<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSee there we need to dig a trench all the way through,\u201d my colleague Raul Carreon says pointing down at a bowling alley length of land covered with weeds, asking me to dig a trench for a footpath. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Already he and other colleagues, the majority of them our production staff with decades of experience farming, are swiftly moving dirt. I use all of the force I can muster up and thrust shovel to ground, and the ground is surprisingly stubborn. Maybe it\u2019s me, I think, I need to work out. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I observe my colleagues and try to copy their movements. Step on the shovel until it penetrates the ground and then dig. The shovel barely makes a dent. Step hard on shovel until it penetrates the dirt and then dig. Step and dig and repeat. The sun at high noon is intense, and the air is saturated with the freshness of earth. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a Saturday in late May, I am at Soul Fire Farm just northeast of Albany with my colleagues to join in the organization\u2019s monthly <\/span>Community Farm Work Day<\/span><\/a>. Later, I learn that the biannual trip has become a ritual here at the Farm Hub. It is a chance for staff to connect and work alongside members of an organization that in many ways shares similar values as the Farm Hub. With social justice at the forefront, Soul Fire Farm aims to end injustice in the food system. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n On a personal level, there is another aspect of this experience, which is somewhat humbling. I am acutely aware that my passion for agriculture is extending from storyteller to participant. For the first time I am at a farm not as the Farm Hub communications manager, but as a volunteer contributor including, but not limited to, spreading straw mulch and punching in staples to hold down landscape fabric that helps protect the soil, mixing in compost and mulch for perennials, forming soil blocks for planting, and cleaning out seedling flats. I had a chance to see firsthand how much time and investment goes into running Soul Fire. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I shovel, create soil blocks, and dig, I reflect that Soul Fire is one of the few farms in the U.S. that is led and staffed almost exclusively by people of color, the majority of whom are Black.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a first-generation Chinese American, I hadn\u2019t given much thought to the significance of having more leaders of color in farming until now. In the U.S., agriculture as a sector and as a sector remains predominantly led by older white men. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the latest <\/span>U.S. Agriculture Census 2017<\/span><\/a>, released this past spring, th<\/span>e average age of all U.S. farm producers in 2017 was 57.5 years, a rise of 1.2 years from 2012. When it comes to farm owners, 95.4 percent are white, 3 percent Hispanic, 1.3 percent Black, 1.7 percent American Indian\/Alaska Native, 0.6 Asian, and 0.1 percent Native Hawaiian\/Pacific Islander. An estimated 64 percent of farm owners are men while 36 percent are women. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I worked the land that day, I considered the connections between culture, heritage, personal history, the historical foundations of current-day agriculture in the U.S. and land ownership. Earlier that week I attended a one-day \u201cUprooting Racism\u201d workshop at Soul Fire, designed to increase awareness of how racism permeates the food system and to encourage brainstorming around solutions. The workshop was also attended by Jay Goldmark, the Farm Hub\u2019s fields crop production manager and Caitlin Salemi, manager for organizational culture and team development. We were joined by participants from as far as California and Georgia, many of them small growers and community activists. Through discussion and activities, we examined our own personal histories through a series of questions, some of them personal. Growing up, did we ever rely on food stamps or go hungry? Did we have ready access to food? Did we grow food or did our families? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was one of the first times I reflected on land beyond food production for sustenance. Land ownership is power, the knowledge and ability to grow food a part of survival, and seeds that produce certain foods provide a connection to one\u2019s culture, heritage, and at times family history. In agriculture in the U.S., Blacks, Hispanic\/Latinos, Native Americans and Asians have contributed farming techniques and strategies from their homelands. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, the contributions of people of color often remain under-told when it comes to farming. For example, during World War II the Mexican Farm Labor Program Agreement of 1942, also known as the <\/span>Bracero Program<\/span><\/a>, brought over Mexican laborers to keep the food system running while Black agricultural workers were fighting in the war. Starting in the late 1800s in California, Japanese immigrants served primarily as sharecroppers and laborers at farms in the Salinas Valley, replacing Chinese laborers who were banned from the U.S. under the 1892 Chinese Exclusion Act. The Japanese immigrants were the prime strawberry growers in the Central Valley until they were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is an untapped opportunity to lift up this history and share these stories. When it comes to food and farming there are leaders and innovators in the African-American community who deserve to be celebrated. George Washington Carver, an agricultural scientist and inventor, invented hundreds of products using peanuts and soybeans. <\/span>Fannie Lou Hamer<\/span><\/a> launched the Freedom Farm Cooperative to empower Black farmers and sharecroppers, and Booker T. Whatley, agricultural professor at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, helped design the CSA (community supported agriculture) model of agriculture. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Turn the clock forward and there is a new generation of young farmers of color emerging, including <\/span>Asian-Americans<\/span><\/a> who are passionate about contributing to agriculture and also honoring their heritage by growing Asian vegetables. Here in the Hudson Valley, for example, Katherine Chiu and Abe Young launched the <\/span>Asian Vegetable CSA<\/span><\/a> where they grow vegetables of Asian varieties such as Daikon radish, bitter melon, and sweet potato leaves. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Missing links <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the reflections circle back to my own history tied in with cultural heritage. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n My parents never farmed and agriculture doesn\u2019t run in the family. My sister and I, first-generation Chinese Americans, grew up in the suburbs north of New York City where supermarkets were synonymous with fresh vegetables. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n While farming wasn\u2019t part of my family legacy, food was. From a young age, I learned that food is a powerful connector and convener for the Chinese. When visiting our grandparents and relatives in Hong Kong and Taiwan, their affection for us was often communicated through two words, \u201ceat more\u201d and even to those of us who could afford to shed a few pounds, \u201cyou\u2019re too skinny, eat more!\u201d My father, who cooked his way through college, showed his love for family and friends by opening the home to traditional hot pot, which often featured Chinese cabbage and an assortment of seafood. My grandmother, with whom I lived for a period of time in Hong Kong, showed her love for me by saving the freshest produce. I returned home to slices of Durian or the meatiest part of the salmon. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n My parents tapped into the then small but closely-knit Chinese communities of associations and a Chinese church where every gathering was bookended with a cosmic-sized potluck of dishes diverse and complex in look, smell, and taste. Later as an adult, I easily identified them\u2014Shanghai bok choy, Daikon radish, Chinese cabbage, and Yardlong beans. These were ingredients for homemade dishes of scallion pancakes, dumplings, and fried rice. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In my early 20s, I took two suitcases and moved to Hong Kong to write about the handover in 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to Mainland China as a British colony. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here I had my second culinary awakening. Considering the tight urban metropolis of Hong Kong and the tropical weather, most residents shopped at the wet market regularly; in Hong Kong wet markets are open market stalls in most neighborhoods selling vegetables, fruits and seafood, and household items.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a tremendous premium placed on fresh. The wet markets were a window to a litany of fruits and vegetables I\u2019d never seen before: bitter melon, taro, lotus roots, mushrooms of all sizes and shapes. Food was central to any gathering. Entire conversations and connections were ignited over witnessing the catch of the day or how crisp the vegetables were. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Food was also a window into my family history. My father says that growing up as a young boy in Communist China and later Hong Kong, there wasn\u2019t ready access to meat, eggs and other food to go around. In the stories he shares of his boyhood, a picture emerges of tough times — he and his siblings shared one popsicle, and chicken and beef were saved for special occasions. Food, land, and their connection to family history is humbling in that it pushes us to see how small we are and yet how we are part of something much greater. For myself, my father\u2019s stories that incorporate food are a glimpse into his growing up and my own history. They offer, for example, clues as to why my paternal grandfather viewed land ownership as sacred, both as a base for sustenance and a foundation to literally build one\u2019s home. I now fully understood that food was a language of love and care. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, on this beautiful day at Soul Fire Farm, earthworms ribbon through soil. A yellow butterfly flutters past and the greenhouse comes to life with baby lettuce. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel a boost of confidence that the land, while steady and always there, offers opportunities for change, transformation, or maybe ripple effects that create change. Change can begin when one finds a connection to the land itself in whatever form that might take. Sometimes it is a memory, a reflection, the moment when we connect the food on the table with the land, or the seeds with the food on our plate. Maybe it is a farming technique or a certain vegetable that is linked with cultural heritage. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe same background, just change the focus and one will see different beauty and learn new insights. This is true of people and life, try it,\u201d my father\u2019s wisdoms surface. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I left the farm that day, boots muddied, dirt under my fingernails, enjoying a connection to land that transcends barriers of race, ethnicity, and age, but that also carries our personal histories. I couldn\u2019t wait to return to the Farm Hub with an extended appreciation of the process of farming. It was a blessing to be able to tell the stories related to food, farming and agriculture, and a double blessing to engage in growing too. The land now felt like home.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Amy Wu<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A special thank you to Leslie Wiser of Radical Family Farms: Specializing in Asian Heritage Vegetables in Sebastopol, Calif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources: <\/span> Una mujer china nacida en Estados Unidos encuentra conexi\u00f3n con la tierra despu\u00e9s de<\/strong> reflexionar sobre su experiencia en la agricultura<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n L<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n as botas, con sus suelas de goma gruesa, se sienten extra\u00f1as, pesadas, mientras me paro en este terreno que huele a una mezcla de tierra y maleza. Inhalo y agarro firmemente la pala que me pasa uno de mis colegas \u2013 es hora de trabajar.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMira all\u00ed tenemos que excavar una zanja a trav\u00e9s de toda esa \u00e1rea\u201d, me dice mi colega Raul Carreon mientras se\u00f1ala un pedazo de tierra que tiene el largo de una bolera y est\u00e1 cubierto de maleza, pidi\u00e9ndome que cave una trinchera para un sendero. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ya \u00e9l y sus colegas, en su mayor\u00eda personal de Producci\u00f3n con d\u00e9cadas de experiencia en la agricultura, est\u00e1n sacando tierra r\u00e1pidamente. Uso toda la fuerza que puedo conseguir y empujo la pala en la tierra, y el suelo es sorprendentemente terco. Pienso, tal vez soy yo, creo que necesito ejercitarme.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Observo a mis colegas y trato de copiar sus movimientos. Piso la pala para poner mi peso y hacer que penetre en el suelo y, entonces, a excavar. La pala apenas hace una mella. Piso la pala con fuerza hasta que penetra la tierra y, entonces, excavo. Piso y excavo, y repito. El sol del mediod\u00eda es intenso y el aire est\u00e1 saturado de la frescura de la tierra.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Es un s\u00e1bado a finales de mayo y estoy en Soul Fire Farm, justo al noreste de Albany, con mis colegas para el <\/span>Community Farm Work Day<\/span><\/a> (D\u00eda de Trabajo Agr\u00edcola Comunitario)<\/span> que la organizaci\u00f3n celebra mensualmente. M\u00e1s tarde, me enter\u00e9 de que este viaje bianual se ha convertido en un ritual aqu\u00ed en Farm Hub. Es una oportunidad para que el personal se conecte y trabaje con los miembros de una organizaci\u00f3n que de muchas maneras comparte valores similares a los de Farm Hub. Con la justicia social en la vanguardia, Soul Fire Farm tiene como objetivo poner fin a la injusticia en el sistema alimentario.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n A nivel personal hay otro aspecto de esta experiencia que de alguna manera inspira humildad. Tengo sumamente presente que mi pasi\u00f3n por la agricultura se est\u00e1 ampliando de narradora a participante. Por primera vez estoy en un rancho, no como gerente de Comunicaciones de Farm Hub, sino como colaboradora voluntaria y esto incluye, sin limitarse a, trabajar en esparcir el mantillo de paja y perforar grapas para aguantar la tela que ayuda a proteger el suelo, mezclar la composta y el mulch para perennes, moldear bloques de tierra para la siembra y limpiar los plantones de semilleros. Pude ver de primera mano cu\u00e1nto tiempo e inversi\u00f3n toma manejar Soul Fire.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mientras paleo, creo bloques de tierra y excavo, reflexiono que Soul Fire es uno de los pocos ranchos en Estados Unidos que es dirigido y atendido casi exclusivamente por personas de color, la mayor\u00eda de las cuales son negras.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Como china americana de primera generaci\u00f3n, no hab\u00eda pensado mucho en la importancia de tener m\u00e1s l\u00edderes de color en la agricultura hasta en ese instante. En Estados Unidos, la agricultura es un sector y, como sector, sigue siendo dirigido predominantemente por hombres blancos mayores.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Seg\u00fan el \u00faltimo <\/span>Censo de Agricultura de Estados Unidos 2017<\/span><\/a>, publicado la primavera pasada, la edad promedio de todos los productores agr\u00edcolas de Estados Unidos en 2017 fue de 57,5 a\u00f1os, un aumento de 1,2 a\u00f1os con respecto a 2012. Cuando se trata de propietarios de ranchos, el 95,4 por ciento son blancos, 3 por ciento son hispanos, 1,3 por ciento negros, 1,7 por ciento ind\u00edgenas americanos\/nativos de Alaska, 0,6 asi\u00e1ticos y 0,1 por ciento hawaianos nativos\/isle\u00f1os del Pac\u00edfico. Se estima que 64 por ciento de los propietarios de ranchos son hombres, mientras que 36 por ciento son mujeres.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mientras trabajaba en la tierra ese d\u00eda, consider\u00e9 las conexiones entre la cultura, la herencia, la historia personal, los fundamentos hist\u00f3ricos de la agricultura actual en Estados Unidos y la propiedad de la tierra. A principios de esa semana, asist\u00ed a un taller de un d\u00eda, “Arrancando el racismo desde la ra\u00edz”, en Soul Fire, dise\u00f1ado para concientizar sobre c\u00f3mo el racismo infiltra el sistema alimentario y fomentar una lluvia de ideas de soluciones posibles. El taller tambi\u00e9n cont\u00f3 con la asistencia de Jay Goldmark, gerente de Producci\u00f3n de Cultivos de Campos de Farm Hub y Caitlin Salemi, gerente de Cultura Organizacional y Desarrollo de Equipos. Se unieron participantes de California y Georgia, muchos de ellos productores peque\u00f1os y activistas comunitarios. A trav\u00e9s de la conversaci\u00f3n y las actividades, examinamos nuestras propias historias personales con una serie de preguntas, algunas de ellas personales. Preguntas sobre cuando est\u00e1bamos creciendo, \u00bfalguna vez dependieron de cupones de alimentos o pasaron hambre? \u00bfTen\u00edan acceso f\u00e1cil a comida? \u00bfCultivan alimentos o nuestras familias cultivaban?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fue una de las primeras veces que reflexion\u00e9 sobre la tierra m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la producci\u00f3n de alimentos para el sustento. La propiedad de la tierra es poder, el conocimiento y la capacidad de cultivar alimentos son parte de la supervivencia, y las semillas que producen ciertos alimentos proporcionan una conexi\u00f3n con la cultura, la herencia y, a veces, la historia familiar. En la agricultura estadounidense, negros, hispanos\/latinos, ind\u00edgenas americanos y asi\u00e1ticos han contribuido con t\u00e9cnicas y estrategias agr\u00edcolas provenientes de sus tierras natales.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dicho esto, las contribuciones de las personas de color a menudo siguen siendo poco reconocidas cuando se trata de la agricultura. Por ejemplo, durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el Acuerdo del Programa de Trabajo Agr\u00edcola Mexicano de 1942, tambi\u00e9n conocido como el <\/span>Programa Bracero<\/span><\/a>, trajo trabajadores mexicanos para mantener el sistema alimentario en funcionamiento mientras los trabajadores agr\u00edcolas negros peleaban, en la guerra. A finales de los 1800, en California, inmigrantes japoneses sirvieron principalmente como agricultores y obreros en ranchos del valle de Salinas, reemplazando a los trabajadores chinos que fueron expulsados de Estados Unidos bajo la Ley de Exclusi\u00f3n China de 1892. Los inmigrantes japoneses fueron los productores principales de fresas en el Valle Central hasta que fueron encarcelados en campos de concentraci\u00f3n durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hay una oportunidad no explorada para elevar esta historia y compartir estos cuentos. Cuando se trata de la alimentaci\u00f3n y la agricultura, hay l\u00edderes e innovadores en la comunidad afroamericana que merecen ser celebrados. George Washington Carver, cient\u00edfico e inventor agr\u00edcola, invent\u00f3 cientos de productos con cacahuetes y soja. <\/span>Fannie Lou Hamer<\/span><\/a> lanz\u00f3 la Freedom Farm Cooperative para empoderar agricultores y aparceros negros, y Booker T. Whatley, profesor agr\u00edcola del Instituto Tuskegee en Alabama, ayud\u00f3 a dise\u00f1ar el modelo de agricultura apoyada por la comunidad (CSA, por sus siglas en ingl\u00e9s).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Si adelantamos el reloj, podemos ver una nueva generaci\u00f3n emergente de j\u00f3venes agricultores de color, que incluye <\/span>asi\u00e1tico-americanos<\/span><\/a> que tienen una gran pasi\u00f3n por contribuir a la agricultura y tambi\u00e9n honrar su herencia mediante el cultivo de vegetales asi\u00e1ticos. Aqu\u00ed, en el valle del Hudson, por ejemplo, Katherine Chiu y Abe Young lanzaron el <\/span>Asian Vegetable CSA<\/span><\/a> donde cultivan vegetales de variedades asi\u00e1ticas como el r\u00e1bano Daikon, el mel\u00f3n amargo y las hojas de batata.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Enlaces que faltan<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahora, las reflexiones vuelven a mi propia historia atada a mi herencia cultural<\/span>.<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mis padres nunca cultivaron, y la agricultura no es parte de la familia. Mi hermana y yo, chinas americanas de primera generaci\u00f3n, crecimos en los suburbios al norte de la ciudad de Nueva York, donde los supermercados eran sin\u00f3nimo de verduras frescas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n A pesar de que la agricultura no es parte de mi legado familiar, la comida s\u00ed lo es. Desde muy joven aprend\u00ed que la comida es un conector poderoso y una convocatoria para los chinos. Al visitar a nuestros abuelos y parientes en Hong Kong y Taiw\u00e1n, su afecto por nosotros a menudo se comunicaba a trav\u00e9s de dos palabras, “come m\u00e1s”, e incluso a aquellos de nosotros que pod\u00edan permitirse el lujo de aumentar unas libras nos dec\u00edan, “\u00a1estas demasiado flaco, come m\u00e1s!”. Mi padre, que cocin\u00f3 durante la universidad, mostraba su amor por la familia y los amigos al abrir el hogar con su olla caliente tradicional, que a menudo ofrec\u00eda repollo chino y una variedad de mariscos. Mi abuela, con quien viv\u00ed durante un per\u00edodo de tiempo en Hong Kong, mostraba su amor por m\u00ed, guardando los productos m\u00e1s frescos. Regresaba a mi casa con rodajas de durio o la parte m\u00e1s carnosa del salm\u00f3n. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mis padres aprovecharon las peque\u00f1as, pero estrechamente unidas, asociaciones de comunidades chinas y una iglesia donde cada reuni\u00f3n era marcada de principio a fin por diversos platos de tama\u00f1os c\u00f3smicos, y complejos de aspecto, olor y sabor. M\u00e1s tarde, ya de adulta, los identificaba f\u00e1cilmente: bok choy de Shanghai, r\u00e1bano Daikon, repollo chino y frijoles Yardlong. Estos eran ingredientes para platos caseros como tortitas de cebollines, <\/span>dumplings<\/span><\/i> y arroz frito. A los 20 a\u00f1os, prepar\u00e9 dos maletas y me mud\u00e9 a Hong Kong para escribir sobre la entrega de Hong Kong en 1997, cuando fue devuelto a China como colonia brit\u00e1nica. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah\u00ed tuve mi segundo despertar culinario. Teniendo en cuenta la estrecha metr\u00f3polis urbana de Hong Kong y el clima tropical, la mayor\u00eda de los habitantes compraban regularmente en mercados al aire libre; los mercados de Hong Kong son puestos de mercado abierto en la mayor\u00eda de los vecindarios y venden verduras, frutas y mariscos, y art\u00edculos para el hogar.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Se le daba un valor tremendo a lo fresco. Los mercados eran una ventana a una serie de frutas y verduras que nunca hab\u00eda visto antes: mel\u00f3n amargo, taro, ra\u00edces de loto, setas de todos los tama\u00f1os y formas. La comida era fundamental para cualquier reuni\u00f3n. Conversaciones y conexiones enteras se iniciaban acerca de la pesca del d\u00eda o lo crujiente que estaban los vegetales.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hvfarmhub.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_8837-1.jpg\")
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Encontrando la conexi\u00f3n<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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