cycle.
And so tying that together with,um, you know, young generations
and, you know, leaving them out ofthat link is, you know, affecting us
in ways that we didn't know about.
And it became so clearin your story that, um.
(42:52):
We are contributing to.
Our demise, I guess you would say,um, by not introducing people to,
um, I would say the fundamentalsof uh, just our humanity, right?
And, um, when it comes to, um, you know,growing something, you have to nurture it.
(43:13):
And so, um, just likewe need to nurture them.
And so going back into, um.
You know, I guess a, a, adisconnection on, on so many levels.
So what you've said was just, uh, itgot me, um, thinking about things on,
um, uh, so many perspectives and that,you know, it's, it's about more than
(43:36):
just the farming, um, that you know.
The thing that we've been missingis that we haven't been passing
down the things that we knowfrom generations to generations.
And that's the thing thatbrought us to where we are now.
And then, uh, even though we wantto say we're in such a quote unquote
connected world, we're so, uh,disconnected on the foundational level.
(43:58):
So, um, that was a wonderfulstory you just told.
Neil Curtis (44:02):
Well, thank you.
I mean, again, I canonly give you realistic.
Stories because I've been through them.
We've been down the road.
Jamaica, I'm gonna tell you, if, if Ialways say, if you can do it in Jamaica,
you can do it anywhere in the world.
(44:22):
Jamaica, in many cases, like yousaid earlier, some of what I see is
that we're our own greatest enemy.
We, we, we we're, we're, we're.
We're, we're not, um,we're not, what's the word?
We're not supporting thethings that support us.
(44:45):
We kind of shun the thingsthat will support us in many
cases or want to support us.
Sometimes we don't even give it achance, and I believe that the young
people are a part of that support systemthat's being actually just shunned
and not really paid much attention to.
I.
Annmarie Hylton (45:01):
Wow.
And yeah, and you know, now Iunderstand Pharma Jamaica, even from
a, a greater perspective, um, youknow, it's, uh, not only from a food
perspective, but it's, it's, it's.
Uh, you're working on a, a biggerinitiative, um, to, um, uh, not only
bring community, um, change minds, but,um, to change, I guess you would say
(45:28):
the, um, I guess you would say, um.
What should the, um, a worldview, Iguess, which is such a bigger, bigger,
bigger, um, uh, challenge than, thanmost people would, um, ever take on.
So your initiative essentiallyis challenging the worldview?
Neil Curtis (45:50):
Absolutely.
You know, it's, it's easy to go to Jamaicaand believe that everything is okay.
Because people in Jamaicaare very, uh, they're happy.
They come across as happy.
They'll take you to the party.
(46:11):
You go hang out and they'll goeat some food or you'll, you know,
they'll, they, but really what they'retrying to do is, is, is quiet the
negativity that's in their heads.
That, that the real problemsthat they're really experiencing.
And a lot of us, or a lot of them,I should say, they, they, they
(46:32):
bite the bullet with a smile anda lot of weird things are going on
in the background that you, thatthey have now accepted as normal.
So they don't come out and, you know,they're not having an Oprah Winfrey
moment, you know what I'm saying?
They're, they're, they're just saying,well, that's just the way things are.
(46:55):
And so we go down and we don't reallyunderstand that dynamic because we believe
that everybody that's having a problem hasa tiered attached to it, but they don't
have, their, their tears are, are hidden.
Um, and, or, or maybe they stop crying.
That they're past that moment,and now they've just said that,
well, I'm gonna have to do this orwhatever, until I can change my life.
(47:22):
And I think that Farm of Jamaica offersan opportunity for young people and
older people to change their lives,and they've never, ever had that.
Before, because normally the thingsthat are offered to our people in
Jamaica is just enough to get by.
(47:44):
It's never enough to actually change yourlife, and so here it is just offering
the opportunity that somebody might beable in their country district or where
they are, have a sufficient amount of.
Uh, resources to build a house, tobuy a car, to send my children to
(48:05):
school, you know, it's called, youknow, just, just, um, normal life.
We're not, we don't, we're not sayingwe want to be millionaires, our
billionaires, we just want to haveenough money and resources to live.
(48:27):
And Jamaican people don't have that.
Jamaicans that live abroad send 3.5B billion US dollars to Jamaica to
sustain family and family membersevery year, 3.5 B billion US dollars.
(48:47):
That is not a small amount of money and
Annmarie Hylton (48:51):
no, it's not.
Neil Curtis (48:53):
Wow.
With without that money.
Jamaica could possibly be a warzone because that is almost like
a welfare check that people getto keep them calm every week.
Right?
That's like social service in America.
You go, you, they go to WesternUnion, some, you know, in
America you receive your check.
(49:15):
And so here is.
Where we have to say, okay guys,you know, we, and that's why the
Jamaican diaspora is importantbecause we are feeling the blood.
We are the ones that have to come outof pocket to su to sustain these people.
So we have the land right in America,most black Americans are, are still
(49:35):
waiting for 40 acres and a mule.
Jamaicans, in manycases have the 40 acres.
The land is just sitting there doingnothing at all in these farming
communities and on what Farm of Jamaicais saying is let's use those lands
and turn it around and feed the hotelsand feed the supermarkets and feed
(49:56):
the rest of the Caribbean and feed theUnited States and England and Canada.
Mm-hmm.
Instead of having loved onesthat are only able to take money.
But now we could take that moneyand make that money sustainable,
that everybody's making money.
Annmarie Hylton (50:15):
That's amazing.
As they say, sometimes the solution'sright in front of your face.
Neil Curtis (50:20):
Absolutely.
Annmarie Hylton (50:23):
Um, I, I love it.
Um, uh, it's, it'sdefinitely touched my heart.
All right.
Um, so coming to my lastquestion for you, Neil.
Um, and it's, uh, I guess it's not reallyeven a question, maybe it's an, uh, an
appeal, um, to, uh, fellow Jamaicans.
So I guess if you were going to, uh,reach out to all Jamaicans that are
(50:46):
everywhere in the world, um, I guesswhat would be your appeal that you
would, um, tell them so that theycould join up Farm America to or from?
Farm.
Farm of Jamaica.
Farm of Jamaica, Jamaica,sorry, farm of Jamaica.
Um, uh, to, um, make a difference,
Neil Curtis (51:06):
I would ask and I would appeal that every Jamaican that
has, and I don't know if there'sa such thing, Jamaican blood.
Coursing through their veinsin whatever way that may be.
Could be great grand grandchild,son, brother, whoever.
(51:28):
That here is this one opportunitythat I believe we're gonna be able to
unite on because we all realize thatagriculture is not only something
that's in our bloodline, but worldwide.
It's.
It's important to the world at thismoment, and I believe that here is
(51:50):
that one time where we we're gonnamake this very specific socioeconomic
investment into our communities.
The greatest part about it,it's our communities, right?
I'm not asking people to investin someone else's community.
I want you to invest in where youcome from, where you, where your
(52:11):
neighbor string cut as Jamaicanssay, and come and help back at
the location where you were born.
That mean that broughtyou to this planet Earth.
And I'm asking you to simply.
Get in touch with us and let's holdhands and look for all the other persons
(52:32):
around the world that come from that samecommunity and hold hands together and
create these new places that we are gonnago from dormant to, to, to, to, um, to
really changing the lives of people andactually creating a, um, a global impact.
(52:54):
On the economy and the, and theavailability of food for the world, and
you would never believe that your littlecommunity in Jamaica could have such a
big impact, and this is the time for usto hold hands and make this thing happen.
(53:15):
That would be my appeal toJamaicans living abroad.
It doesn't make a differenceif you're a farmer.
Are not, or if you come from farming,this is just the one time that we have an
opportunity to unite our voices and ourfinancial capability into one big ball,
(53:41):
to be able to ask for the things that wewant and get them when we need them, and
to also be able to invest sufficientlyin our communities to to really turn.
The, um, return on investment to alevel where it only not only sustains
(54:01):
our loved ones that live in Jamaica,but actually can have even a return
on investment for us as investorsthat are coming in from abroad.
It's not just about social work.
Farming is, is one of thelargest returns on investment.
When you look at thenumbers, they're staggering.
When you look at.
(54:23):
You plant one seed of corn andthen it grows a, it grows a air
of corn and that that air of cornhas a thousand seeds on that air.
So that's a thousand return on investment.
A thousand percent, right?
(54:43):
And so if you put a number to eachcorn, if you were selling them back
as seeds, it's, it's staggering.
Just imagine if you took the thousandcorn seeds and just replanted them.
That's 1000 ears of corn with1000 seeds on each ear of corn.
(55:05):
That's 1 million seeds.
So if you planted the 1 millionseeds, how many do you really have?
And how much do you have thatit's, it's, it's staggering.
The bottom line is thenumbers are staggering.
We just have to fallin line and understand.
(55:26):
This is the reason why theQueen of England wanted to come
to Jamaica for agriculture.
See was, see, they, they didn't find gold.
They didn't find silver.
They found agriculture.
They found sugar cane.
They found bananas.
They found chocolate.
They found ginger.
They found turmeric.
(55:47):
We have to become that new power.
I'm asking every Jamaican to understandhow profound and how important this
is, and to come together and let'sunite and change Jamaica before it's
truly, and that your great grand andyour grand, I should say, your grand
and your great grand would actually getto know this place as a positive thing
(56:09):
and not as a place that we've abandonedbecause we didn't want to go back and
now it's taken over by other people.
That would be my appeal.
Annmarie Hylton (56:18):
Yes.
I love it.
Thank you, Neil, foryour time and insight.
To learn more about Neil Curtis,go to farm up jamaica.org.
If you have a passion for an unservedcommunity, a social justice problem,
or wanna change minds contact project,good work at Project, good Work.
To start your project of Change today,subscribe to our mailing list at
(56:38):
Project Good Works slash subscribeto get our episodes and borrow
articles sent to you each month.
To our listeners, thanks fortuning in to Project Good.
We're focused on what matters.
Hello and welcome to the Project Good podcast.
I'm your host, Annmarie Hylton.
Project Good is a social impact podcast,interviewing experts and advocates
about the pressing problems that weface globally and hearing how they
suggest we move forward in the future.
The Project Good Podcast is broughtto you by Project Good Work.
The goal of this podcast is to inspirepeople and organizations to develop a
(00:20):
mindset that can move others to positiveaction regarding the complex social
issues facing people and the planet.
For May we have a special flashepisode featuring Farm Up Jamaica.
Farming in Jamaica has evolved fromthe cultivation of traditional crops
by the Tino Indians to the largescale plantation agriculture of
the colonial era, and now to a morediversified, sustainable approach.
(00:43):
In the modern period.
Agriculture continues to play an importantrole in Jamaica's economy, culture, and
way of life, despite the challenges thesector has faced over the centuries.
In the current times, Jamaica's economyis fueled by tourism, mining, and exports
like sugar, coffee, bananas, and Yams.
Farm of Jamaica is a localinitiative aimed at addressing some
(01:05):
of the key challenges facing theagricultural sector in Jamaica.
The program focuses on empowering Jamaicanfarmers increasing food production and
promoting sustainable farming practices.
It was launched in 2016 by the Jamaicangovernment with the support of private
sector entities and other stakeholders,the program is designed to promote
agricultural development, food security,and job creation within the rural economy.
(01:29):
Today I have the pleasure of interviewingNeil Curtis, who leads Farm Up Jamaican
and has decided to pursue a lifelongheartfelt objective to tackle the current
economic crisis in Jamaica through therevitalization of agriculture with climate
smart organic farming, with a strongfamily history in Jamaican farming.
Neil understands the value andtradition of farming to live.
(01:53):
In 2013, during the Jamaican DysphoriaConference, Neil met Jamaicans from
the us, uk, and Canada, who shareda common heartfelt concern regarding
the underutilized agricultural sector.
In contrast to tourism, whichrepresents 60% of the Jamaican
gross domestic product, agricultureonly represents 6% of the economy.
(02:15):
Today the dysphoria organized toform Farm of Jamaica, which would
work to help safeguard job securityand food security in addition to
reducing crime through large scalecultivation of organic produce.
Let's get into the interview.
(02:40):
After gaining independence fromBritain in 1962, Jamaica's agricultural
sector faced numerous challenges inthe latter half of the 20th century.
Agriculture and Jamaica faced decliningproductivity, land degradation, and the
rise of tourism and manufacturing asthe dominant sectors of the economy.
Many traditional farming communitiesstruggled and rural migration to
(03:02):
urban areas became more common.
In response to the Jamaican governmentimplemented practices to support
agriculture, including the promotionof modern farming techniques and
increased investment in irrigationinfrastructure and research.
Farmers began to diversify theircrops and focus on organic farming,
agroprocessing, and the export ofspecialty products like herbs and spices.
(03:25):
Farm Up Jamaica is a comprehensiveinitiative that aims to strengthen the
agricultural sector, create opportunitiesfor farmers, and contribute to the broader
economic development of the country.
Now we will begin our conversation withNeil Curtis, who leads Farm Up Jamaican.
Welcome, Neil.
Neil Curtis (03:43):
Good morning, Ms.
Hilton.
How are you?
Good, how are you?
It's beautiful day inour neighborhood here.
I'm in New York.
Annmarie Hylton (03:50):
Yes, is, uh, well over here.
I'm in California.
It's raining,
so it doesn't rain very often,um, here in Southern California.
But, um, definitely, I guessyou could say we need it.
Uh, especially, we just experienced a,a series of, um, uh, catastrophic fires.
Neil Curtis (04:11):
Oh yeah.
I know that you guys go throughthose things and you know, Jamaica.
Has its fires also that peopledon't really speak about.
In many cases, it's gets so hot and drythat there are bush fires and many times,
uh, they're never really reported, but wesee them, um, because we're in the field.
Annmarie Hylton (04:33):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And I guess that's, you know,especially, um, uh, uh, faced with,
um, since we're speaking about farming,I'm sure that's something farmers
have to, um, uh, be prepared for.
Neil Curtis (04:45):
Oh yeah, that's, there's so many things that farmers Yes.
Have to be prepared for thata lot of people don't realize.
And so, you know, farm of Jamaicais kind of that, um, liaison that
brings people regular, normal peopleinto this world of agriculture.
(05:05):
And I think that's another, youknow, major part of what we're doing.
We're kind of helping people to acclimate.
To what agriculture really, really is.
Annmarie Hylton (05:15):
Yes.
And so I wanted to ask, um, you know,I, I usually, one of the things before
I dive into a deep series of questionswith my interviewees is I try to
understand each interviewee's, um,kind of, uh, heart and what is, uh,
you know, happening inside of them.
Um, so what, I guess from apersonal standpoint, um, got
(05:37):
you interested in farming.
Well,
Neil Curtis (05:40):
in 2013, I was summoned to come to Jamaica
because my uncle had passed away.
My uncle was the last survivingmember of a long line of
entrepreneurs and farmers or agrientrepreneurs, if you'd call it that.
(06:03):
When I got to Jamaica, um, my aunt saidto me, she says, you know, I know, we
know you like coming to Jamaica andeverything and we have 60 acres of cocoa.
Cocoa, which is chocolate.
And she says, why don't youcome and revive the fields?
I mean, I'm sure that there's gottabe a great market for this because
(06:25):
we all grew up and, you know, ourplane tickets were bought to go
to America and England and Canada.
From the same sale of cocoa.
Anyway, I took on the challenge andwhen I took on the challenge, I went
out and just looked around to seeall if all any of the other farmers
(06:47):
in the area were also farming cocoa.
And I found that none of them were.
So I asked, you know,what's going on here?
Why aren't you guys farming?
And they said, well, theydon't have any assistance.
They said, you know, the lastcouple hurricanes over the
years put them outta business.
So I said, well, why don't you justgo to the government, ask, you know,
(07:08):
the ministry or whatever, and theysaid, no, those, that, that assistance
doesn't is not there any longer.
Anyway, I was kind of not believing andwent to the ministry only to find out
that what they were telling me was true.
They told me that you have to, you know,make your own investment if you're gonna.
Want to revitalize, um, cocoa.
(07:31):
Anyway, at the same time, the, they werehosting the Jamaican Diaspora Conference.
Now that's where people from allaround the world come together to
figure out how to help Jamaica fixsome of the problems that it has.
And the government invites,you know, Jamaicans to do that.
(07:55):
So we went, I went to the mini, Iwent to that, um, that, that meeting
conference when I got there, um, Istarted talking about agriculture in the
networking group and I thought peoplewere gonna not be very interested,
but everybody was very interested.
Everybody was interested in figuring outhow to revitalize agriculture, and I kind
(08:20):
of didn't want to throw my one little.
Chocolate or cocoa project on the table.
So I kind of, at that moment, I becameselfless and I kind of had to put my
project on a back burner and just kindof talk to them about let's fixing,
about fixing agriculture across the,the, this, the, the whole sector.
(08:45):
Um, and that's how Farm of Jamaica began.
We, we, we Jamaican diaspora from the.
From the, um, diaspora conference cametogether and we said, yeah, le we're
gonna, we're gonna stand together.
And some people from Miami, some fromCanada, some from England, some from
Washington, DC and New York all cametogether and we decided we're gonna have
(09:10):
this nonprofit organization, which iswhat form of Jamaica is where a 5 0 1 C3
formed in the United States of America.
Um, nonprofit organization and wereformed to help reduce the importation
of foreign food into Jamaica.
Increased Jamaican exports, putyoung people and farmers back to
(09:31):
work in regenerative climate, smartagriculture, and to help reduce crime
and poverty by creating opportunities.
And that's really howFarm of Jamaica started.
That's the reason, thepassion that I have behind it.
You know, from that we went,we met with the Ministry of
(09:52):
Agriculture, we met with Jam Pro.
They directed us into differentcommunities that needed assistance
with agriculture and you know,we, that's how we launched and
started making it all happen.
Annmarie Hylton (10:05):
Wow, that's amazing.
You, um, you know, um, touched, uh, twothings on having, uh, community, and
I always think about farming as a, uh,as a, a, a community type of industry.
Um, you know, um, of exchanging notonly, um, knowledge of, you know, how to
do things, um, when it comes to farmingon the land, but also an, uh, exchange
(10:31):
of, um, you know, uh, a personal.
Like, um, you know, I can help you.
Um, and so having that expanse ofreaching out to people all over the
world and coming together like, okay,let's, let's, you know, let's move
together and, and make this happen.
So already, I would say that's,uh, a win for any initiative is
(10:52):
that you, if you can get people toalready, uh, jump into collaborate.
Um, you know, I guess what is,when you, when you have began,
um, in, in farm up in Jamaica,and I'm, I'm making the assumption
you can correct me if I'm wrong.
Um, what, uh, uh, I'm sureyou've met with, um, local
(11:12):
farmers and things like that.
What would you say is the mainchallenge such as holding farmers back?
Um, on the island?
Neil Curtis (11:19):
I'm gonna say the real main.
Problem and challenge in the, inthe, in the, um, farming belt of
Jamaica is not having access tothe correct markets, number one.
And then now the planningand the organization and the
(11:43):
unification of farmers actuallyuniting to get the work done.
Is also a lack.
So that type of cooperativespirit is not, is also missing.
And then thirdly, I would say thatum, the weather and the, and the
change in climate and the extensivedroughts, um, um, are as another issue.
(12:12):
And then fourthly, I'd say that the, um.
The techniques that are being used inJamaica, they're very antiquated, and
then they're coupled with chemicals orconventional farming methods that are
not necessarily gonna teach people how toincrease their yields, but just continue.
(12:39):
That, um, subsistence farmingmodel that's been left with the,
um, persons after colonialism.
Annmarie Hylton (12:49):
Yes.
And so in this, you.
Essentially need to reeducatethe farmers o overall.
Neil Curtis (12:57):
Absolutely.
Annmarie Hylton (12:57):
And I guess that's happening not just, uh, in
Jamaica, but just even in globallybecause of, um, you know, whether
people want to believe it or not.
Um, uh, climate change, but also, um.
Uh, just from, if we go back to, um,you know, I'm not an expert, uh, uh,
farmer, but I do know that, you know,um, the, one of the processes in
(13:21):
farming is that you were supposed tobe rotating crops and things like that.
I. To keep, um, healthy soil and, um,and not necessarily were pe are people
or were people doing that all the time.
And so that, um, along with, uh,chemicals, um, has contributed
to, I guess I would say themess that we find ourselves in.
(13:42):
Um, and so.
I guess in, in trying to, uh,reeducate people because I don't know.
Would you say from a, one of theperspectives is that, um, the people
who are interested in farming now,would you say that that generation,
um, is uh, you know, is it growingor is it, um, like, I don't know.
(14:05):
Are there a lot of young people withinJamaica that are, um, uh, willing
to take up that, that profession?
Neil Curtis (14:13):
So.
The first thing that we mustunderstand is that the willingness
of somebody to wanting to want todo anything is based on the current
status of whatever that thing may be.
So if you have a dying.
Um, profession that is not generatingrevenue that doesn't do well and people
(14:36):
work hard, but get very little for it.
Then the interest for people to farmis, is, is, is probably not, um, it's
not what we call, uh, second nature.
Nobody's ready to run and godo farming because they don't
have enough good examples.
(14:58):
As Jamaica is importing some higherportion of food, I believe 85%, right?
And so they don't get a chanceto see very successful farmers.
Now in the United States, you cango into places like the corn belt
and you see these millionairefarmers that are doing really well
with grains and things like that.
(15:19):
Jamaica doesn't have the example.
And so it's not that the peopledon't want to farm, they just
don't wanna waste their time.
And so people, and the young people,again, who are, you know, um, quick
thinkers, they don't want to wastetime on things that are gonna take a
long time and not give them the reward.
(15:40):
So what Pharma Jamaica hasdone is we've changed that.
Concept and we're able to explainto them how we can offer them a new
market and how funds can be made by,um, by doing things more effectively,
more efficiently, understanding mothernature, understanding the climate,
(16:01):
and then using all of that to createthis product that's probably can sell.
For more than what the regularconventional food can sell for, which
is, you know, um, explained by a, aplace like Whole Foods or, um, trader
Joe's or Wegmans, you name it, right?
The things are more expensive andpeople, and there's a definite demand
(16:23):
for it, that people want to go outand buy this food because people
are concerned about their health.
Annmarie Hylton (16:29):
Now one of the things also that I'm noticing just um, from
a global standpoint, I'm also thinkingthat, um, and this is just a, you know,
a part of, uh, reading and researchand part of, uh, personal hunch is
that it's going to be dis become, um.
Uh, critical for almost everyoneon the planet to know how to farm.
(16:51):
Um, because I think we're headinginto some really, uh, difficult
times, um, on, on the, on the planet.
I think, um.
You know, what they say, and I don'talways mean to be, uh, uh, pessimistic,
but this is just what experts say,um, that if we continue how we are now
(17:11):
with, um, our, our farming practicesand the um, and uh, the production.
Uh, within the industry that we arelooking at, um, mass problems with,
uh, um, uh, uh, the ability to haveenough, uh, food, um, because of,
uh, not only having enough workers,but the soil itself is getting
(17:33):
burnt out from all the chemicals.
Um, and uh, just the way that we'repracticing everything in, in general
is not going to be sustainable.
And so it's becoming, I think, criticalthat almost everybody knows how.
To, I guess, grow their own foodif they want to, um, you know,
uh, continue their own existence.
(17:54):
Um, and so I think, uh, that was one ofthe reasons I actually was so interested
in interviewing you because, um, I thinkit's, uh, an initiative that, um, this
has to happen in, in the, the future.
Um, I guess, have you beenseeing, uh, the same things I.
Neil Curtis (18:12):
Oh, absolutely.
In fact, we are in, technically, we arein a food shortage right now, and the
future is not that bright only becausethe more droughts that we have, the
more fires you guys have in California,the more drying up of the river, the
Colorado River and things like this.
(18:35):
You know, as and I, I, I use the UnitedStates because it is the, the big.
It's a conglomerate, right?
And so it tells you that if it'shappening here and we can't control
it, then third world countries arehaving a three times the problem.
Pharma Jamaica has experienced, um,droughts on our farms that last as
(18:59):
long as six months, and so that.
Says that there's gonna be less food.
There's no way around thatthere's gonna be less food.
We, we we're sure of that part, right?
Because farming requires water.
And when the water levels are down, it'snot this, that the rain is not falling,
(19:21):
it's that the rivers are drying up.
It's that the water sources for the,wherever these guys are getting water
from the wells and all those wa,those things are very low at that
time when the drought is in play.
And so it's not justbecause you didn't get rain.
Rainfall is not necessarily whatwe rely on to irrigate properties.
(19:42):
Rainfall just maintains andhelps to maintain the water
levels so that things are right.
The aquifers are at the right level,the rivers are still flowing and right.
And so, um, we definitely see, I.
The, the, the, the damage.
And we definitely see the effect ofwhat is happening and why food is
(20:05):
gonna get very scarce very quickly.
I mean, even in America, you know,farmers are trashing their crops
after not having enough water to,to, to give the crops throughout
the, um, the regular growth cycle.
So it's a definite, it'sdefinitely, um, an imminent concern.
Annmarie Hylton (20:25):
Yes.
And I, I was reading also before,uh, um, about Jamaica's, uh,
drought problem, you know, Jamaica.
Um, a lot of people may not know that thename itself is the land of wood and water.
And so, you know, it's, I, uh,um, sad or ironic or, um, to, um.
You know, have a, a place thatnow the, the water part is,
(20:47):
uh, uh, uh, dry drying up.
Um, from what the history I knowis that Jamaica always had, uh,
pretty, uh, fertile, fertile soil.
I. Um, and so, um, I guess if, if,if people wanted to get started, um,
in, uh, your initiative and wantedto, uh, come and learn, I guess, what
(21:11):
are the steps that they need to take
Neil Curtis (21:13):
now?
Alright, so we run a programthat is fueled by the diaspora.
Remember we started thisout of the diaspora.
Um, conference.
So our whole model is predicatedon the Jamaican diaspora, literally
coming back to Jamaica and becomingthe Jamaica's greatest hope, right?
(21:38):
Um, so we, we kind of say, okay, allright, diaspora, where are you from?
And when I say diasporaguys, I really just mean.
A Jamaican living abroad.
So it's just a Jamaican, maybe livingin New York or like yourself living in
Canada, I mean California, or someonethat's living in Canada or England.
(21:59):
And we're saying to them, allright, let's go back to your
community where you come from.
We call it the Naval String Program.
'cause you know, in Jamaicathey say, we're gonna go back
to where your Val string cut.
It's a val string.
And so we connect.
Jamaicans that live abroad back to theirown home communities, and we get them to
(22:22):
put together, um, support for a farmingcommunity within their own old community.
Right.
So, you know, in other, in a,in, in a place like America, they
call that a cooperative, right?
And what we do is we give thema market to sell food to that.
And it's a mainstream market.
(22:42):
Normally it might be a. A,a, a, a group of hotels.
It might be supermarkets, it might beexport right, to a different location.
Um, and what we do is we, we gointo them, into the communities.
We do soil testing andwe speak to farmers.
(23:03):
We organize them and we train them andwe get them up to snuff to farm in this,
what we call regenerative climate Smartagriculture, which is a technology that
Farm of Jamaica has actually created.
Um, and then we put each farmerto work on their own properties
(23:25):
and we, we don't start with morethan about one acre per farmer.
And we, um.
We have them do what wecall day for day farming.
It's like a round robin where all thefarmers come together and go to the
first farmer's farm and then they farmthat up of course, using our techniques.
And we have our oversight and ourpeople from Farm of Jamaica that are,
(23:48):
that actually stay in that communityand make sure that the processes
are being carried out correctly.
'cause we have to guarantee to the marketwhat we promised them, which is good
wholesome food that's unadulterated.
Then they all gang farm, that first farmand then they'll go to the second farm,
let's say the next day or the day after.
(24:08):
And gang farm.
That farm, all the farmers in thecommunity working together to to
farm each farm until the wholefarming community is farmed up.
And then now we set up packing stations.
We set up tool sheds so that they haveaccess to tools and machinery to get
the work done, and they maintain those.
(24:31):
Lands all together, working togetheruntil they come to fruition, in
which we go in and we do the harvest.
They, we also set up packing stations andplaces to store food, um, as it relates
to refrigeration and things like those.
And so that the whole communityis kind of self-sufficient.
And then we, you know, box,we teach them how to box.
(24:53):
We teach them how to pack,we teach them how to ship.
And so the truck comes, they loadthe truck and it's off to the market.
They get paid.
The hotel, the supermarket, the exportgets their produce and everybody's happy.
Annmarie Hylton (25:07):
Wow.
Uh, that is a, a full andcomprehensive, um, uh, program.
I think that, I don't know ifI've heard a program that has, uh,
essentially touched on all the, thekey pieces and put together, um,
I guess even the workers in place.
And not only that, um, the thing I love.
(25:28):
Just like I was saying at the beginningis, uh, this whole sense of community,
Neil Curtis (25:32):
when it's community driven, the way that I explained it,
it's very hard to break that chainbecause the moment one person in
the chain gets weak or drops off,the whole thing can crumble and.
Everybody's relying on the chainto stay solid because everybody's
relying on the same source of income,so nobody wants to lose the market.
(25:55):
So the moment that the consistencystops is the moment that
they risk losing the market.
I. So everybody's making surethat crops are, nobody comes
in and steals anyone's crops.
Everybody's making sure that, no,that nobody actually, if somebody
falls short, that somebody'scoming and filling in the blank.
'cause they know that if we go to thehotel and we say, oh boy, you know,
(26:18):
with this, we never have the lettuce.
This week, the, the hotel is literallygonna resort, resort back to importation.
That's a guaranteed market.
They can guarantee that if they import,they don't have to hear the stories.
And that's the problem.
That why, that's the problem.
Why most hotels don't buy from localfarmers because they'll, you know,
(26:41):
one farmer might try to do thisbig job and then they fall short.
And when you fall short, you know, youcan't tell the the guests that, oh,
I'm sorry, we don't have lettuce today.
They don't want to hear thatthey're spending five star money.
Annmarie Hylton (26:56):
Yeah, definitely.
And, and one of the things, this is justa, an aside, a little, um, a tangent
to let people know how important itis actually not just, uh, you know,
for, from an economic, uh, stand, uh,point to, uh, support local farmers.
It's also in their best interests.
In regards to health, I was, uh,recently actually using a, um,
(27:20):
uh, a medical, um, study of whyit's so important to eat local.
Like a lot of us, you know, wehear this thing like eat local,
eat local, and we think it's, uh,really about, um, economics, but it's
actually also very, um, pertinentto your health because when you are.
Um, visiting different environments.
(27:40):
Um, the thing that you, you know, youcan't see because this is happening
from a microscopic and, you know,biological level that you're, you
know, your eyes are not seeing happen.
Um, but when you are in differentenvironments, you, your body is
adjusting to, um, whatever that climate,whatever those, um, different, um, uh,
(28:04):
microorganisms that you're breathing in.
Um, you know, the, the foodthat you're consuming there.
Um, and so each time you go to adifferent, uh, spot, um, in, uh, on
the planet or within your community,um, your body is adjusting to that.
And so if you eat food thatis actually, um, grown.
(28:26):
Within that local community, your body isable to, um, maximize the capacity, um,
of that food and fuel you and you are muchhealthier, um, within that environment.
And so I. Eating local and supportinglocal is not just only about economics,
it's also coming directly back to you asan individual in the form of, uh, better
(28:52):
health and, um, uh, you know, havingmaximum, um, uh, energy and, uh, vitality.
Um, so.
Just, I wanted to bring that topeople that it's so important and,
and why, um, you know, uh, getting,um, farming and supporting farmers
(29:13):
in the local communities are justso much more about than economics.
I. Um, the other thing that Iwanted to, uh, talk to you about
is, you know, having, I guess, um,uh, Jamaica's known a lot, uh, from
its historical, um, perspective.
(29:33):
I. It had a lot of, uh,plantations, uh, sugar plantations.
Um, you know, um, uh, if we go back,um, through, uh, a time, you know,
um, everybody had this, uh, craving.
European said the craving for sugar andof course the creation of rum alcohol.
And so, um, how has itbeen to kind of, um.
(29:55):
Add and diversify the markets.
Has that been a great challenge, um, forboth, um, introducing like new products
to the farmers and then also, um,finding markets on the island for that?
Has that been a challenge or not really?
Neil Curtis (30:11):
Um, the, the, what really happens is the market, because we
grow food that's sustainable becausewe grow food that's, uh, organic.
And, um, not without all of thechemicals, there's a definite specific
lane that form up Jamaica is in.
(30:35):
Right.
We've, just to give you an example,we've, we've, we've grown food, um,
whether it be carrots, are onions,are pineapples, and then many others.
We've grown those things and put them insupermarkets all, all across Jamaica and.
Although there are other.
(30:57):
Produce is the conventional producethat's Chemicalized sells for less money.
Our Jamma Pharma JamaicaProduce sells first.
People want good, clean food to eat.
We don't have a problem creatingnew markets for anything in Jamaica.
In fact, many of the hotels are, aredying to boast that they have local
(31:20):
foods, they're dying, but they want tomake sure that the food is consistent.
They cannot.
Take on the challenge of not having theconsistency, and so the organization
and the Strat and the strategy has tobe there in order to make sure that
this food is gonna be consistent.
Annmarie Hylton (31:39):
Now, I guess, um, I, consistency seems to be, uh, something
that you keep, uh, tapping on.
Uh, so how, I guess if you weregoing to give yourself an estimate
within the next, uh, few years,I guess, how many more people do
you think that you need to becomefarmers to provide that consistency?
Neil Curtis (31:59):
Well, you know, um, again, we, we strategize the, the market also.
So let's just say, hmm, thatwe are focused on lettuce.
We are gonna focus on lettuce andwe're gonna look at the numbers, the
amount of, of, um, lettuce that'sbeing imported into the country.
(32:22):
And then we have to make a decisionon how much of that we want to tackle.
Do we want to tackle 50%?
Do we want to tackle a hundred percent?
And once we've made that decision, thenwe can decide how long it's actually
gonna take us to do those things.
But I don't think that,we'll, we're really, um.
It's a 1.3 billion US dollarmarket, the importation of food
(32:46):
into Jamaica, um, and just 10% ofthat is 130 million US dollars.
So it's a lot to really tell youthat I can strategize at this moment.
I probably can't give you asolid answer of how long it's
gonna take for us to actually.
You know, say that we're, we're, we're,we're, we're streamlined into market.
(33:07):
But I can tell you that these arethe beginning steps that are gonna
be necessary to build a foundationso that we do have successful, um,
agriculture, agri entrepreneurship.
From here forward, I.
Annmarie Hylton (33:21):
So how can, um, like a, a local Jamaican, like myself,
um, I guess, uh, help you now?
Neil Curtis (33:29):
Well, if you live abroad, which I think that's where I'm seeing
that this, this strong, I. Hold is right.
That's where we should start from.
If we live abroad and we've been exposedto so many great businesses that you see
flourishing and the free enterprise thatmany get from living in countries like,
(33:51):
you know, the United States or it's, it's,it's, it's, it's something that you've
learned and it's something that we shouldbe taking back to Jamaica and enriching.
Our farmers with, I believe that Jamaicansthat live abroad are the backbone for
the farming community because theycome from those farming communities.
(34:12):
People have to realize Kingstonis just a very small place.
Everything else outside ofKingston is a farming community.
And so the, the, the backboneand the beginning of this, this,
this, this, this investment.
Whether that be social, social or asocioeconomic investment, I believe
(34:36):
lies in the hands of Jamaicans thatlive worldwide around the globe.
And to come to a farm of Jamaica andhelp us to organize that strategy
for you in your community and as anonprofit, um, may maybe even assist.
In, in donation in certain parts of it.
(34:57):
Right?
Because when you talk about rebuildingthe infrastructure of a community,
that's really no one person's, um, job.
It's, it's, it's a collective job andyou gotta put people's hands together
in order to, let's say, bring waterto the community or drill a well that
everybody in the community can actually.
(35:18):
You know, benefit from, but if you comefrom that community, it shouldn't be
such a hard lift to find and galvanizemore people that live in California,
that live in New York, that live in,you know, England or Canada to come
together, especially if you're from thatcommunity, to actually put hands to, to
get these things going so that not only.
(35:41):
Do you build a better social place, aplace where you can now replug into when
you go to Jamaica and people are waitingfor you to come because they, they're
happy to see you because you've broughtthis socioeconomic strategy to their
community, but also to feel that senseof pride that wow, Jamaica can change
(36:03):
and you've been a part of the change.
Annmarie Hylton (36:07):
Fantastic.
Um, uh, I guess, uh, uh, you candefinitely, um, uh, sign me up.
I'm, uh, I, I want to learn moremyself about, um, uh, farming.
As I said, I believe it's critical,um, for our survival each in the
future that, um, everybody's going toneed to learn how to, uh, really, um.
(36:29):
You know, uh, defar themselves in orderfor them to have, um, enough food.
Uh, I don't wanna be the person, uh, 10years there for now, having to go run
over and fight my neighbor for the apple.
Uh, on a, on a, hopefully a, a happy note.
What would you say is, um, a story youwould love to share about, um, your
(36:53):
experience that just made you like, um,either warm your heart or you were just.
Wow.
And, uh, either somebody that youhelped, that was a farmer, um, uh,
somebody you educated, um, a momentthat just, you know, I guess lit you up
since you've started this experience.
Neil Curtis (37:09):
So we were told that young people don't wanna work.
They're lazy.
There's a million stories, right.
And what we ended up finding outis that we interview, we started to
interview, we had to do research anddevelopment, everything that we've done.
In form of Jamaica has been researchingand developing and figuring out what the
(37:31):
problem was and then figuring out what theanswer to that problem or solution, right?
So they told us, the young people forgetabout it and you know, there was a moment
where, you know, we were getting tiredbecause, you know, you, you go in and,
you know, we're doing this out of, outof the, the goodness of our hearts.
(37:52):
And sometimes you wonder if thepeople really appreciate it.
And I remember going to young peopleand talking to them about doing
agriculture and allowing them tohave a voice, allowing them to,
to say what they thought would dowell in the farm or what have you.
And
(38:13):
it gave them inspiration and itgave them a sense of ownership.
Like, like they, they wereable, we were allowing them to
help us come up with solutions.
Right.
And these were young peoplethat are somewhere between
the ages of 17 to about 24.
(38:33):
Um, and we were teaching them howto do agriculture, um, and they
were willing to learn and they lovedthe idea that it was something new.
And they love the idea that theydidn't have to go to some of the
older farmers to actually learn thisinformation because a lot of the
older farmers have the whole idea ofchildren are to be seen and not heard.
(38:56):
And so sometimes we don't recognize thatwe are the reasons why the kids are lazy.
We are the reasons why they'reprobably smoking or not being
collaborative or in our, um.
Connecting with us and I was ableto pull that out of young people and
understand what the real truth was andthat these people can be Jamaica's new
(39:23):
farmers to change the whole dynamicof agriculture across the sector.
And so that was a wonderful moment for me.
I remember meeting a girl, I. On thefarm and you know, we take, we would
pull people from schools, right?
And this one school we would always go toevery Friday and let them come and stay
(39:45):
the weekend and board with Farm Jamaicato learn about organic agriculture.
So it was about four timesthat I saw this one girl.
And you know, I said to her, well, whydon't you give another student a chance?
You know, it's you, you, you comehere every week, give somebody else
(40:06):
a chance to fill that position thatyou're taking up, and she says, boy, Mr.
Curtis, she says, you don't realizehow much this program is helping me.
She says, every time you see mecome here, it's because my cousins
are calling me to come to Kingston.
(40:30):
To do things that I don't really wanna do.
Right.
And your farming program iskeeping me constructive because
my, my cousins don't want me to dosomething constructive in Kingston.
I,
and that was when it hit home thatthis project and this program is
(40:52):
so much greater than I can explain.
So again.
There are reasons why people arein certain situations in Jamaica,
there are reasons why young peopledon't move to the drum of what
you want them to do, you know?
(41:13):
Mm-hmm.
Um, and ultimately wehave to create creative.
We have to create constructive.
Work for our young people, orthey're gonna end up selling drugs.
They end up using a gun, they'regonna end up in prostitution.
Wow.
And.
(41:34):
We're gonna say that theyjust don't wanna work.
Are they just looking the easy way out?
But a lot of those young people, whenthey go to the elders for help, they
tell them, Cho, you're just a kid.
Get away from here.
And they don't give themthe time of the day.
They don't believe that they haveany creativity in their minds.
But I have learned that there's acertain way to treat human beings.
(41:58):
When they're old or young, and manyof our Jamaicans have to come up
to that level in order to see thereality of the future of Jamaica.
Annmarie Hylton (42:10):
Wow.
You know, I was just thinking, um, herewe are talking about agriculture and,
you know, not only are we growing food,but growing young people and young
minds and, um, you know what we, the.
Missing link is like, uh, cultivatingit all together because, um, just
(42:30):
like, uh, when it comes to farming andagriculture, it's a continuous cycle.
And so tying that together with,um, you know, young generations
and, you know, leaving them out ofthat link is, you know, affecting us
in ways that we didn't know about.
And it became so clearin your story that, um.
(42:52):
We are contributing to.
Our demise, I guess you would say,um, by not introducing people to,
um, I would say the fundamentalsof uh, just our humanity, right?
And, um, when it comes to, um, you know,growing something, you have to nurture it.
(43:13):
And so, um, just likewe need to nurture them.
And so going back into, um.
You know, I guess a, a, adisconnection on, on so many levels.
So what you've said was just, uh, itgot me, um, thinking about things on,
um, uh, so many perspectives and that,you know, it's, it's about more than
(43:36):
just the farming, um, that you know.
The thing that we've been missingis that we haven't been passing
down the things that we knowfrom generations to generations.
And that's the thing thatbrought us to where we are now.
And then, uh, even though we wantto say we're in such a quote unquote
connected world, we're so, uh,disconnected on the foundational level.
(43:58):
So, um, that was a wonderfulstory you just told.
Neil Curtis (44:02):
Well, thank you.
I mean, again, I canonly give you realistic.
Stories because I've been through them.
We've been down the road.
Jamaica, I'm gonna tell you, if, if Ialways say, if you can do it in Jamaica,
you can do it anywhere in the world.
(44:22):
Jamaica, in many cases, like yousaid earlier, some of what I see is
that we're our own greatest enemy.
We, we, we we're, we're, we're.
We're, we're not, um,we're not, what's the word?
We're not supporting thethings that support us.
(44:45):
We kind of shun the thingsthat will support us in many
cases or want to support us.
Sometimes we don't even give it achance, and I believe that the young
people are a part of that support systemthat's being actually just shunned
and not really paid much attention to.
I.
Annmarie Hylton (45:01):
Wow.
And yeah, and you know, now Iunderstand Pharma Jamaica, even from
a, a greater perspective, um, youknow, it's, uh, not only from a food
perspective, but it's, it's, it's.
Uh, you're working on a, a biggerinitiative, um, to, um, uh, not only
bring community, um, change minds, but,um, to change, I guess you would say
(45:28):
the, um, I guess you would say, um.
What should the, um, a worldview, Iguess, which is such a bigger, bigger,
bigger, um, uh, challenge than, thanmost people would, um, ever take on.
So your initiative essentiallyis challenging the worldview?
Neil Curtis (45:50):
Absolutely.
You know, it's, it's easy to go to Jamaicaand believe that everything is okay.
Because people in Jamaicaare very, uh, they're happy.
They come across as happy.
They'll take you to the party.
(46:11):
You go hang out and they'll goeat some food or you'll, you know,
they'll, they, but really what they'retrying to do is, is, is quiet the
negativity that's in their heads.
That, that the real problemsthat they're really experiencing.
And a lot of us, or a lot of them,I should say, they, they, they
(46:32):
bite the bullet with a smile anda lot of weird things are going on
in the background that you, thatthey have now accepted as normal.
So they don't come out and, you know,they're not having an Oprah Winfrey
moment, you know what I'm saying?
They're, they're, they're just saying,well, that's just the way things are.
(46:55):
And so we go down and we don't reallyunderstand that dynamic because we believe
that everybody that's having a problem hasa tiered attached to it, but they don't
have, their, their tears are, are hidden.
Um, and, or, or maybe they stop crying.
That they're past that moment,and now they've just said that,
well, I'm gonna have to do this orwhatever, until I can change my life.
(47:22):
And I think that Farm of Jamaica offersan opportunity for young people and
older people to change their lives,and they've never, ever had that.
Before, because normally the thingsthat are offered to our people in
Jamaica is just enough to get by.
(47:44):
It's never enough to actually change yourlife, and so here it is just offering
the opportunity that somebody might beable in their country district or where
they are, have a sufficient amount of.
Uh, resources to build a house, tobuy a car, to send my children to
(48:05):
school, you know, it's called, youknow, just, just, um, normal life.
We're not, we don't, we're not sayingwe want to be millionaires, our
billionaires, we just want to haveenough money and resources to live.
(48:27):
And Jamaican people don't have that.
Jamaicans that live abroad send 3.5B billion US dollars to Jamaica to
sustain family and family membersevery year, 3.5 B billion US dollars.
(48:47):
That is not a small amount of money and
Annmarie Hylton (48:51):
no, it's not.
Neil Curtis (48:53):
Wow.
With without that money.
Jamaica could possibly be a warzone because that is almost like
a welfare check that people getto keep them calm every week.
Right?
That's like social service in America.
You go, you, they go to WesternUnion, some, you know, in
America you receive your check.
(49:15):
And so here is.
Where we have to say, okay guys,you know, we, and that's why the
Jamaican diaspora is importantbecause we are feeling the blood.
We are the ones that have to come outof pocket to su to sustain these people.
So we have the land right in America,most black Americans are, are still
(49:35):
waiting for 40 acres and a mule.
Jamaicans, in manycases have the 40 acres.
The land is just sitting there doingnothing at all in these farming
communities and on what Farm of Jamaicais saying is let's use those lands
and turn it around and feed the hotelsand feed the supermarkets and feed
(49:56):
the rest of the Caribbean and feed theUnited States and England and Canada.
Mm-hmm.
Instead of having loved onesthat are only able to take money.
But now we could take that moneyand make that money sustainable,
that everybody's making money.
Annmarie Hylton (50:15):
That's amazing.
As they say, sometimes the solution'sright in front of your face.
Neil Curtis (50:20):
Absolutely.
Annmarie Hylton (50:23):
Um, I, I love it.
Um, uh, it's, it'sdefinitely touched my heart.
All right.
Um, so coming to my lastquestion for you, Neil.
Um, and it's, uh, I guess it's not reallyeven a question, maybe it's an, uh, an
appeal, um, to, uh, fellow Jamaicans.
So I guess if you were going to, uh,reach out to all Jamaicans that are
(50:46):
everywhere in the world, um, I guesswhat would be your appeal that you
would, um, tell them so that theycould join up Farm America to or from?
Farm.
Farm of Jamaica.
Farm of Jamaica, Jamaica,sorry, farm of Jamaica.
Um, uh, to, um, make a difference,
Neil Curtis (51:06):
I would ask and I would appeal that every Jamaican that
has, and I don't know if there'sa such thing, Jamaican blood.
Coursing through their veinsin whatever way that may be.
Could be great grand grandchild,son, brother, whoever.
(51:28):
That here is this one opportunitythat I believe we're gonna be able to
unite on because we all realize thatagriculture is not only something
that's in our bloodline, but worldwide.
It's.
It's important to the world at thismoment, and I believe that here is
(51:50):
that one time where we we're gonnamake this very specific socioeconomic
investment into our communities.
The greatest part about it,it's our communities, right?
I'm not asking people to investin someone else's community.
I want you to invest in where youcome from, where you, where your
(52:11):
neighbor string cut as Jamaicanssay, and come and help back at
the location where you were born.
That mean that broughtyou to this planet Earth.
And I'm asking you to simply.
Get in touch with us and let's holdhands and look for all the other persons
(52:32):
around the world that come from that samecommunity and hold hands together and
create these new places that we are gonnago from dormant to, to, to, to, um, to
really changing the lives of people andactually creating a, um, a global impact.
(52:54):
On the economy and the, and theavailability of food for the world, and
you would never believe that your littlecommunity in Jamaica could have such a
big impact, and this is the time for usto hold hands and make this thing happen.
(53:15):
That would be my appeal toJamaicans living abroad.
It doesn't make a differenceif you're a farmer.
Are not, or if you come from farming,this is just the one time that we have an
opportunity to unite our voices and ourfinancial capability into one big ball,
(53:41):
to be able to ask for the things that wewant and get them when we need them, and
to also be able to invest sufficientlyin our communities to to really turn.
The, um, return on investment to alevel where it only not only sustains
(54:01):
our loved ones that live in Jamaica,but actually can have even a return
on investment for us as investorsthat are coming in from abroad.
It's not just about social work.
Farming is, is one of thelargest returns on investment.
When you look at thenumbers, they're staggering.
When you look at.
(54:23):
You plant one seed of corn andthen it grows a, it grows a air
of corn and that that air of cornhas a thousand seeds on that air.
So that's a thousand return on investment.
A thousand percent, right?
(54:43):
And so if you put a number to eachcorn, if you were selling them back
as seeds, it's, it's staggering.
Just imagine if you took the thousandcorn seeds and just replanted them.
That's 1000 ears of corn with1000 seeds on each ear of corn.
(55:05):
That's 1 million seeds.
So if you planted the 1 millionseeds, how many do you really have?
And how much do you have thatit's, it's, it's staggering.
The bottom line is thenumbers are staggering.
We just have to fallin line and understand.
(55:26):
This is the reason why theQueen of England wanted to come
to Jamaica for agriculture.
See was, see, they, they didn't find gold.
They didn't find silver.
They found agriculture.
They found sugar cane.
They found bananas.
They found chocolate.
They found ginger.
They found turmeric.
(55:47):
We have to become that new power.
I'm asking every Jamaican to understandhow profound and how important this
is, and to come together and let'sunite and change Jamaica before it's
truly, and that your great grand andyour grand, I should say, your grand
and your great grand would actually getto know this place as a positive thing
(56:09):
and not as a place that we've abandonedbecause we didn't want to go back and
now it's taken over by other people.
That would be my appeal.
Annmarie Hylton (56:18):
Yes.
I love it.
Thank you, Neil, foryour time and insight.
To learn more about Neil Curtis,go to farm up jamaica.org.
If you have a passion for an unservedcommunity, a social justice problem,
or wanna change minds contact project,good work at Project, good Work.
To start your project of Change today,subscribe to our mailing list at
(56:38):
Project Good Works slash subscribeto get our episodes and borrow
articles sent to you each month.
To our listeners, thanks fortuning in to Project Good.
We're focused on what matters.
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