For 40 years, farmers have told us that crops grow better beside vetiver hedges. The benefits for soil and water are well proven, but no one has measured, across many countries, how much a hedge or a single vetiver plant changes the yield of the crops beside it, how far the effect reaches, and why it differs from one farm to the next. The Global Vetiver Farmer Program sets out to answer those questions, with the help of the people who know vetiver best: the farmers, gardeners and researchers who grow it.

Taking part is simple. Choose one of eight vetiver farm models, from contour hedges to a kitchen garden, register your site, and once a year at harvest record how your crop grows at the hedge and a few steps away from it, on a phone, a computer or paper, in your own language. Every record joins a shared, worldwide picture that everyone can see as it grows. The program goes live at the end of October 2026.

Subscribe to hear when it opens Become a farmer-researcher