Frank was the first to raise his hand and try something new.

When you’re working in ag development, sometimes it’s tough to convince people to do things differently. When their parents and grandparents and generations of kin all farmed a certain way, choosing to shake things up can be scary.

But Frank has shown a willingness to try..

On his most recent trip to East Africa, Director of Investments James Noronha recorded a quick video of a thriving chicken operation in southern Zambia where our funding community you’ve had a big impact...

After this crop, the funds will be recycled for future crops, with the profit going to sustain apprentice tuition and expenses. Thank you for investing in sustainable farm development projects like these!

On a visit to our partners in Zambia, Heartlands, and their beautiful discipleship and agricultural training school called Ebenezer, we noticed some of the students swatting and throwing rocks at something in the main hen house.

I worked in the railway industry for decades, but that wasn’t as natural as this. Something about farming, it’s inborn for me, it’s who I am. I wanted to get away from the city and to enjoy a quieter life, and farming has made that possible. Thank you for coming to see what we do here.

We believe in help that lasts because we’ve seen how often nonprofit work doesn’t. Before starting AgGrandize, our team spent years doing other work in countries around the world, and we had a front row seat to a lot of unsustainable, unhelpful work that just didn’t last.

So how do we increase the chances that our programming will go the distance and actually be sustainable?

With drought and famine affecting much of East Africa, our partners in the region are a secure source of food for their neighbors and income for their families. This tomato crop has been highly valuable, providing a 50% profit and helping support an outstanding network of discipleship training centers you've helped support.

“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.” — Paul, Hamara Heartlands’ field staff

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…