ORE was established in 1985 by Sean Finnigan, an amateur horticulturist living in Camp Perrin, in the south of Haiti. He saw the potential economic and environmental benefits of grafted fruit trees for Haitian farmers and set out to introduce high value fruit trees as a permanent feature of the Haitian agricultural system.

The organization was started off with a grant by the Canadian Embassy to produce 16,000 grafted fruit trees. At the time this was the first large scale grafting of fruit trees to be attempted in Haiti. The project was a success and was quickly followed by a larger program funded by USAID to produce over 100,000 trees. Sean's wife Mousson, an MD with extensive experience working with the local rural communities, joined ORE in 1986, and a few years later took over the administrative direction of the organization, a position she still holds today.

Eliassaint Magloire, an agronomist trained at the University of Florida, and CIMMYT in Mexico, had specialized in plant breeding. He joined ORE as an executive director in 1987 and built up the existing improved seed program as well as other important crop improvement and soil conservation activities.

In 1988 ORE became involved in an extensive USAID funded Watershed Management Project, which was designed to protect the watershed of the Macaya Rainforest and National Park neighboring ORE headquarters in Camp Perrin. ORE primary goal was to introduce lucrative, environmentally friendly activities for hillside farmers in the buffer zone surrounding the national park. Fruit trees, leguminous hedgerows and other soil conservation measures were promoted.

ORE's first activities with improved seeds where launched at this time, involving a very successful program in which improved seeds where made available on credit to farmers as an incentive for soil conservation work on their land.

Experience from these interventions led to the successful high value fruit tree, staple crop and plant material improvement programs used today. Over the years, successive projects were funded by USAID, the European Union, IDB and the Canadian and Japanese embassies. And although the funding was diverse, ORE maintained a focused approach and only participated in programs that would further out program goals. As a result, we were able to develop a long-term area of expertise in high value tree crops and improved seeds, building an important long-standing network partnership with thousands of farmers in the southern half of the country.

A word of thanks...

We would like to extend our special thanks to Nicolas and Dorothy Chancy,
and Daniel Bolière for the long, generous support they have given to ORE.
There are many others who have given so much assistance over the years –
you know who you are – we would like to sincerely thank you all!