Macalester College — January 2013
"As a communications intern for Compatible Technology Institute, Brianna Besch ’13 spent her time last semester explaining how designing innovative tools—such as a bicycle-powered potato slicer—can help poor farmers get enough to eat."...
Global Food for Thought Blog of the Global Agricultural Development Initiative — December 2012
"There is little reliable data on post-harvest loss (PHL) and until recently it hasn’t played a big part in agricultural investment strategies. Only four percent of development assistance goes to agriculture and little of it for post-harvest programs. In light of high prices and lack of food availability, there seems to be new recognition that the world community can do more to prevent post-harvest loss as a means to meet world food demand"...
University of St. Thomas — September 2012
"Would you believe that the road to food security is paved with ... peanut butter?
It's one of the ways, and we're not talking partially hydrogenated Skippy-brand peanut butter. Just ask Dr. Jim Ellingson, assistant professor in St. Thomas' School of Engineering, and junior mechanical engineering major Noel Naughton.
The pair spent their summer vacation grinding 25 pounds of roasted, unsalted peanuts for a study that will help local nonprofit Compatibility Technology International (you might remember them from Friday's Newsroom story "Dr. Camille George and the Future of Breadfruit"), pave this road. The organization creates a range of "practical food and water tools that empower the global poor to better feed and support themselves."...
Mill City Times — September 2012
"Compatible Technology International was the Community Booth at the September 22 Market. It is a nonprofit organization that alleviates hunger and poverty in the developing world by designing and distributing simple, life-changing food and water technologies. At the Market, they demonstrated grain grinders, their “tools for harvest, hope for the hungry.”...
"Sometimes, it's just nice to get out of the city. Rock The Vine 3 was set in the picturesque grounds of the Saint Croix Vineyards in Stillwater, and treated music fans to a sun-kissed day filled with good wine, or wine fans to a day filled with good music, depending on which way you looked at it. Either way, it was all for a good cause due to the benevolence of local non-profits Rock The Cause and Compatible Technology International, as Halloween, Alaska, Solid Gold, White Light Riot, Haley Bonar, and Farewell Milwaukee (amongst others) all put on entertaining performances to delight the radiant crowd on a sweltering summer day in Stillwater."...
Inter Press Service — June 2012
"Can a single species of tree significantly reduce hunger, unemployment and deforestation in the tropics? Researchers and scientists behind a surge in breadfruit activity think so.
Over the last decade, a handful of nonprofits and NGOs have accelerated efforts to test, grow and distribute breadfruit trees with the idea that this versatile, nutritious, fast-growing member of the mulberry family has enormous untapped potential to improve food security and local ecosystems."...
St. Croix Valley Press — May 2012
"Lovers of wine, rock music and dancing, mark your calendars. St. Croix Vineyards is planning its third annual Rock The Vine event, a unique fundraiser that encourages attendees to support nonprofits and volunteer in their communities."...
Farm Show Magazine — April 2012
"In North America we take electric food processing machines that peel, slice and dice for granted. In developing countries, where there may be no electricity, harvesting and processing crops is tedious and laborious. A volunteer organization of retired engineers, scientists, farmers and other professionals have been making those tasks easier since 1981."...
"Twin Cities music fans who are willing to make the short drive to Stillwater on Saturday, June 9 for Rock The Vine 3 will be rewarded will a bunch of great bands, exquisite wine, and tasty food options, all set along the picturesque backdrop of the St. Croix River Valley. Rock the Cause and Compatible Technology International have joined with Saint Croix Vineyards in Stillwater for Rock The Vine 3, which promises to be an entertaining, enjoyable day featuring plenty of great local music, wine tasting, food, and fun."...
Appropriate Technology Magazine — March 2012
"Thirty years ago, a group of modest engineers from Minnesota teamed up with a lofty goal in mind: use basic engineering, hard work and compassion to give the global poor a hand up. They formed a nonprofit organisation, Compatible Technology International (CTI), from their sincere conviction that practical technologies could liberate the poor and marginalized in developing countries.
The major area of emphasis for CTI was, and continues to be, the post-harvest side of the food chain. Other organisations were already focusing on seeds, fertilizers and irrigation, but little attention had been given to farmers’ post-harvest need to store and process their crops following harvest.
After meeting with farmers and asking them about their needs, CTI's engineers realized that although the challenges faced by the rural poor seemed fairly basic, the solutions required smart and elegant engineering. Not only did the technologies need to be desired and effective, they also needed to be affordable, reliable, sturdy, easy to use and culturally appropriate."...
"It took a few years, but those retired technologists and business folks at nonprofit Compatible Technology International (CTI) are helping to provide clean water to nearly 100,000 people in Nicaragua.
The 'CTI 8 Chlorinator' costs about $125 and can be installed and repaired by local technicians in each village. The devices have saved lives by markedly reducing disease from water-borne bacteria."
Engineering for Change — March 2012
"Chlorine can work in the community water supply to kill microbes before it enters people's jerry cans or home water supplies. And it keeps the water safe from new contaminations long after it is added.
We've seen several interesting chlorination methods at work in resource-poor regions. Compatible Technology International developed this tested and proven device that chlorinates water in gravity-fed systems that fill a community water cistern."...
"It was George who, in 1981, came up with the idea for Compatible Technology International, a Twin Cities based non-profit that's taken simple designs, like a pedal-powered potato slicer, to the poorest regions of the world, often with no electrical power. George explains that only unbroken, shelled, peanuts will grow when planted. To achieve such a nut, Africans, often women, are tasked with shelling peanuts by hand. If his work is successful, Ewing hopes it will someday help Africans grow food."
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