A la Republica Dominicana..

After a fabulous month in Burlington, VT farming at Open Heart, then past week here in Washington, DC catching up with old friends and attending the USSEE Conference I'm finally off to the Dominican Republic (DR) for the summer's research. On Saturday as I purchased a new shade hat and long sleeve travel shirt I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of adventure come about me. It was a feeling synonymous with my earliest childhood dreams of becoming a famous scientist, dressed in khaki, crouched in the jungle logging field entries and that of my first few days with the Forest Service when I realized I was "getting paid" to hike. This next new adventure feels like something I have been working towards my entire life, perhaps in many respects I have, which is both exciting and humbling.

My work in the DR over the next few months will utilize an interdisciplinary research framework to better understand the interactions between social and ecological process that contribute to the livelihoods of coffee farmers of the Pico Duarte region. In broadest of terms, how does the way farmers choose to practice agriculture affect their lives, given the social, political and ecological context in which they live? In order to access this, I will conduct with members of a local coffee cooperative 60 household socio-economic surveys in addition to biodiversity assessments of their food plots and coffee farms. To introduce this research and determine the appropriate households, we’ll hold a focus group with community leaders on June 27th. For greater details on the background, methodology and research questions consult here.

By tomorrow afternoon I’ll be down on the farm. The next few weeks will require lots of organizing and introductions on my part to the community as an outside researcher. A warm and hospitable people, traditional Dominican greetings almost always include an offer of “cafecito” a dark shot of sugar rich coffee, luckily I’ve been painstakingly practicing this in Burlington over the past few months… wish me luck and stay tuned.