Undergrads consult with farmers over spring break

Over 2010 spring break, roughly 29 University of Washington undergraduate students, most from the Foster School, visited a mountain village in Panama to help the villagers improve their farming business.

The team spent most of their spring break on Machuca Farm in the Cocle province, roughly three hours from Panama City. The farm is a 25-minute hike from the end of the nearest roadway. The community has about 800 inhabitants, but the farm group that the students focused on has 14 members and supports roughly 35 people. The farm grows yucca, plantain, rice, beans, corn and other crops and also raises chickens, goats and fish in a pond. Read more.