An Antigua and Barbuda farmer – 22-year old Michael Joseph – pulled off what many saw as an upset when he won the CARICOM Young Farmer Sward, 2025.
Joseph was selected as the winner of the award at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture held in St. Kitts last week. Joseph operates a 1 and-a-half-acre farm in Bendals where he specializes in producing okras and tomatoes.
He said the competition is open to farmers between the ages of 18 and 35 years and that there were competitors from much larger countries who operated much larger farms. Farmers from Guyana, Suriname, Belize and Jamaica were among the competitors, Joseph disclosed.
“While many of the farmers were older than 30 years of age and had much more years doing farming, I believe that my competitive advantage was the manner in which I have deployed technology as a vital tool in my farming. I am the first person to use drones to spray my crops here in Antigua, I also utilize accounting software to assist with record keeping and for watering my crops, I use crystals as a method of drip irrigation that while costly in terms of the initial capital outlay, make up for the investment in terms of cost-saving,” Joseph explained.
The young farmer works full-time in farming and by offering drone spraying services to other farmers. In addition, he purchased his own tractor for use on his farm, but through his entrepreneurial spirit, he also offers this service to other farmers.
“I try to be innovative and cost-effective as possible. For example, prior to attaining the drone I was spraying all day, but now I can finish spraying in ten minutes. This reduces the need for me to employ anyone and keeps my labour costs low,” he explained.
On Wednesday, senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and the local IICA representative congratulated Joseph on his victory and they presented him with a cheque for winning the award.
