Launched in February 2009, the PCS Model Farm & Agricultural Resource Center is a state-of-the-art training facility created to help Trinidad farmers develop the skills and understanding to maximize commercial production on their holdings. Tapping the expertise and resources of the University of Florida and the International Plant Nutrition Institute, the facility – located on 75 acres in Perseverance Village, Couva – offers free training and analysis to eligible farmers.

“We wanted to help meet the needs of our neighbors in Trinidad, and to do something that was in line with who we are as a company,” says Tracey Andre, Safety, Health & Environmental (SHE) Manager, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad. “A Model Farm was a perfect fit on both counts.”

“With agriculture in Trinidad, you're often trained to do something but there's no follow-up,” explains Dyan Nelson, SHE Superintendent, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad. “With our Resource Center, farmers will have ongoing access to experts and equipment to troubleshoot their farms – at no cost to them.”

The Resource Center offers a curriculum that trains farmers in all aspects of agriculture, including soil analysis, irrigation systems, crop selection, business marketing, greenhouse technology and more. The courses are designed to give farmers a solid foundation in techniques that will improve their yields and profitability. “If a farmer takes our courses, he will have an appreciation for the systems we are trying to teach him,” says Nelson. “Then he can implement the ideas at his own farm.” Since February 2011, courses in Good Agricultural Practices, Cropping Systems, Farm Economics and Soil Science have been offered.

This past spring the Model Farm embarked on a fruitful partnership with the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at The University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine Campus. One project generating a great deal of interest was undertaken by an undergraduate student (as part of his final-year project) and dealt with the design and development of a cassava harvester. This has the potential to revolutionize the way in which the cassava crop is collected and reduce the high labor requirement during harvesting, allowing farmers to improve the commercial viability of their holdings.

This is an example of how the PCS Model Farm provides opportunities for the pioneering work of young people.

Perhaps as important as training farmers, however, is the Model Farm’s larger mission: to change perceptions about the agriculture industry within the community. “There is a stigma attached to farming in our country,” says Sonelle Dalton-Brown, Information Transfer Specialist at PCS Nitrogen. “We want to show the people of Trinidad and Tobago that farming can be a legitimate business in which highly educated people can make a good living, We want the Model Farm to be a beacon that draws the best and brightest of our young people into our industry so it can grow and thrive."