Sustainable Organic Farming and Marketing Project

Summary

Coordinator: Bridget Cooke, Adelante Mujeres, Forest Grove, Oregon
Stakeholder location: Washington County, Oregon

photo from Adelante MujeresMost Spanish-speaking immigrant farmers in Washington County, Oregon have experience working on farms in their home country and they desire to continue this work. However, much of their experience is limited to conventional farming with a heavy reliance on chemicals. Many of these farmers are aware of the human health benefits of organic farming but they do not often have access to organic farming training and are unaware of the potential economic benefits. In our experience working with Latino immigrants for the past five years, we have found that farmers are open and interested to learn more about organic farming practices.

This project will further organic farming practices among low-income immigrant Spanish-speaking farmers by providing training in organic production marketing and developing a training module to be shared with other organizations that implement similar projects. The overall goals of this project are to advance organic farming and support economic viability among immigrant populations. This project will accomplish the following:

  1. Provide effective land-based training in organic practices and access to farmland for low-income Latino families;
  2. Increase economic equity for low-income Latino families through marketing support of farm products;
  3. Systematize our course into a training manual that shares methodologies and resources to encourage organic farming practices.

This project is the first of its kind in Oregon. Participants will commit to 22 weeks of training followed by on-the-ground support for all aspects of growing and marketing. In addition to classroom and skills development, participants will learn how to conduct a feasibility study, write a Farm Plan which includes all relevant business aspects, and learn how to harvest and prepare produce for market. The training manual will be written in Spanish and will be made available to non-profit and educational institutions for the cost of printing.