Transforming Communities with Trees: The Trees That Feed Foundation Story

Why It Matters

The initiative demonstrates how agroforestry can simultaneously address food insecurity, generate sustainable incomes, and mitigate environmental damage, offering a replicable pathway for rural development worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• Agroforestry replaces annual crops with profitable food‑forest trees.
• Training covers propagation, pruning, processing, and market access.
• Breadfruit dehydration creates year‑round flour, reducing waste for farmers.
• Farmers earn income beyond harvest season, lowering economic risk.
• Local experts translate knowledge, overcoming cultural and language barriers.

Summary

The Trees That Feed Foundation, founded by Mary and Mike McLofflin, promotes agroforestry in tropical regions to tackle hunger, unemployment, and environmental degradation. By encouraging smallholders to replace labor‑intensive annuals with multi‑fruit food forests, the nonprofit aims to create sustainable, higher‑value crops that grow on a modest footprint.

The organization provides end‑to‑end training: tree propagation, proper pruning, post‑harvest processing, and market linkage. A flagship example is breadfruit, a carbohydrate‑rich tree that yields up to 200 large fruits annually. Farmers learn to dehydrate the fruit into flour, extending shelf life, reducing waste, and generating year‑round income streams beyond the brief fresh‑fruit window.

Mary recalls her father’s Jamaican farm, where a dairy operation coexisted with a thriving food forest of mangoes, avocados, and breadfruit. Mike emphasizes the technical side—engineering equipment for peeling, shredding, and drying—while local partners adapt recipes and language to each community, ensuring cultural relevance and adoption.

By diversifying crops, lowering climate risk, and creating market‑ready products, the model boosts household earnings, creates local jobs, and builds climate‑resilient economies. Its scalable approach offers a template for other developing regions seeking to combine ecological stewardship with economic empowerment.

Original Description

Today, Lisa Foust Prater explores the impactful work of the Trees That Feed Foundation, focusing on agroforestry, food security, and sustainable farming practices in tropical regions. Mary and Mike McLaughlin share their journey, innovative solutions, and success stories that demonstrate how trees can transform communities and combat hunger.

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