Executive DirectorSemilla Nueva
Curt grew up on a small organic farm in rural Idaho. He founded his first development organization at 18. After graduating college, he moved to Guatemala in January 2009 to start a for-profit agricultural inputs company. In 2011, he founded Semilla Nueva to find new agricultural technologies that could reduce poverty for farmers on a large scale.
Semilla Nueva now supports 18,000 Guatemalan farmer families by providing them with high-yielding, climate-resilient biofortified maize seeds, allowing them to increase their incomes by over US$140 on average and to produce enough nutritious maize to feed 400,000 individuals around the country. The NGO is now expanding its activities to other countries in Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Throughout the years, Curt’s efforts and Semilla Nueva’s successes have led to his recognition through Forbes 30 under 30, fellowships from Ashoka and Mulago, the Whitman College Young Alumni Prize, and a Muhammed Ali Prize.