Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to preserve our planet's tropical forests while overcoming poverty. SHI has worked with families in rural farming communities in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama since 1997. Using organic vegetable gardens, wood-conserving stoves, biogas digesters and a host of other projects, SHI's local field trainers work together with families, individuals and communities to restore the environment while dramatically improving their quality of life. Our five-phase approach to solving the agricultural, ecological and economic problems of Central America is innovative, hands-on and long-term. We understand the importance of small-scale farming. Small-scale farming allows local farmers and communities, rather than factory farms and international corporations, to decide what food will be produced and how it will be sold. Small-scale farming also encourages sustainable techniques that improve quality of living for farmers and laborers, and restores the natural environment.