New Kenyan organic cooperative

A young U.S.-based entrepreneur has teamed up with a group of 1200 smallholder Kenyan farmers to produce organically certified produce for the U.S. and European market. Billy Yeager is a 27-year old co-owner of a global support computer software company. He partly grew up in Kenya when his parents served as missionaries there and has retained a strong attachment to the country and its people.

The farmers in the fertile Mt. Elgon region near Kenya's border with Uganda where Yeager grew up used traditional farming techniques without expensive chemicals. It occurred to him that it would not be too great a leap to assist them to adopt modern certified organic farming methods and seek to find overseas markets for their vegetables.

Yeager financed and assisted the farming cooperative through the ardous, nearly two-year process of getting them certified according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations. Part of the long learning curve for all involved in the effort was coming up with a detailed internal control system to ensure that all aspects of the group's production systems met organic standards. Extensive training involving all aspects of organic growing and practices was imparted. Yeager approached an independent inspection team from Germany to certify the operation. Surprise inspections were completed on many farms, soil samples were taken, produce was tested and farmers were tested on their knowledge.

With production and certification issues well in hand, the focus has now shifted to trying to find markets. A variety of onions is the first crop they are trying to find a market for in the U.S. Yeager has also began to research fair trade certification requirements.

Yeager obviously has a soft spot for the country of a part of his childhood and seems fired up to make a difference to the villagers' livelihoods, as shown by the enthusiasm with which he speaks about the effort and the amount of personal money he has sunk into it.

The success and sustainability of shipping and marketing crops to the U.S. that are already grown in abundance there remains to be proven. However it is possible that Yeager can tap into niche markets who will want to support the efforts of small-scale organic farmers in a distant land by buying their produce.