Haitian-American Retiree, Franz Stuppard Wants to Help the World Feed Itself
Franz Stuppard in Nicaragua during winter study abroad program
Franz Nelson Stuppard is not your average college student. At over 60, he already has a full career and a lifetime’s worth of world travel on his resume. For Stuppard, the certificate in Sustainable Agriculture that he will earn at graduation in 2023 is not the beginning of a career, but the launching point for his second act—one focused less on building a life and supporting a family and more on serving communities in the developing world.
“Agriculture is the basis of all economic development,” Stuppard said. “If you cannot eat, you cannot function. And this is why, in my second act, I decided I needed to come to the University of Maryland and learn how to help others become agriculturally self-sufficient.”
Stuppard plans to start pursuing that goal in Haiti, where he was born and raised. His family owns a sizable share of land there, and he watched them struggle to farm efficiently and effectively.
“My goal is to help them work that land properly to the point where they can feed themselves, and also to teach others how to work their land properly to feed themselves.”
As part of his certificate program, Stuppard completed an internship in organic farming with the non-profit Rodale Institute, and he spent the winter break in Nicaragua with the Study Abroad program facilitated by Animal and Avian Sciences professor Richard Kohn and assistant professor Eduardo Rico.
Though he was the oldest participant on the trip and had already spent years living and working abroad, Stuppard said the lessons he learned in Nicaragua were some of the most valuable for his future interests.
“Nicaragua is in the Caribbean, like Haiti,” he said. “And I was able to see for myself that they are 90% food self-sufficient. So, I have that experience, and I know that Haiti can do it.”
The experience was invaluable to Stuppard, and he stressed that every student should take advantage of the study abroad program.
“This is a message that students of color need to hear, especially, I think,” he said. “I want them to know this is for them, too. It’s very important to have that international experience.”
His passion for travel and international development are not new to Stuppard. He left Haiti after high school to pursue a degree in international affairs, earning his B.A. from George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. After college, Stuppard spent four years in administration and communications with the U.S. Air Force, which took him from Montana to Germany, and eventually to France, where he met his wife.
His curiosity over food security was bubbling to the surface even then, and it inspired him and his wife to spend a year in two different kibbutzim in Israel.
“The goal was to understand more about how Israel became self-sufficient,” Stuppard explained. “Because in a matter of decades, they managed to go from basically nonexistent to the level where they are really functioning like an industrial country. And there are very few countries who have done that.”
Upon returning to the U.S. he took a position as a contracting officer, and focused on his career and his young family which grew to include a daughter and a son. Stuppard had hoped to apply his education and experiences to a position at the U.S. Department of State, it was the U.S. General Services Administration that offered him the best opportunity.
He never lost his connection to Haiti, however, and went back regularly to visit. In his free time, he served on the board of directors for International Action, which works to provide clean drinking water to Haitians and was a board member for Trees for the Future, a Maryland-based nonprofit that trains farmers in agroforestry and sustainable land use.
Since retiring from GSA, he has been eager to turn his full attention to international economic development, which he feels is his calling in life. Now, with projects in Haiti he will bring the additional expertise that goes along with a certificate in sustainable agriculture. He launches into this second act with a new network and the wealth of experience AGNR has provided him.
