More than five decades ago, in 1968, Dr. Basil Springer GCM returned to his native Caribbean to launch a Biometrics Unit, designed to speed up the region’s agricultural development through scientific advancement. Today, looking back on decades of uneven progress, the veteran corporate governance advisor is renewing a decades-old call: the Caribbean needs a dedicated “Shepherding Unit” to deliver sustained, export-led growth for its agricultural sector, arguing that scientific innovation alone has not been enough to move the region beyond stagnation.
“He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully,” Springer wrote, quoting a well-known verse from 2 Corinthians 9:6, to frame his argument. He first laid out his call for systemic agricultural reform in a 2019 column titled “Agricultural Revolution,” but is repeating the message for a new generation of regional agricultural leadership that may not have encountered his earlier recommendations.
Nearly 200 years have passed since the abolition of chattel slavery across the Caribbean, and the region still holds vast expanses of fertile, uncultivated land. Over recent decades, however, regional land-use policy has shifted sharply away from agricultural production, leaving large plots fallow. Unused, overgrown fallow lands have become a growing public health risk across the region, and Springer argues nothing less than a full agricultural revolution can return these lands to productive use.
This is far from a new conversation: regional stakeholders have debated agricultural transformation for nearly 80 years, ever since the landmark Moyne Report was published in 1945. Yet Springer notes that discussion has rarely translated to sustained, coordinated action that delivers tangible results.
For Springer, a successful Caribbean agricultural revolution relies on six non-negotiable core pillars: clearly defined access to global markets, selection of fresh and processed agricultural products tailored explicitly to market demand, consistent technological and operational innovation, dedicated coordinated shepherding and professional management, private sector investment, and cross-sector smart partnerships. Crucially, he adds, none of these pillars can deliver results without sustained political will from regional governments.
Governments, Springer argues, hold the core responsibility of building sound, pro-growth agricultural policy and creating a streamlined, business-friendly enabling environment that allows private sector enterprises to grow and scale. Unlike integrated economic blocs with federal governing structures, the Caribbean is made up of dozens of independent nations, so progress must begin at the national level. As individual countries test and refine successful models, those lessons can be shared across the region to drive collective, region-wide growth.
Drawing on decades of professional experience across Caribbean agriculture and business, Springer outlines five core lessons he has learned: first, a robust global market for food products always exists for high-quality, well-positioned goods. Second, the region does not suffer from a shortage of innovative, actionable ideas to grow the sector. Third, expertise in coordinated shepherding and management is available at the local, regional, and international levels that the region can tap into. Fourth, the single largest barrier to sector progress is the absence of targeted government incentives to attract and stimulate private sector investment. Fifth, the region has historically been short-sighted in building strategic cross-sector partnerships that can unlock synergies for shared growth.
To illustrate how a coordinated, incentive-backed strategy could work, Springer points to a 2015 initiative that ultimately failed to launch for lack of government support. In January of that year, leaders from the Global Business Innovation Corporation (GBIC) — a cross-border group of industry professionals from the Caribbean, the United States, and Mexico — visited Trinidad and Tobago, where Springer was based at the time. GBIC hosted a workshop for local food manufacturers titled “The Caribbean Food Revolution,” which laid out a roadmap for growing regional economies by expanding exports of agricultural, agribusiness, and food and beverage products.
Local manufacturers responded with strong enthusiasm, eager to expand their operations to meet unmet demand for Caribbean food products in the U.S. market. Significant private sector savings were already available to fund the initiative, but the project never moved forward. The core barrier, Springer confirms, was the absence of government incentives to de-risk and stimulate private sector investment in the expansion.
The GBIC proposal was built on four integrated pillars that could be replicated today. First, it leveraged specialized food-design expertise to reframe traditional Caribbean agricultural commodities and existing products into high-value food and beverage experiences tailored to the preferences of consumers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and other high-demand global markets. Second, it used open-innovation frameworks to source and evaluate the technologies needed to develop premium products, while building strategic partnerships with foreign manufacturers and retailers willing to distribute Caribbean products or license local product formulas. Third, it brought dedicated shepherding expertise and management tools to boost operational efficiency, productivity, manufacturing capacity, and business expansion across participating firms. Fourth, it included targeted marketing and communications outreach to promote the vision, opportunities, and progress of a region-wide Caribbean Food Business Innovation Revolution.
Springer emphasizes that the time for delayed action is over. Now is the moment to revolutionize the Caribbean’s approach to agricultural development by implementing a coordinated, global, market-driven strategy. With the right structure, incentives, and leadership, this approach will allow Caribbean farmers to sow bountifully, and earn fair, substantial rewards for their work.
Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a corporate governance adviser. His previous columns are archived at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com, and he can be reached via email at basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com.