Timberland has provided an update on the solidarity project that it launched in Haiti in 2010, following the devastating earthquake that hit the island nation. At the time, the outdoor company committed to plant five million trees in five years on the island, and the initiative is showing ongoing progress. In partnership with the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, a local non-governmental organization, Timberland is supporting a self-sustaining agro-forestry program to improve crop yields, and it has planted 2.2 million trees along the way. The project consists of creating community tree nurseries and agricultural training centers for participating farmers. The Alliance engaged a group of 2,000 small-scale farmers in the rural region near Gonaives and transformed the group into a for-profit agro-forestry cooperative, which is carrying on as a farmer-managed, self-financed operation after only three years of investment. This pilot cooperative will plant a million more trees in 2013, 2014 and 2015, to reach a total of 5 million. Timberland is the main sponsor of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance and has collaborated with various non-governmental organizations, including the Clinton Global Initiative, to identify a customer base and sustainable market-based solutions for the members of the farmer cooperative.

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