North Carolina, Hendersonville- Delia was looking out the window at the valley where her house is located when she wondered why she didn't grow her own food. Why couldn't she look for the tomatoes for the sauce in her yard, located in the green and fertile land of Hendersonville, the town in the Appalachian mountains where she has lived for more than seven years.
The answer was simple: he did not have his own garden and bought vegetables, fruits and vegetables at the market. Packaged and not always of the best quality.
That was the starting point for the change that Delia is making in her life and, also, in that of several other people: the creation of a agricultural cooperative of completely Latin food production.
Delia Jovel - 45 years old, Salvadoran immigrant and entrepreneur - is the architect of the first Latin agricultural cooperative in western North Carolina. One of the very few that exist in the country created, managed and led by the community Hispanic
The Latin agricultural cooperative is named Great Harvest Coop – Hispanic worker-owned agricultural cooperative ; and is in the process of consolidation.
For now, they don't own the land, but they do own what it produces, and they're preparing for the first harvest this spring-summer season.
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Community participation is the key to the Latin agricultural cooperative, which is already working on obtaining its own land / Patricia Serrano
“Here we are not talking about cooperation in the sense of working together, but rather we are talking about cooperativism as a social economy model that is oriented towards empowering people who have some difficulties in inserting themselves economically as individuals, but not as a collective,” Jovel explained to Enlace Latino NC.
Community participation
The Latino agricultural cooperative has six active members, all from the Latino community and most of them undocumented.
Delia's dream, beyond her own fruits and vegetables, is to make her way as a collective in a world that is usually more difficult for the Latin community.
Agricultural work, in general, is carried out by Hispanic hands, but at very low prices and for North American employers.
Hence the dual purpose of Great Harvest Coop – a Hispanic worker-owned agricultural cooperative: to consume their own high-quality food and to obtain the fruits of the land's labor fairly.
Jovel highlights that the main objective of the cooperative is “to develop entrepreneurship among Hispanic people.”
When Delia wondered why she hadn't harvested her own vegetables for so many years, she knew that the intention of that dream was not just comfort.
Today, while admiring the sprouts of work, he defines it like this: “The intention is to reconnect with something as elemental as being able to produce our own food. Be less dependent on the system.
Food is one of the main investments in our homes, but the issue is that these foods are increasingly degrading.
The foods that reach our table are not necessarily the most nutritious. Sometimes it is not a lack of food that is the problem in our communities, but rather access to good food.
First growing season
Currently, Great Harvest Coop members are tilling the land for their first growing season. They have a plot - 1 acre of land - loaned by Tiny Bridge Farm that they work with their own hands and in their free time. However, it is still too early for them to make a living from this solidarity and cooperative project.
The objective is to produce food for the community of workers and to supply local organic producers. They also plan to sell their products at local farmers markets and restaurants.
“Our purpose as a social economy organization is not only to think about our members, who in this case are six people, three from Mexico and three from El Salvador,” Delia said. She also indicated that they want to have an impact on the community.
"The intention is for this cooperative to be connected to educational processes, where other people can also learn about agriculture or cooperativism, or learn about teamwork, to overcome fear, to become empowered."
The dream of Delia, from the Latin cooperative, is much bigger than growing her own food: the next step is to have her own land. For now, they are working on their first productive season.
Garden tools donation
If you want to support the Great Harvest Coop project, a good opportunity to do so is next April 10, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, at True Ridge, located at 110 Edney Street, Hendersonville.
That day the cooperative will hold its first collection of used gardening tools: they need everything from gardening gloves to shovels.
You can learn more about the event here.
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