The young farmer was kind enough to host our team for tea in his home (his mother’s baking was delicious), and then he gave us a tour of his ag business outside the ancient city of Samarkand.

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.

The people in these images above have said they want to move away from aid handouts and toward something more sustainable. They want to produce their own food so they can keep orphans and widows safe in their community, and that’s a next step that excites us!

On a farm outside the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, men are finding Kingdom hope through farm work as they struggle to overcome addictions and rebuild their life…

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.

Maroof nearly had to leave home to provide for his family, but your giving enables farmers like Maroof to stay, earn a living, and live and work alongside their family.

The initial fine was for $1.5 million, a staggering amount that no government official was able to fully explain or justify. The tax would have meant shutting down operations…

This is why our mostly-volunteer team of ag mentors provides 120+ hours of mentoring assistance to farmers around the world every month…

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?

As the story goes, the farmer and his son had a beautiful horse that ran away. They searched for days but couldn’t find the animal.

“That’s terrible luck,” the neighbors said.

“We’ll see,” said the farmer.

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.

In a recent televised speech, the Kyrgyz Minister of Agriculture praised our partner’s mobile chicken house units. He also praised new chicken farming prototypes at a local ag expo in Bishkek, where partners demoed mobile chicken houses.

We set a goal of $5k to help our director’s family find temporary housing and cover costs, and you exceeded that goal!

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.” — 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…

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.