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Sunrise Potato Systems Institute

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Who We Are

Sunrise Potato Systems Institute works tirelessly to empower remote mountain farm communities worldwide.

Find Out How

Our Strategy

Learn about our -point strategy for remote mountain farm community empowerment

Partner with a local organization, which has a similar mission and vision as SPSI

Listen and assess needs for targeted mountain farm communities

Conduct applied research to meet immediate farmers needs

Educate farmers and community leaders on new technologies

Facilitate credit

Encourage agribusiness with detailed business plans for young entrepreneurs 

Partner with local community faith groups to assist with the social and spiritual needs

Share the successes and challenges in empowering communities

Our Background

Rural development in the hilly and mountainous areas of Asia lags far behind the lowlands where irrigated and flooded  rice predominates. Our personal experience of living and working in Bangladesh in the 1970s and in the Philippines in the 1980s and later in China, has allowed us to see first hand the development taking place in the flood plains of the major rivers with agriculture driving progress and industrial development. Meanwhile the remote mountainous areas have been neglected and difficult to work in for many reasons. Many factors play into this lag including a lack of infrastructure and access to basic resources including crop inputs and financing.  Markets are often far from the production areas and  or they are  controlled by middlemen. Political unrest and insecurity also has had a major influence.

Starting from 2010, there was a definite new direction taking place for Peter and Carla with what they should do with the third phase of their lives. Some may call it “ giving back” or as Peter reflected, it was his feeling that more could be done to use his previous experiences in Asia where so many of these communities were still very poor and neglected by local governments as well as foreign aid organizations. With expertise in potatoes and sweet potatoes, his experiences as a scientist were mostly in the remote hilly to mountain areas of Asia where these two crops are primarily grown.

So with Carla’s initiative, we proceeded to register a non profit corporation as a charity under the rules of Revenue Canada under the “Canada Not for Profit Corporations Act”. This was initiated and completed in 2014. We named our Corporation: Sunrise Potato Systems Institute. We had our inaugural meeting in December 2015 and started programmatic work in 2016.

Our Experience

The experience over the past  years by SPSI  has shed much light on the challenges and the major constraints for the mountain farmers around Mount Kanlaon in the Philippines,  and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Provision of crop inputs on credit has been a huge success and is extremely popular with farmers in both countries. The use of financial credit has allowed many hundreds of farmers to improve their productivity and profitability. This clearly shows the entrepreneurial capacity of farm families and the need for rural credit sources.

Our Team

Meet the people behind Sunrise Potato Systems Institute

Peter VanderZaag, PhD

President

Peter is a partner in Sunrise Potato, a potato farm, with his daughter Ruth and son in law Nick and serves as President of the World Potato Congress.

Peter completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Vegetable Crops from Cornell University in 1972 and then worked in Bangladesh on crop diversification through potatoes and vegetables with World Renew. After completing his PhD in Tropical Agronomy at the University of Hawaii in 1979, Peter and Carla joined the International Potato Centre (CIP). Their first assignment was in Rwanda, Africa, to develop national potato programs in the mountains there as well as in  Burundi, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Uganda. From 1982 to mid-1991, Peter and Carla worked for CIP in South-east Asia based in the Philippines. Countries like China and Vietnam were ready to improve their potato production, which was a great opportunity for us to contribute our knowledge. We helped to introduce new varieties, to improve crop management and to train young scientists in short-term, specialized training and at the graduate degree level.

In the last 2 decades, Peter has filled roles on the Board of Trustees of the International Potato Center and as a visiting Professor at Yunnan Normal University.

Carla VanderZaag

Secretary

Carla has lived for over 20 years in Bangladesh and the Philippines. Carla has been and remains actively involved on Board of Directors for numerous Charitable organizations both in the Philippines as well as in Canada.

Ruth Ploeg

Treasurer

Ruth Ploeg is the treasurer of SPSI. Ruth is a full time partner in several farming operations along with family.

Victoria Demonteverde, MSc (Horticulture); Ed.D

Program Advisor
 

Vickie is both a biological scientist and a Rural development specialist with a long career as a scientist with the International Potato Center as well as a Researcher with West Negros University supporting Rural development activities in the Central Philippines. Vickie not only leads the work in the Philippines but is actively involved in guiding the work in Bangladesh.

Ralph Kikkert

Board of Directors (Chair)

Ralph operates a large chicken broiler farm with his wife, Yvonne, and family members. Ralph is a partner in the consulting company STRIVE which advises many different types of organizations on how they must function as Boards and how to be strategic in the 21st century.

Ken Rounds

Board of Directors

Ken, along with his wife, Geri, own Rounds Ranch which is a farm with a family entertainment facility with over 20 activities available for all ages throughout the spring/summer/ fall seasons. Ken is also active in green energy programs and also supports  entrepreneurship in several developing countries.

Larry Kell

Board of Directors

Larry, along with his wife, Anne, brothers and the next generation operate a very large cash crop and hog farm operation at several locations in Ontario. Larry is a pioneer in doing conservation agriculture using minimal or strip tillage for field crops.

Ray VanderZaag, PhD

Board of Directors

Ray is an Associate Professor at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. Ray is lecturing and guiding students in rural development studies. Ray has lived and worked in community development activities in Haiti and also worked for the Canadian Government under the former CIDA  (Canadian International Development Agency).