Winter isn’t often associated with harvesting crops, but it is an important time for immigrant farmers participating in a local incubator program.
For the past few years, Providence Farm Collective’s incubator program has provided a way for immigrants and refugees to get into local farming, and working as a supplemental income.
November-December is a key period for PFC because that’s when applicants are accepted and the process starts anew.
Many of the participants are from Africa and have farming experience, but PFC Farm Mentor Mo Mberwa says it’s a process adapting to the planting schedule.
“They have to know that, ‘O.K., this is the right time to put the seed in the ground, this is not the right time to put the seed in the ground,’ and how long you're going to be taking for (planting) in the ground," he said. "Because where are they coming from? Always the climate is open, there is no winter time, it just only summer under waning time, so they have only two seasons. But here, you have to plant (at a) good time with the weather.”
Another issue is accessibility.
Since most of the farmers have full-time jobs and might not have vehicles, they often have to find transportation on weekends to PFC in the Orchard Park area, Mberwa said.
Source: wbfo.org
Photo Credit: gettyimages-joshua-resnick%20
Categories: New York, Business, Crops, Harvesting, Weather