Peace Corps Jobs for Agriculture Volunteers

By Frank Higdon
Published on February 8, 2011
article image
iStockphoto.com/Peru Harvest, Barosz Hadyniah
A Peruvian woman harvests rye in Colca Canyon in southern Peru.

Take a moment to think about your impact on the world. If you’d like to increase that impact, consider joining the Peace Corps. You’ll see the world while you make a profound difference in the lives of your fellow humans and to the environments where they live.

The Peace Corps helps small-scale producers adapt farming practices to use the most appropriate techniques from the industrialized world. And the agency is seeking experienced Americans to serve as technical agricultural specialists in countries that need specific skills to develop a more sustainable and appropriately scaled commercial agricultural sector.

Small-scale commercial farms are the foundation for stable rural economies in many parts of the industrialized world and could be a more dynamic agricultural sector in the developing world. Small-scale farmers in many emerging economies are struggling to adapt their traditional farming techniques in the face of a rapidly changing climate and increasingly unstable agricultural markets. Unfortunately, as global agricultural markets expand, little attention has focused on the importance of small-scale producers in maintaining local food supplies. As a result, global food supplies are at historic lows, and this poses a threat to the food security of many developing nations.

Many policy makers are beginning to question how to best adapt industrial farming techniques for a small farmers. For example, if capital-intensive farming practices are really the answer, how can small-scale farmers use them in a way that increases their income while conserving and protecting their natural resources and traditional crops? Some observers worry that the increasing scale of industrial farming practices could negatively impact the long-term sustainability and profitability of small-scale farmers. 

What do agriculture volunteers do?

While serving two years abroad as an agricultural volunteer might seem like an unus-ual opportunity for many agricultural scientists and farmers, nothing compares to the challenges and rewards of Peace Corps service. As valuable as your technical skills are at home, they can change lives when put to use as a Peace Corps volunteer.

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