This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Recently, a listener in Nigeria told us about an organizationcalled World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or WWOOF[pronounced woof]. This organization helps people learn aboutorganic farms around the world by working on them as a kind ofholiday.
Sue Coppard started WWOOF in nineteen-seventy-one in England. Shestarted by helping four people work for a weekend on an organic farmin the area called Sussex.
Organic farms do not use chemical fertilizers or poisons to killinsects that might harm crops. Such farms require a lot of extrawork. WWOOF links people who want to learn organic farming methodswith farmers who need work done. The farmers provide their visitorswith a place to sleep and food to eat. The visitors agree to work onthe farm without being paid. Taking part in the program is commonlycalled WWOOFing.
At first, the organization was called Working Weekends on OrganicFarms. Later, it was called Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Intwo-thousand-two, World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms held itsfirst international conference. WWOOF representatives tried toorganize different national groups and establish rules for WWOOFers.
There are about twenty national WWOOF organizations. They are inAfrica, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Farms acceptingvisitors may also be in other countries. These are included on alist of WWOOF independents. Farms can be listed on the Internet.They pay about thirty to fifty dollars to be listed.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms includes many differentkinds of farms. WWOOF says on its Web site that the farms generallydo not use chemicals or poisons. They may be large or small farms.They also may be linked to communities. Independent WWOOF farms maynot be completely organic.
WWOOFers should expect to work about six hours a day, six days aweek. They might be asked to care for animals, plant crops, or doany other kind of farm work. WWOOF does not help with travel papersor work permits. It is important to discuss all details with hostfarms because workers are not paid and must know what to expect.
You can learn more about World-Wide Opportunities on OrganicFarms at its Web site, www.wwoof.org.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.