Smallholder Farmers Alliance Travels North From Haiti… to South by Southwest

Filmmaker Gabriel London, SFA co-founders Hugh Locke and Timote Georges, and Timberland’s Margaret
Morey-Reuner in a panel presentation following the premiere of Kombit: The Cooperative at SXSW Eco in
Austin, Texas on October 5th, 2015.

A new documentary film chronicling the efforts of Timberland and the Smallholders Farmers Alliance (SFA) to plant 5 million trees in Haiti had its premiere this week at SXSW Eco 2015 in Austin, Texas. 

Kombit: The Cooperative, produced by Found Object films and directed by award-winning filmmaker Gabriel London, tells the unlikely story of how a bootmaking company and a grassroots farmers’ cooperative program in Haiti joined forces in an innovative private/public partnership with the goal of planting 5 million trees in 5 years in a country that now has less than 2% remaining tree cover. Along the way a groundbreaking and self-financing business model unexpectedly emerged that in the end accomplished far more than just meeting its reforestation goals. This model has also proven to increase smallholder food production by an average of 40 percent and the household income of participating farmers by around 50 percent, while at the same time addressing community development and women’s empowerment. 

Kombit: The Cooperative is now available online for $2.99 (for 48 hour rental) or $9.99 (to purchase and download) with 100% of proceeds going to benefit the Smallholder Farmers Alliance. To learn more visit KombitFilm.com