Seasons Greetings

 I send you seasons greetings and wish you all a prosperous, productive and happy 2011.  There has been a huge amount of effort put in by thousands of vetiver users around the world, below are photos of a few of those who have made special effort over the past year.  From left to right starting at the top row:  Paul Truong who has done so much to support everyone, in particular Carolina Rivas (I don't have a photo of you Carolina!) for organizing a successful regional conference in Chile.  Criss Juliard whose work with WINNER in Haiti has resulted in a major vetiver initiative under the WINNER project in Haiti - latest news one grower there can produce 1 million vetiver plants a week!. Aloisio Pereira, owner of DEFLOR Brazil who is pioneering vetiver commercially in that country.  Shantanoo Bhattacharya, an engineer from Assam, India who is leading the way for slope stabilization of river banks in the Brahmaputra floodplain. Middle Row - Elise Pinners who works in Kenya and is promoting VS in that region with special focus on reducing pollution of the Rift Valley Lakes.  Gilbert of Haiti, a young man with a dream to protect his country using VS. Joachim (Joe) Boehnert who has done much this past year to moderate Vetiver Latina - the Latin America discussion group. Luis Lucena of DELFOR Brazil, who as IECA representative for Brazil has been introducing VS to the many students and others who attends his lectures on soil conservation. Bottom row - Don Miller from the tiny Island of Vanuatu feeds us information about vetiver from the Island and contributes much to Vetiver Network discussions.  Paulo Rogerio of Brazil, who started a lonely and successful quest for introducing VS for slope stabilization in southern Brazil, and who translated our technical manual into Portuguese and Marco Forti (no photo) in Italy who did the same in Italian. Liyu Xu, Coordinator of the China Vetiver Network, who has devoted the past 15 years to the Vetiver System and is currently introducing the technology to the poorest parts of China for soil conservation, forage, and handicrafts. Jack Bertel, a vetiver enthusiast in Louisiana who doggedly keeps demonstrating how vetiver might be used for levee and coastal bank stabilization.

We thank you and all the others for your support, enthusiasm and commitment.  We still have a long way to go, but there is little doubt about the world's growing interest in this unique plant and its place in the protection of Planet Earth's natural resources.

With best wishes

Dick Grimshaw