More exciting shots of plants. Still in the border region, this time in  the DR. The first photo shows an agroforestry plot, which you can see is a somewhat complex mixture of multiple species including taro, castor, coffee, bananas, and a shade tree, in this case Guama (Inga spp.).  A system like this imitates natural forest in many ways, allows multiple products on the same piece of land, makes better use of resources since each plant has it's own niche, reduces soil loss, and improves soil quality. In the second photo, you can see one of these plots right next to the conventional corn/beans field.  Corn/beans is fine until the crop is done, and the field is bare, often  because the farmer has burned the remaining stubble, leaving the soil exposed to rain, wind,  etc. I think you  can get a sense of how much damage a heavy tropical rain might do in the field pictured. Fields like the coffee agroforestry plot you see pictured are popping up all over the place  in this area, I'm quite happy to say, thanks to the hard work of our staff here,  and of the farmers who are changing their fields.