Did you know - we have 17 farmers in our education program this season at Big River Farms, 13 of whom we source weekly veggies from to fill your CSA share? Meet BRF farmer Mario!
Tell us about your farm!
Farming at BRF is really great, this is my first year here. I have only a little land. I planted a couple of beds of onions, and two beds each of red peppers, carrots, and tomatoes. All together, I have about eight beds planted. I plan on selling the onions – it’s about 5,000 plants, so it’s a lot! The tomatoes, too, if I can sell them, great.
I go to the farm on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes on weeknight evenings too. I’m a semi driver during the day. I go long distances, but I usually come back the same day. My family and I live about 35 minutes from the farm.
What is your connection to farming?
In my country I grew mostly coffee, some corn, and a little bit of beans. That’s what people cultivate the most in Guatemala – the southern part – Santa Rosa. It’s temperate there, not too cold and not too hot.
I’ve been farming all my life, and for generations - my great grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, and me, we all farmed. But the only thing we sold was coffee. The corn, beans, and everything else was just for our own consumption and to feed to our animals.
In my country, it’s not as easy to farm as it is here, with tractors and machinery. We don’t have the machinery like you do here. There you have to do things by hand. You work more with hoes and shovels. There are some areas where people have tractors, but the area where I’m from there was only one or two tractors for a whole community – if you had money, you could pay the owner to cultivate your land, but if you didn’t it was all by brute strength.
Do you have a favorite farm memory?
My dad and my grandparents were farmers – that’s the memory I like the most. I had the family tradition with our land to grow on. Thank God I connected to Big River Farms through Porfirio [another BRF farmer of Sebra Farm], and I visited the farm last season. That’s when I met KaZoua [BRF Farm Director] and learned about the land.
What has your experience been like at BRF so far?
I’m very happy and content. Even though it’s my first year, what I planted is turning out really nice. I have onions and tomatoes that are growing nicely, and I’m really happy.
Have there been any surprises along the way?
Yes – a lot. The farming systems are all different here. In Guatemala, we just live by the rain that falls from the sky. Here I’ve learned to use irrigation systems with hoses, drip tape, and everything. It’s very nice, but very different.
What have your successes been as a beginning farmer?
I’m proud because, for example, at 9pm last night I was still at the farm taking care of my plants. Before at that time of night, I would have been on the couch. But now I don’t have any time to do that. I work from 5am to 5pm. After my job, I go to the farm to work. I’m proud of being active.
What makes you different from other farmers?
I feel different because I have to ask everything – what date do you seed, everything. I always ask BRF farmer Pofirio, but he wants everyone to look up the answers! I didn’t know where to find the information, but I’m learning. For me it’s been difficult, but a great experience. Even though I’m not so young, I’m learning!
Have you experienced any challenges as an ‘emerging’ farmer?
Learning has been the biggest challenge more than anything else. Sometimes when I am learning about growing organically, I know things from my experience in Guatemala, but some things are brand new to me. I would like to learn more to bring it back to Guatemala and share with the other farmers in my community there.
Another challenge before I found Big River Farms was that it was difficult to find farmland here. I’m a truck driver, and my wife is a hair stylist. One day, Don Porfirio visited the salon where my wife works and she cut his hair. When she came home, she was excited to tell me that she met a man who grew corn and beans here in Minnesota. I said I really wanted to do that too!
What’s your favorite part about being a small business owner?
I like the contact with the earth and the plants - it is what intrigues me the most. If there is a little money in it too, that’s great.
What do you imagine your farm being like in the future?
I would like to continue to farm when I retire – not to work anymore, but to do it like a sport to stay active. Not really for a business, but just to do it. Maybe a small 2–3-acre farm.
