Former Migrant Farmworkers Becoming Beginning Farmers

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Here’s a really nice article about farmworkers becoming farmers. It also discusses beginning farmer training and farm bill programs to train and assist beginning farmers. A great read!

Farmworkers are climbing up the organic food chain (by Heather Smith – GRIST)

EXCERPT: Bucio is one of a growing number of young migrant workers who, thanks in part to changes in the Farm Bill that freed up funding to train and otherwise assist beginning farmers, are no longer making pennies per bucket picked but working for themselves, running CSAs, and introducing new blood into American farming… “There’s a whole spectrum of knowledge,” says Gary Peterson, deputy director of ALBA. “There’s harvest. Post-harvest handling and packing. When should you harvest that bok choy? In the morning? In the afternoon? If you’re packing a box for the wholesale market, what is it supposed to look like? Is it going to make a person at a market take the box, or just reject it outright?”