2.2 Million Trees Planted… so far.
We Plant Food Forests.
Contour Lines’ offers grants that provide the trees, tools and training to farmers to plant regenerative agroforestry sites, or “food forests.” These biodiverse sites have rows of fruit trees for production, as well as legume support trees for shade, mulch and natural fertilizer. Between these tree rows we plant banana, cassava, pineapple and other crops for shorter term harvests.
1.3k Food Forests Planted… so far.
Most of these sites are in rural, indigenous communities in Guatemala, where we transition the land use from chemical, slash-and-burn monocultures to these organic, perennial food forests planted on Contour. Our Agroforestry Methods, backed by research, reduce soil erosion, build fertility and improve other ecosystem functions like carbon sequestration, biodiversity and water filtration, while also providing families with both greater income and nutrition.
Where We Work
Contour Lines works at an international scale, and is currently expanding into four countries. So far we work in 374 villages throughout Guatemala, the bay islands of Honduras, 14 different states in the USA, and prelimary work in Brazil.
Tree Planting Grant Application
Follow-up support & Monitoring
We don’t just plant the trees and leave. Contour Lines grants spread the site-establishment over multiple seasons, during which our field technicians regularly visit to:
- train families
- deliver seed and tools
- supervise and collect data
- provide assistance with value-adding and marketing of harvests
- and continue to strengthen organization among participating communities,
… all of which keep farmers willing and able to continue maintaining these sites. Afterall, it is these smallholder famers working hard on their own land for their own benefit which keeps our projects expanding and success rates high.
Expotential Scalability – With our Community Engagement model that awards more trees to farmers each year our number of trees increases each year. Meanwhile, our network of 374 communities continues to expand, as the demand for Contour Lines projects grows each season. Key to this scalability are our replicable models across all teams.
Our Team
Contour Lines large-scale and cost-efficient success depends on our team of field technicians. These 18 techs are local, primarily youth from Q’echi communities, many of whom began as project recipients and through dedication arose to become leaders themselves.
Now each is responsible for their own sector, organizing communities, designing and planting sites, training participants and now assisting with export of harvests for sale at our Center. Each works semi-autonomously, seeking out their own regions and building up their own teams of sub-techs (now over 60 total). Through their work with Contour Lines, these technicians become not only leaders in their communities, but also, thanks to their value feedback and local knowledge, crucial contributors to the Contour Lines’ models.
