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Despite the challenges of a difficult year, Heifer and our partners have remained committed to supporting the families at the heart of local food systems. Across the globe, smallholder farmers are on the frontlines of rural development and are building and expanding their businesses despite economic setbacks, climate shocks and conflict.
This annual report highlights Heifer's progress in 2022 and some of the key achievements we've made alongside our wider global community in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together and look forward to building and achieving even more in 2023.
Join us in celebrating these successes on our path to ending poverty and hunger while caring for the Earth.
Since opening our Nepal office 25 years ago, over 314,000 families have improved their production, secured more substantial — and sustainable — sources of income, and built thriving agricultural businesses to lift themselves out of poverty.
In September 2022, alongside nearly 5,000 members of the local community, Heifer Nepal celebrated a quarter century of supporting farmers with training and tools to strengthen their participation across goat, vegetable, poultry and dairy value chains. Over the years, our work in Nepal has expanded to include locally-led programs that promote animal well-being and environmentally friendly farming while also improving local producers’ access to agricultural inputs, like critical veterinary services and reliable access to drinking water and crop irrigation.
With Heifer’s support and our rewarding partnerships with local government, women are stepping into leadership roles. Nepali families are rearing healthier livestock and can afford more food on their tables, spurring growth in rural economies and laying the groundwork for long-lasting change.
Around the world, climate shocks and extreme weather pose a growing threat to vulnerable farmers, societies and business operations. Heifer and the wider development community have committed to investing in research and technology to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
Heifer was one of 10 winners of the Global Environment Facility Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation. This competition provides seed funding for innovative initiatives designed to help vulnerable countries cope with the worsening climate crisis.
Our Adaptation Equivalency Index (AEI) in Guatemala and Honduras is a first-of-its-kind index that will enable farmers, processors and companies to capture the full value of their climate adaptation action along coffee, cocoa and spice value chains.
This two-year regional initiative will identify, test, rank and score adaptation solutions to decrease habitat loss, improve ecological resiliency and secure Sustainable Living Incomes for smallholder farmers in Central America. AEI will drive investment from the private sector using a standardized, quantifiable approach; a win-win for people and the planet.
Over the past year, Heifer USA’s working ranch in Perryville, Arkansas, has continued to assert itself as a leader in the agricultural sector — achieving the status of Savory Global Network Hub in November 2021, and going on to launch the Heifer Ranch Center for Regenerative Agriculture last month.
Director of Regeneration Donna Kilpatrick and her team of specialists now host and train other smallholder farmers on holistic land and animal management, including planned grazing, financial planning and ecological monitoring.
Its Savory Global Network Hub certification establishes the Ranch as a best-in-class agriculture institution and proves Kilpatrick a leader in the method of farming that places a premium on healthy soil, building the land’s resilience to climate shocks, and stewarding a balanced ecosystem in which land and livestock engage in a mutually beneficial relationship.
To date, Heifer USA has supported over 3,000 farms across 14 states, and generated $15.5 million payouts to smallholder farmers since 2014 from Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative, a Heifer-supported distributor championing locally-sourced and regeneratively-raised meat.
With global hunger on the rise, long-term solutions to food insecurity are urgently needed. In Africa, home to the world’s largest youth population and where food imports total $35 billion annually, Heifer is working to find solutions that can address the most common challenges standing in the way of feeding the continent’s growing population.
Recognizing that youth are key to building the food systems of the future, Heifer launched the Agriculture Youth and Technology (AYuTe) Africa challenge in 2021 — an initiative that awards prize money and mentorship to young African innovators in service of translating their ideas into meaningful impact for farmers.
Since winning last year’s competition, Hello Tractor and ColdHubs have expanded their businesses and impact on smallholder farming communities across East and West Africa. Hello Tractor used its $1 million grant to deploy 17 tractors in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, and ColdHubs constructed 10 cold storage hubs in Nigeria with its $500,000 prize.
Building on the momentum from last year’s success, AYuTe launched country level competitions in 2022, supporting entrepreneurs from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda, who are creating solar-powered machinery, designing a mobile app to detect animal and plant diseases, and devising a program to provide farmers with access to an electric tractor.
Heifer International reports audited financial statements, annual reports and tax information, including our nonprofit status and the IRS Form 990. Find more information here.
As we approach the close of 2022, we’re taking the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate another year of life-changing work.
