This presentation was delivered by Lauren Howe in July 2019 at the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Conference in Las Vegas.

The introductory slides include "What is the Trellis Fund?" and "How does the Trellis Fund work?".

Trellis benefits

• Support smallholder farmers with new solutions and technical expertise
• Small grants can have a big impact with local organizations, especially if funded for multiple years
• Professional development and intercultural collaboration

Trellis Fund project example

• Project title: “Enhancing shelf-life of fruits and vegetables” in Uganda (2018)
• Organization: Mwino Group
• Grad student:  Annabelle Yu, UC Davis

Major accomplishments

Since 2011 (6 rounds of funding):

• 76 projects with 60 organizations in 17 countries (a total of $182,000 invested)
• 76 graduate students
• 12,675 training participants (65% women)
• 261 demonstration plots
• 376 training and extension meetings

Trellis costs

• Each project costs ~$8,000 per organization and student pairing
  • $4,000 grant for the organization
  • $300 completion fellowship for student
  • ~$3,500 for student travel costs
• Staffing costs
  • 1-2 graduate students, 10-20 hours per week
  • Support from a financial analyst, travel planner, and communications staff person

Where we are now and future goals

This slide shows a photo of the participants at the Trellis Fund Summit in Washington D.C. (March 2019).

Want to adapt the Trellis model?

• For more information, visit: https://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/trellis or email trellisfund@ucdavis.edu with any questions
• Check out our How to start your own Trellis Fund to connect local groups to students fact sheet