In Latin America, farming is often a family affair, and children are important actors in fostering the use and uptake of best practices.

As a result, CropLife Latin America has been very active in developing academic programmes targeted at schoolchildren and students, implementing the Scarecrow Programme to help young people develop awareness of ecological issues and of the need to protect natural resources.

The project now serves as a model educational system for bringing agricultural concepts into rural classrooms. It has been implemented in several countries, such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador and has also been updated to a follow up programme “Growers of the Future” courses for university students. Today, CropLife Latin America’s stewardship projects reach 18 countries, with a strong focus on multi-stakeholder relationships and reaching out to a wide audience, from farmers and retailers to families and health practitioners.