This Farmer First we’re mixing things up and introducing you to Abbas, a young machinist who had just started working with our partners in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.

Forehead shining with sweat, Abbas set his welding torch down and tugged off his gloves, stepping forward to shake our hands.

Your giving is making some beautiful things possible here in rural Kenya, and we took some time during out last trip to show you some of them. Thanks to all of you who keep showing up to support people in Kenya, especially as they work for sustainability!

“He was our first broiler farmer in Zambia, and he has been very successful. Farmer Dennis helped show people this is all very possible, and their life can get better.”

This old saying came to mind again on a recent trip through East Africa, and it’s a reminder why we do this work developing farms in underserved parts of the world. People stuck in poverty cycles are often very hard working, but the work is inefficient and they often lack the partnership, resources, and vision required to move toward self-sufficiency…

Working closely with farmers and ag businesses mean our mostly-volunteer team is often traveling! Ag development requires trust, which means spending time together in-person as often as we can.

A small team recently visited two key partners in the Republic of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

Kiyalbek was chosen to lead his congregation after the Soviet Union collapsed. Not long after, the young pastor’s family experienced a tragedy that reshaped their life and ultimately grew their faith..

Akili Foods stands out as an excellent Kenyan-run farming operation. The staff were extremely generous hosts with a strong understanding of local food supply chains and the challenges many Kenyan farmers face in growing and selling their crop. Thanks to Mrs. Washira for showing us around her lush farm, and thanks to Pauline, Julius, Catherine, and the team for the hospitality.

Born in the Republic of Georgia, Vaso inherited the family farm as a young man and has worked hard to keep up the family growing traditions, but he also noticed the world around him changing and the need to keep up.

While not a common question in the investment world, it’s one our community of impact investors asks often because we’ve seen what even a very small portion of our investments can do to support Kingdom renewal in chronically-underserved parts of the world.

Special thanks to the C Fund investors, who have had a tremendous impact in the lives of farmers in East Africa, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

Thanks to all of you who’ve stuck with us and invested or donated to Kingdom impact in regions like Central Asia and East Africa.

One key thing we’ve come to understand is that this work isn’t for everyone. It takes a very particular kind of person, with long-term vision to be involved in this work. We don’t react to catastrophes, we prep for them!

Over the past few months, we’ve shared tough updates surrounding one of our most established ag partners, Oasis Agro in Central Asia.

Thanks to all of you who’ve donated, prayed, and followed along as we support our friends in Kyrgyzstan as they serve thousands of farmers across the region. Here’s an update from our board chair, Kevin Stark…

At AgGrandize, our Scout team finds excellent people to invest in, but we keep to a specific investment focus: using the C Fund to provide commodity loans.

That leaves many excellent opportunities out of our scope, but some of these businesses are just as strong as those we invest in. I’d like to present five opportunities that we appreciated visiting, to give you the chance to invest directly…

We start every month by focusing on a farmer around the world. Check previous Farmer Firsts you may have missed here, and this month we’re happy to introduce you to a farmer from the Republic of Georgia named George.

74 year-old Samuel knows his ‘why’, the driving reason behind his farming.Originally from Gikungere Hill in the landlocked African nation of Burundi, Samuel is also a father to nine children and a grandfather 16 times over! ⁠

These women are Josephine and Frescesme, two remarkable sisters whose love and support for one another inspires us.

In a culture where a woman’s honor and respect is tied to her marital status, you can imagine the challenges these strong, resilient women have faced in a male-dominated world, but they relied on one another to keep going and to grow their coffee farming business.

Vital Niyibaruta is a coffee farmer from a coffee farming community called Nkonge Hill in the East African of Burundi. He’s a 39 year-old father of four with an easy, confident smile.

It was our biggest community event to-date, and the opportunity to catch up with you and celebrate all that God is making possible around the world through this community’s work meant so much.

Margaret is a Kenyan farmer and co-leads an agricultural business near Mt Kenya with her husband, Haron. Margaret’s farm felt like Eden, it was so lush and vibrantly ‘alive’ in every sense of the word. While we have not partnered with Margaret’s business, Akili Foods, they are a distributor of our latest portfolio partner and impact investment, Long Miles Coffee.

This Giving Tuesday, we’re partnering with Long Miles Coffee to provide critical inputs (seed, fertilizer) that will help coffee farmers in East Africa triple or even quadruple their yield!

Beatrice understands God’s call to love our neighbor, and she takes it seriously by constantly volunteering to help. The woman is the epitome of a self-starter servant…