Luxury Real Estate

By Jim Walberg of Caribbean Islands Realty

For the past two years the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute on St. Croix has been selected by the National Geographic Geotourism Challenge as a Top Ten Finalist out of 611 entrants from around the world. The VISFI is located on more than 100 acres in the rain forest of St. Croix.

The mission of VISFI is: To provide a working educational farm enterprise that integrates sustainability in education, environment, and community through quality instruction in Agroecology and related fields. The National Geographic Geotourism Challenge promotes innovations that benefit local communities and cultural landscapes in tourist destinations. The 2009 theme is “The Power of Place: Sustaining the Future of Destinations.”

The VISFI St. Croix project was chosen as one of the ten finalist by a panel of judges that included Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, and Keith Bellows, editor of National Geographic Traveler. “Our 2009 entry is about how farm-based education can be used in a structured format to teach about self-sustainability and cultural identity, and promote healthy development,” said Nate Olive, program co-founder and VISF program director. “The real winners of this program, regardless of the outcome of the contest, will be the children we interact with daily.”

The project is called Natural Mentors, a four-part program about nature survival, environmental awareness, organic-food production and mentoring relationships. More than 900 Virgin Island youth have participated in it this year. This program would not be possible without the cooperation of VISFI and Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT); Anne Marie Gibbs and students at Complex High School; the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands; Lana Vento Charitable Trust; and the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism’s “My Community” program.

The VISFI program combines experiential learning, outdoor lecture, field laboratories, personal and group research projects, leadership development, and local environmental awareness. All of these pieces work together to create a comprehensive educational experience. The outcome for the participants is personal growth, self-awareness, and community development in each student relationship with agriculture and the environment. They promote healthy agriculture through intelligent, sustainable farm design coupled with environmentally conscious practices and principles. The outcome that VISFI is creating is family and community based agricultural enterprises that will be sustainable for all future generations.

In the future, VISFI hopes to create a global network of small farm and educational farm campuses to facilitate the sharing of information, ideas, and sustainable agriculture and resource management technologies. Representatives of the farm institute ask that people to go online and vote for VISFI. Votes may be cast through August 12th. The top three winners will each receive $5,000. Please support this important Geotourism Challenge. Until next time, your Caribbean lifestyle detective remains on duty.