The Tropics Foundation
Thank you for your interest in The Tropics Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit charitable corporation created to support sustainable rural development and conservation of the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Foundation works to raise funds for and support the programs of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, commonly known by the Spanish acronym CATIE (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza).
CATIE's mission is to contribute to the reduction of rural poverty in tropical Latin America and the Caribbean by promoting competitive and sustainable agriculture and natural resource management through higher education, research, and technical cooperation.
A Message From President Oscar Arias
"The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) is a premier institution engaged in a noble mission: to develop the knowledge and training necessary for the rural poor to live in dignity and harmony with the environment.
In tropical America, where CATIE is focused, humankind is endowed with a rich natural heritage which is being threatened, by population pressures and persistent poverty. CATIE's honorable task is to educate the leaders of present and future generations on alternative strategies for the sustainable use and conservation of our natural environment.
For decades this institution has contributed important knowledge through research on sustainable agriculture and natural resources management.
Today, the institution hopes to achieve, through the help of friends and member nations, the long-term financial security necessary to continue its mission with excellence into the future. CATIE needs the assistance of those who wish to foster a legacy of regional peace and enhanced human dignity, through the conservation and wise use of the natural heritage of this wonderful region."
CATIE Doctoris Honoris Causa 2003
Honorable Dr. Oscar Arias
President of Costa Rica and
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Tropics Foundation Board
- President
- Wayne Reece
- Reece & Associates
- Treasurer
- Michael A. Stimpert
- Gold Kist, Inc. (retired)
- Secretary
- John E. Parkerson, Jr.
- Clayton State University, Honorary Consul of Hungary
- Thomas B. Miller
- Weyerhaeuser Company (retired)
- Huntington Hobbs
- PACT, Inc.
- Terry Vogt
- Former Deputy Director General, IICA
- Jose Joaquin Campos
- Director General
- CATIE
- Tommy Irvin
- Commissioner
- Georgia Department of Agriculture
- Mike Kreidler
- Commissioner
- Washington Department of Insurance
- Terry Coleman
- Deputy Commissioner
- Georgia Department of Agriculture