Abdullah Tobal, a smallholder herder from Tal Hasel in As-Sfira, Aleppo Governorate, had an idea to build a press to preserve fodder after he attended one of FAO’s farmer field schools (FFS) under the Smallholder Support Programme. He learned how to compress dried alfalfa into bales to preserve it so it could be fed to cows during the winter. Considering the advantages of preserving fodder, Abdullah was motivated to invent and build a manual press that could make preserving alfalfa easier and less time-consuming. This bale making techniques he learned at the FFS inspired him to make a wooden compressing machine that could replace the need to press the alfalfa with his own hands.