{"id":8990,"date":"2021-07-07T18:42:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/?p=8990"},"modified":"2021-07-07T18:42:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:42:27","slug":"meet-the-farmer-travis-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/07\/meet-the-farmer-travis-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Farmer \u2013 Travis Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>His involvement in agriculture began following the passage of Ivan when he was contracted to offer support to farmers as part of\u00a0 a programme by the Ministry of Agriculture. The experience, according to Farmer Travis Francis, helped him to develop a better understanding of the importance of agriculture, a sector in which he is now fully employed.<\/p>\n

As a little boy, he recalled planting because of the love he had for seeing things grow out of the ground. \u201c I would just plant mangoes, oranges, whatever I could get my hands on. I also went to the Mt. Rueil Estate with my grandparents; so, \u00a0I saw\u00a0 how to do things that I am doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis, in his late thirties (30\u2019s), supplies a wide variety of crops to vendors. The Marketing and National Importing Board (MNIB), along with\u00a0 schools in St. Patrick\u00a0 and St. Mark. The Mt. Rich resident said he is honoured to be a farmer; a career he sees as essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cUs farmers are important. This came to the fore especially with the pandemic, as the demand for food and vegetables were so high. It is a joy to know that my food goes into the school, into homes of many families, through-out Grenada,” Francis remarked.<\/p>\n

Important practices for successful farm operation and crop survival mentioned by the Farmer include land preparation and fertilisation. He explained, \u201cthe land never really disappoints me, that\u2019s why I put a lot into land preparation. If I am doing sweet potatoes, I ensure that my banks are high enough. You plant beans you have to have proper drainage; you have to ensure you have proper planting space. You also have into take into consideration the location of the land; the climatic conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

This farmer identified the instability of prices for agri-inputs such as fertiliser and\u00a0 praedial larceny as two of his main challenges.<\/p>\n

Francis encourages others to become involved in agriculture and said, \u201cThis business is\u00a0 very profitable. You have to be prepared to make the investment; you have to spend money to make money. If you put in hard work; the hours, farming is going to build you houses, buy you cars and even take you to Paris, if you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

He aspires to invest and diversify his farming\u00a0 initiative to\u00a0 have his own local food shop\u00a0 and\u00a0 a poultry farm, in addition to\u00a0 employing more persons to work on his farms, which totals to over 17- acres.\u00a0 These undertakings,\u00a0 he affirmed, \u00a0can further support\u00a0 healthy eating habits among locals. Francis has on hand a number of crop varieties which include watermelons, sweet\u00a0 potatoes, and beans for sale to the public.<\/p>\n

Persons interested in purchasing\u00a0 from\u00a0 him can call 473-459-9315.<\/p>\n

Wet Cocoa Buying Days<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday July 27th – Carlton\u00a0 and\u00a0 Mt. Horne.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u00a0 July 28th- Belle Vue, Carriere and Diamond.<\/p>\n

Thursday July 29th- Brothers and Pointzfield.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Planting Days: July<\/strong><\/p>\n

10th<\/sup> \u2013 14th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n

A most barren period. Kill plant pests and do general farm work.<\/p>\n

15th<\/sup> \u2013 16th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sow grains and forage crops. Plant Flowers. Favourable for planting peas, beans, tomatoes, and other crops bearing aboveground.<\/p>\n

17th<\/sup> \u2013 18th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Start seedbeds. Extra good for cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower and other leafy vegetables. Good for any aboveground crop that can be planted now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His involvement in agriculture began following the passage of Ivan when he was contracted to offer support to farmers as part of\u00a0 a programme by the Ministry of Agriculture. The experience, according to Farmer Travis […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-argriculture","8":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1",1080,1080,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg",1080,1080,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg",1080,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1",1024,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1",1080,1080,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1",1080,1080,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=1030%2C438&ssl=1",1030,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=678%2C381&ssl=1",678,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1",678,509,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG-20210707-WA0005.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Agriculture<\/a> Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"His involvement in agriculture began following the passage of Ivan when he was contracted to offer support to farmers as part of\u00a0 a programme by the Ministry of Agriculture. The experience, according to Farmer Travis [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8993,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8990\/revisions\/8993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}