Guatemala - Contour Lines
Sean Dixon-SullivanOrganization Name
CONTOUR LINES CORP
Website
Crowdfunding Campaign
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Country
Guatemala and United States
Region or area served
Livingston, Antigua, Peten, El Estor, Morales, Puerto Barrios and Alta Verapaz (Guatemala) and southern Appalachia (US) and counting....
Individual Name
Sean Dixon-Sullivan
Date Founded
June 2018
Trainers trained in 2023
35
Trainers trained to date
90
Formal Training
Historical Studies, Stockton College of New Jersey, in a past life. Regen Ag and Eco Restoration self-taught.
Specializations
Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Tree Nursery, Community Organizing, Value-added products and marketing, Ecosystem Restoration (rainforest, mangrove, cloud forest), Soil Conservation
Workshops conducted in 2023
650
Workshop attendees in 2023
13,000
% of men vs. women participate in project
60/40
Farms that implemented Agroforestry in 2023
8,000
Farms that implemented Agroforestry to date
13,000 and counting
Trees planted in 2023
1.2 Million
Number of trees planted to date
2.2 Million
Hectares planted in 2023
1,000
Hectares planted to date
1,000+
Percentage of nitrogen fixing trees vs. percentage of edibles
5:1 legumes
Location of demonstration site OR CENTRE
Livingston, Guatemala
About organization
Our vision is a landscape of rural communities with the skills, resources, and knowledge to manage their lands in both sustainable and productive manner. That is the most efficient and truthful manner, one that advances both humans and nature. Our goal is to transition land into such uses, mainly agroforestry with mandatory soil conservation practices. We do this through raising funds, then providing participant communities with the fruit trees, tools, and training to establish these agroforestry systems, and through hiring a local team of technicians to organize these communities, train and supervise, while purchasing and value-adding harvests. This support incentivizes these communities to adopt the soil conservation practices, to transition their lands to regenerative agroforestry.
Impacts
Ecological impacts include preventing soil erosion and improving biodiversity, carbon sequestration water infiltration and habitat. Economic benefits include food security as well as income from harvests, value-adding, hosting tours and workshops, selling seed to other projects, and generally a transition away from land use systems that exported only corn and firewood while reducing land's fertility and relied on foreign imports, to biodiverse production systems that improve fertility and build local economies.
Summary
Contour Lines is a soil-conservation nonprofit. We work with rural communities, transitioning their lands to regenerative agroforestry systems. We provide the trees, tools and training, not as "charity to the poor" but as work grants to campesinos, with performance-based agreements that support those most interested in empowering their communities and restoring their lands. We also purchase, process and market the harvests of our food forest projects such as yuca, platano and pina, in our value-added processing facility. This new center in Antigua also serves as a restaurant/café with pizzas and lattes on the menu, a site for hosting events, tours and classes and a plant nursery and demo garden. All are welcome to visit, book a tour or class, and much more.
Crowdfunding Campaign
Over the past six years, we have planted over 13,000 food forests across 374 villages, transitioning land from slash-and-burn monocultures to diverse, organic ecosystems. Recognising the importance of economic sustainability, Contour Lines has expanded its focus to include post-harvest processing and marketing of crops. The campaign specifically seeks to fund the construction and installation of solar dryers and fermenters in two indigenous communities, enabling them to add value to their cacao harvests. This initiative not only supports ecological goals such as soil conservation and carbon sequestration but also ensures economic benefits for smallholder farmers, encouraging long-term commitment to sustainable practices. By integrating ecological restoration with economic empowerment, we aim to create a holistic model for community development and environmental conservation in rural Guatemala.
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