Teach a Man to Farm and He’ll Eat Forever

One of the most inspiring programs we’ve uncovered in the sustainable agriculture field is ALBA! Their mission is to create economic opportunity for aspiring, limited-resource farmers through land-based organic agriculture education. The ALBA growing and education center is in the fertile valley of Salinas, CA. Bottom line, we need more of these centers all over the country, the world in fact! ALBA stands for “Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association.”

Here’s the skinny…ALBA not only trains people how to farm organically but helps them get started by leasing them subsidized land from their 110 acre property. The biggest risk in starting to farm is taking that financial leap of faith. Even if you can afford to buy land, you have a huge learning curve in developing best practices. ALBA’s collaborative approach provides continued field education for all its graduates. At ALBA, you start with 6-months (150 hours) of training then lease .5 acre at 20% its market value. After five years, you are paying 100% of the market value but may have increased your capacity to 5 or 7 acres. It is an “incubator” for small farms. The model is brilliant!

With the help of ALBA staff, farmers develop their own economically, viable businesses with CSA’s and farmer’s markets…like Pablo Perez of J & P Organics . We had the fortune of meeting Pablo in the fields and hearing his story…Pablo had started out working in a chemically, dependent nursery years ago later leasing .5 acre and then 7 acres where he grew flowers conventionally. When his irrigation pump broke, the landowners refused to help fix it. $70K in lost income later and Pablo had also lost his lease and was back working in a nursery. His American dream crumbled. A couple years later, Pablo’s son, Juan, was on field trip to ALBA and saw an opportunity for his family. He encouraged his dad to take the bi-lingual course offered at ALBA. Together five years ago, they formed J & P Organics. Juan handles the marketing and Pablo farms their now 5 acre plot which supports 500 CSA shareholders. It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye. But not to Pablo. He is all smiles and full of stories. Including this story, or is it a parable…

A man asked Pablo, “Why are your strawberries $1 more than that guy’s strawberries over there?” Pablo replied, “Because mine are organic and I don’t use chemical fertilizers and pesticides.” “I don’t care about that,” the man responded and proceeded to buy the cheaper, poison laced strawberries. A few days later, that man came back to ask Pablo why the strawberries he bought were dry and tasteless. Pablo explained, “because the chemicals take out all the nutrients and flavor.” And with that, Pablo cut one of his strawberries open and handed it to the man. It was juicy and exploding with taste. The man never bought a conventionally grown strawberry again. The End!